Doylestown - Group One

The Big Canvas - July 9, 2008

The group of 13 people consisted mostly of individuals who work in arts or arts education, or who saw their jobs as being dependent on arts and culture. -- Moderators Pete Lafferty and Chris Satullo

For what do people use arts and culture?

Leisure, to make income, to understand human creativity, to get a sense of heritage, to create jobs, to express cultural values, education, “escape from humdrum,” entertainment, to understand who we are, therapeutic purposes, propaganda

Who are the users?

• Local residents, artists, parents, educators, tourism (It’s Bucks’ No. 1 industry!), students, young children, retirees, school districts, therapy patients, government and politicians (for economic-development bragging), elites (to show their taste).

What values do you think arts and culture bring to individuals, families, communities? What basic values do they support?

• Cultural

• Self-expression

• Cultural literacy

• Sense of community

• Enrich daily living (“It’s pretty dull otherwise.”)

• Pride

• Causes you to think, ask questions.

• Creates venues for artists

• Raises the financial value of the community, creates more tax base

• Culture attracts tourists and promotes businesses that go beyond the arts and culture sector

• Enhances diversity, understanding of difference

• Creates a sense of place

In our region, what are the barriers to these uses and values?

• Time constraints.

• Money – cost of tickets, tight funds for organizations.

• Accessibility – hard to get to many places by mass transit, without a car.

• Lack of vision by local government, groups.

• People don’t understand relevance.

• Other priorities for money.

• Lack of good communication, PR.

• Organizations feel they can’t do any more than they do.

• Silo approach; groups only promote their own events.

• Regional planning is lacking for both transit and the arts.

• Arts leadership is short on power, savvy.

• Snobbism – issues of class.

• Arts education is weak.

• Business support is down; they have to balance their own budgets.

• The tradition of local arts is mostly European; leaves others out.

• Re: costs – There is perception vs. reality; people think an arts ticket is too expensive, but it’s way less than an Eagles or Flyers ticket

• Educational cutbacks – when money has to be cut, they cut in subjects where No Child Left Behind doesn’t test, and arts is one of those.

You're part of a committee that's going to decide how $60 million gets spent. What's on your list?

• Arts education, k-12, a separate regional fund, not run through school districts: teachers could apply for grants for programs; school could apply for money to hire staff; would support things like artist-in-residence programs at schools; could fund field trips to arts institutions.

• A performing arts center for Bucks County.

• Create a big, signature, “high-buzz” arts event for the region, like Spoleto or Musikfest to brand it as an arts center; use it to fund major prizes for arts competitions, that would draw national talent.

• Direct grants to artists, not just institutions, like NEA; help support artists’ endeavors, help them survive.

• A capital projects fund, to provide seed money for renovations, rehabs, new buildings.

• A fund to help arts organizations build endowments (not operating costs).

• Set up a regional arts planning entity (like DVRPC) that would draft and carry out a regional arts communication plan. Consolidate the PR, marketing, tourism promotion under a one-stop-shopping for consumers.

• A membership card that would get you discounts for a host of regional arts organizations, plus for mass transit to get to the performances. Size of discount could be income-based, so that you use this to get at the class and income accessibility issues.

• A free-admittance day at museums.

There's only $20 million to spend. How do you prioritize your list from the previous question?

(Each person got two votes.)

The winners were: K-12 arts education, with 8 votes, and endowments to arts organizations, with 5.

Others were: high-buzz event (1 vote); grants to artists (1); regional communication plan (3); performing-arts center (1); discount card (2)

Other major regional concerns or issues? Which of these have a higher or lower priority than arts and culture?

• Environment/open space – higher than arts and culture

• Health care – higher

• Inclusion/fighting bias – lower

• Infrastructure – higher

• Education – higher

• Lower taxes – lower

• Public safety – lower

• General economy/jobs – higher