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The Big Canvas in West Chester

Citizen blogger Whitney Hoffman attended The Big Canvas community forum held Sept. 22 in West Chester. The more than 20 participants discussed ideas for a regional strategy to fund arts and culture.

The first phase of the Big Canvas was to brain storm ideas about what was fantastic about the arts and culture scene in the region, and what was not, as well as put together suggestions to solve some of the thorny problems regarding transportation, access, cost and funding.

The second phase of Big Canvas has just begun. It has taken the conversations of this summer and formulated them into five separate approaches toward addressing problems facing the arts and culture in the area. Citizens are meeting across the area to discuss these approaches and try to identify which ones have the greatest support: What seems practical, and what seems like a dream? Which one would you be willing to support with your tax dollars, and which ones would you not?

The key findings show:

-Cultural institutions grew at twice the rate of inflation over the past decade;

-Suburban organizations are growing faster, at three times the rate of inflation;

-Operating margins are very thin, with income exceeding expenses by only 5 percent in 2005, up only 2 percent from a decade earlier.

-Institutions employ a large number of part-timers over full-time employees by a 2:1 margin, with part-time employment increasing 98 percent between 1995 and 2005.

-The ratio of state to federal support was even in 1995; in 2005, state support has increased more than 144 percent, in part, I would imagine, to help make up for a decline of 72 percent in federal funding, bringing the ratio of state support to federal support to 9:1.

-Forty percent of cultural organizations operate at a deficit, and 22 percent operate at a deficit greater than 10 percent of their total revenues.

-On average, 8 percent of the budget is spent on fund-raising, and for every dollar spent, the organization receives $9 in return.

-Visits to cultural organizations total more than 15 million, representing four visits per year for every resident of Southeastern PA.

-The arts are a bargain, with a median ticket price of $14, although costs to produce the events are often closer to $46, and 43 percent of all visits are free of charge.

I think it's important to highlight these facts in order to get a sense of what is the current state of arts and culture in the region, so the conversations going on throughout the community and at the Big Canvas Confab have some context, as we try to ferret out priorities, especially when the fiscal crisis nationally means less money may be available to support projects of all kinds.

 

The four approaches discussed were:

  1. To extend the arts and cultural experience to more people in the region, without being apologetic for making arts and culture a priority.  Funds should be earmarked to support artists, art-making, and address access issues by reducing barriers to access, like transportation and entrance fee issues.  Casinos and sports teams were targeted as possible sources of tax revenue to help fund the arts and projects, including a better Community Calendar to help let people know about what's happening in their area.

  2. This approach focused on children and education, by providing more opportunities for arts education, youth programs, and making it easier and cheaper to take children to events throughout the region.

  3. This approach would focus on building and nurturing the creative economy of the region, to help attract and keep young people in the area, rather than leaving for other cities that have a more focused arts and cultural community.  This would mean focusing on a few bigger projects rather than on a lot of smaller ones, revising SEPTA schedules to meet the needs of suburban patrons and new residents of the area, and help support regional arts festivals with national reach to attract more people to the area, and make Southeastern PA and Philly a special place for people to make their home.

  4. This approach would make the arts a more integral part of every community, as part of increasing the quality of life for all citizens.  This could involve promoting green values and curbing suburban sprawl.  This approach would also seek to bring different pats of the community together, so that what's happening in one area, say, Chester County, is not isolated from what's happening in Bucks County.

  5. This approach would be simply to leave the status quo and not change anything regarding arts and culture in the region.

One of the best ideas I heard all night came initially from Ann Moss, who regularly travels into the city for art events and volunteers at local nonprofits, and then everyone started joining in and throwing out ideas that would make this a great series of events. She suggested that there be some sort of regional traveling arts festival, where groups from all over the region would go to Malvern, Reading, Philly, West Chester, Paoli, Glenside and Bryn Mawr, Morrisville and Kennett Square – everywhere - showcasing all there is to see and do, as well as how to get there and what is costs.