Local arts groups teaming up
Shaken by recession and struggling to advance the cause of the arts in one of the South's most important cultural centers, members of Charleston's arts and business communities gathered earlier this week for a town hall meeting.
The purpose of the meeting, sponsored by the recently formed Charleston Arts Coalition and hosted by the Tate Center for Entrepreneurship at the College of Charleston, was to discuss newly published results from a survey conducted by the coalition and brainstorm ways to improve collaboration among arts groups, according to coalition president Jessica Bluestein, who also is on staff at the Tate Center.
The survey showed that a large majority of 277 respondents want an organization whose purpose is to unite the arts community, a regular forum for exchanging ideas and more partnerships between groups. The most significant challenges faced by arts groups are fundraising and marketing, according to the survey. All respondents said affordable new creative space is needed for performance, studio work, rehearsals and meetings.
The recession that set in last year caused financial strife among arts organizations throughout the 2008-09 season. Groups reduced programming, trimmed staff, slashed budgets and struggled to raise money. Most arts organizations are preparing for another tough season.
Bluestein said the Arts Coalition has already taken steps to address some concerns. It launched www.charlestonculture.com, a Web site that aggregates artist information and provides resources to the creative community. Soon there could be a distributable version (print and/or electronic) of the site's contact listings, she said. The Tate Center is offering a course in mid-September called "Entrepreneurship for Creatives" which will teach artist-entrepreneurs how to design a business plan and evaluate market opportunities. And the Coalition is partnering with the S.C. Arts Commission to extend the Commission's "New Audience Road Show" project, piloted in Columbia two years ago.
The Road Show project recruits people who normally would not attend performances or exhibitions and provides them access to institutions and to information that helps them appreciate the arts. In turn, these "roadies" recruit others who attend events. Little by little, the thinking goes, people who were once intimidated by the arts or found them inaccessible for one reason or another become supporters.
Katie Fox, the Commission's director of arts education in the Artists' Ventures Initiative, said the coalition could help facilitate projects and be a value resource of information about the Charleston market. She said she was impressed by the commitment shown at the town hall meeting and hopes the coalition succeeds in bringing as many stakeholders as possible to the table. About 150 people attended Tuesday's meeting.
Karen Chandler, associate professor in arts management at the College of Charleston and co-founder of the Charleston Jazz Initiative, said the coalition is a "valuable concept in theory, but the practical piece in all this is what needs to be developed."
Chandler, who attended the town hall meeting, said Charleston is missing what many other communities have: a local arts council that provides material support and resources to arts organizations in the form of workshops, teaching opportunities, funding and promotion.
"While we have a very unique cultural environment, we don't have a single entity that provides support," she said.
Bluestein said the coalition's main purpose is to give a voice to a disparate collection of local artists and arts supporters, to foster conversation and collaboration and to prove to the wider community that the arts are an integral part of a healthy city. "In general, we're serving as a kind of creative hub," she said. "And we've got to show the business community how important the creative sector is."
To keep the dialogue going, the coalition will be organizing quarterly town hall meetings, she said.
Reach Adam Parker at 937-5902 or aparker@postandcourier.com.
