___
In this ELANblog post, ABAE Managing Director Karen Rainsong speaks about the power of arts and business partnerships in our Emerald City. The next ELAN Open Forum will feature Eugene A Go-Go and Create!Eugene. Karen will share with us best-practices of using this online social engagement tool as a resource for community involvement. Join ELAN (and meet Karen!) at the next Arts After Hours event: Thursday, Apr 18 from 5:00PM- 7:30PM at Oregon Contemporary Theatre.
The Arts and Business Alliance of Eugene has a mission: To enrich our community through strong arts and business partnerships. Through vision, leadership and service, the Arts & Business Alliance of Eugene is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of our community by acting as a catalyst for creating dynamic partnerships between the arts, culture and business sectors.
The goals of the Arts and Business Alliance of Eugene bring together the strengths of the business and arts sector to:
- Increase awareness that the goals of each sector are congruent.
- Enhance community-wide awareness of the economic, educational, and business benefits of arts and culture.
- Recognize and stimulate community leadership in arts and culture.
- Advocate for arts investment and participation.
- Contribute to the economic health and livability of the community.
We believe the goals of business and the arts are congruent and that business is essential to a viable arts community and arts are good for business. In communities across the nation, the arts and business sectors are successfully collaborating to contribute to the quality of life in their region; drive economic development; stimulate creativity and innovation; and strengthen the ability of business to recruit and retain a diverse group of individuals who will bring exceptional skills to the community. We champion these beliefs in Eugene.
A few of our major projects include the Eugene A Go-Go site, the BRAVA breakfasts at the Hult Center, the AEPIV study, and the Arts After Hours annual event. We are also a partner in the upcoming first annual Create!Eugene Festival. These events stimulate excitement in the community about partnering, celebrate strong partnerships, bring together the sectors to learn more about each other, and position Eugene as a regional destination for the arts.
The Eugene A Go-Go website acts as a hub to allow access to the arts for the whole community, and to level the playing field for all levels of artists. The site is free and open to anyone to use and create an account. Users can promote their own art events, put up their own artist pages, and venue owners can put up venue pages. There are lots of social networking features built right into the site; you can follow others, message them, RSVP to events, write reviews, and recommend events. We will be unveiling a mobile version of the site in the near future. Other events such as the BRAVA breakfast celebrate unique partnerships in our community, highlight artists and arts groups for recognition, and serve to advocate for the arts in our community.
With such an arts-laden city as Eugene, why do we need an advocacy alliance? Times have been rough financially for arts and for business, and we need to embrace the new model of collaboration over competition. When we pull together, our strengths are more than the sum of our parts, and greater successes can be achieved. There are numerous examples of this all around us. We help facilitate these connections, and champion the belief that arts add to the economic vitality of our area.
And more than just a belief, we have numbers to prove this fact: the Arts and Economic Prosperity Survey undertaken in 2011 and 2012 in Eugene, by the ABAE and Center for Community Arts and Cultural Policy at U of O, shows without a doubt the correlation of arts and economics in our city. Our city boasts more than 1700 full time jobs in the arts and culture sector, and more than 45 million spent because of the arts each year. See the numbers here.
Most of us see the need for businesses to partner with arts organizations, but have we considered the benefits the other way? Businesses can build their reputation in the community by showing they care and are involved. Not to mention build brand recognition and reaching out to new audiences. Employees who participate in the arts are not only exercising their skills, they are developing new ones. And the arts creates an environment of diversity and creative problem-solving. The benefits to employees, the company’s reputation and recognition, and the community at large make for a ripple effect which makes a vibrant, attractive region, which in turn attracts new workers to the area. The Business Commitee for the Arts Triennial Survey of Business Support to the Arts tracks the trends and levels of business support to the arts in the United States and is a great resource to find out more.
It just makes sense that we support both arts and business by bringing them together in creative ways. And the ABAE is working to do that in Eugene, for the benefit of our entire region.
If you are interested in developing partnerships between the arts and business communities, Americans for the Arts’ pARTnership Movement has some wonderful resources and ideas. And feel free to contact us with any questions or comments – we’re here to help!
