In the beginning of March the Rand Corporation released a report on the need for greater collaboration and centralization of arts related activities in large cities. The report examines 11 municipalities in an attempt to provide advice to Philadelphia.
I am not going to do a full review of the report titled, “Arts and Culture in the Metropolis: Strategies for Sustainability.” For those who may believe the document may have something of interest for them, but fear they may not have the time to read the whole thing, I quote the introduction.
“Readers interested in the roots of the current problems facing metropolitan arts sectors should focus on Chapter Two. Those who are particularly interested in the methods we developed with regard to applicability to other regions should look at Chapters Three and Four. Those interested solely in Philadelphia should turn to Chapter Five.”
One of the interesting things their study found was what impact audiences identifying with a region vs. a neighborhood has in support of the arts.
“…despite the difficulty of traveling from the suburbs to the city, suburban Bostonians identified with the city and were frequent attendees at city arts events, whereas residents of the Phoenix metropolitan area…identify not with the area as a whole but rather with the specific communities in which they live. One by-product of this phenomenon is that many…are building their own arts centers even though they duplicate similar centers in surrounding communities.”
(pdf pgs 49-50, doc. pg 27-28)
They go on to talk about how this causes a lot of competition for resources in the region. It occurs to me that the question cities should ask before constructing new arts centers, if they aren’t already, is what dynamic their greater metropolitan area has. You don’t want to build a huge performing arts center counting on attendance from suburbanites who aren’t inclined to show up.
I am also wondering what the best plan of action is for the future. As people’s entertainment orientation turns toward their home entertainment systems, logic might dictate an arts center close to home to make attendance an easy decision. Yet clearly you want to avoid having many arts centers competing for funding and audiences near each other.
Is the solution to have the central arts council and largest city government of a region engage in a long term campaign to encourage closer identification with the city in the hopes of preserving the financial health of the region? I am not talking about squashing competition and variety here. Having too many arts centers in competition for the marquee performers needed to attract ticket buyers and donors necessary to support operations threatens to drive up costs.
For those organizations and governments looking to set up or revamp an Arts Council of some type, Chapter 4, (pg 55ff of pdf, p33ff of doc) contains a survey of all the permutations these entities take. It is amazing to see all the different ways they have been organized as part and apart from local government and how they are funded. The myriad combinations of functions they serve including fundraising, re-granting, advice, information coordination, advocacy, promotion, alliances and even arts presenting/producing themselves.