810 Penn Avenue, Suite 200 Pittsburgh PA 15222 Ph: 412.391.2060 PittsburghArtsCouncil.org info@pittsburghartscouncil.org

Sample Testimony for Governmental Hearings Source: Urban Affairs Committee Hearing on the Economic Impact of the Arts on PA Cities (May 15, 2008). Compiled: July 29, 2010

Public Hearing: Economic Benefits of the Arts on Pennsylvania Cities Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Urban Affairs Committee Thursday, May 15, 2008

10:00am – 12:30pm

Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council

Mitch Swain, CEO Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Written Testimony

The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (Arts Council) is pleased to testify before the House Urban Affairs Committee at today’s Public Hearing: Economic Benefits of the Arts on Pennsylvania Cities. Chairman Petrone, thank you for the invitation to share our thoughts and experiences with you and the committee. As CEO of the Arts Council, I stand before you on behalf of our 170 member organizations and individual artists. I hope to paint you a picture of the arts and cultural community’s crucial role in the economic development and sustainability of our region. Background Information – Arts Council The Arts Council is the result of the successful merger of ProArts and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Alliance in May of 2005, which integrated a service/support organization with an advocacy organization allowing the new Arts Council to more fully contribute to the growth and health of Pittsburgh’s dynamic arts community. Our mission is to make the arts central to the lives of individuals by expanding the reach, influence and effectiveness of the region’s diverse cultural community. We will accomplish our mission through programs, services, advocacy, facilitating connections and promoting self-sufficiency and artistic endeavors. The Arts Council promotes the growth and quality of a diverse group of arts organizations, small to large, as well as independent artists, by providing services and programs that help them:

• Strengthen management and professional development capacity through an array of educational offerings;

• Gain access to technical assistance and legal services that they would otherwise be unable to afford;

• Increase organizational capacity to successfully fulfill artistic missions and reach growing and engaged audiences;

• Devote more energy and financial resources to their creative work through participation in low-cost, aggregated services like ProArtsTickets; and

• Receive funding through re-granting partnerships with foundations and government agencies.

The Arts Council is the single organization in the region positioned to contribute to efforts that advance the arts sector as a whole. It develops new resources, data and expertise, which are shared with the arts community. Specific areas include:

• Program Services: o Professional Development for Arts Managers and Independent Artists:

Best Practices in Arts Management workshops, BusinessSkills For Artists (BFA) workshops, Arts & Business Forums, Small Group Clinics, Brown-bag Lunch Discussions

o Pro Bono Management and Legal Consulting: Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Business Volunteers for the Arts®, staff technical assistance

o Grant Programs: Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts grants, Artist Opportunity Grants, Alcoa Foundation Leadership Development Grants for Arts Managers

o Web Sites / Information Resources: Ticket sales (www.proartstickets.org), the Arts Council website (www.pittsburghartscouncil.org), arts-related job bank (www.artsworks.org), the Office of Public Art (www.publicartpittsburgh.org), the Pittsburgh Artist Registry (www.pittsburghartistregistry.org), Update newsletter, and Arts Pittsburgh Events weekly e-mail

• Ticketing and Marketing Services: ProArtsTickets is a centralized “box office” that provides subscription and ticket sales, data management, cross-promotion marketing capabilities and other services to more than forty small and mid-sized organizations.

• Cultural Policy and Research: As a clearinghouse for information, the Arts Council is dedicated to participating in research initiatives that benefit the region’s arts and cultural community, and providing access to the most up-to-date, relevant information to help members of this community make the “case for the arts” for funding and development.

Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Grant Program I would like to highlight one our grant programs, the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PA Partners). PA Partners is a re-granting program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), which is administered locally by the Arts Council to arts groups in Allegheny County. Its goal is to make arts programs available to every Commonwealth resident, with a focus on previously underserved communities and regions in Pennsylvania. In 2007, the Arts Council awarded $283,931 in support of 81 grants. The PCA's goals for PA Partners are to:

• Expand access to the arts by (a) making programs available to communities that may have been underserved in the past by state arts funding, and (b) supporting a wide variety of arts activities in the community that have been developed in a variety of local settings.

• Encourage local decision-making in re-granting of state arts dollars • Increase awareness of and advocacy for government support and funding of the arts

at the local and state levels. • Enable the PCA to provide increased assistance to its broad constituency throughout

the state.

In addition, the Arts Council's priorities for re-granting PA Partners funds are to: • Provide new opportunities for the work of emerging arts organizations and individual

artists to be seen and appreciated by county residents.

• Foster quality arts projects that take place in community settings. • Provide increased opportunities for underserved populations in the county - especially

senior citizens and persons of color - to participate in and benefit from the arts both as artists and as audience members.

Robert Gorczyca, a local artist and 2007 grantee, received a PA Partners grant to stage his project, And the Tree Grows Strong, on October 28, 2007, at Pittsburgh's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. In this cross-generational, cross-cultural project, Mr. Gorczyca, a tall white man in his 70s, produced a play that began as an oral history for the University of Pittsburgh’s Labor Archives. The stories in the play were based on and inspired by members of a support group that met regularly at the downtown Pittsburgh Salvation Army for African American grandmothers—of widely different ages—who were raising their grandchildren. The play received excellent pre-production coverage in print media and radio, and attracted a near-capacity audience of 350. The audience was roughly two-thirds African-American, socio-economically diverse, and mixed in age. The show was an undisputed artistic success. PCA funding contributes to the success of many projects like Mr. Gorczyca’s, and provides a reliable source of support for the operation of arts organizations. In the past five years, the PCA has seen an increase of 205 organizations applying for ongoing support.

1 FY 2002-

2003 FY 2007-

2008 Change %

Change

Combined Fiscal Size of Organizations $366,240,152 $581,030,401 $214,790,249 58.6%

PCA Budget $13,734,000 $15,225,000 $1,491,000 10.9%Number of Organizations 405 610 205 51%

The PCA should be commended for its highly successful efforts to make state support more readily available. However, their success has led to the diminishment of support to organizations already supported by the PCA to make room for the new grantees. The Arts Council was pleased to see that Governor Rendell proposed an increase of $500,000 to the PCA FY09 budget. We would like to see that number increase to $2 million. Over the past few months, we sent letters to local and state representatives encouraging them to write to the governor in support of this increase. Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll, Senator Jay Costa, City Council President Douglas Shields and City Councilman William Peduto were among the many elected officials who wrote letters on the arts community’s behalf. Local arts organizations who contributed to this effort included: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Support like this is crucial to the long-term success of our arts and cultural industry. We urge the members of this committee to use their influence to help the PCA continue to support the efforts of all organizations, new and long-standing, to serve the people of Pennsylvania, and to support active and robust communities. The governor’s investment in the PCA will help ensure Pennsylvania’s prosperous economic future. 1 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

Portrait of a Thriving City Next, I would like to turn your attention to the array of cultural entities that contribute to our region’s economic vitality. Pittsburgh’s Cultural District The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (Trust), an arts agency and a real estate/economic development energy source, was created in 1984. Its formation put Pittsburgh one step closer to the late Jack Heinz’ vision of a cultural district. The Trust’s mission is “to stimulate the economic and cultural development of Pittsburgh through the development and promotion of a downtown arts and entertainment district. The Trust encourages and presents diverse performing and visual arts programs in the Cultural District.”2 To achieve its mission, the Trust:

• Brings a diverse selection of quality performing/visual arts and entertainment programs to the Cultural District.

• Stimulates the local economy through commercial and residential development. • Creates highly distinctive and lively environments. • Positions and promotes the Cultural District as a destination for increasing numbers of

visitors. • Partners with several community organizations and interests to enrich the region through

comprehensive education and outreach programs. • Provides diverse segments of the regional population with access to Cultural District

activities.3 In 1989, the Trust and the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority worked together, with the support of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and City Planning, to define the vision of the Cultural District in Pittsburgh. “The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's plan for development was a holistic approach that has included streetscape programs, facade restorations, new cultural facilities, and public open spaces and art projects. The end result encompasses a complete transformation of Pittsburgh's Downtown; from a "red light" district with only two cultural facilities - Heinz Hall and the Convention Center - to a vibrant animated area with over fourteen cultural facilities, public parks and plazas, and new/proposed commercial development.”4 Today, the Pittsburgh’s Downtown Cultural District is a 14 square-block destination. “In 2006, the Cultural District was home to more than 1,700 events, exhibitions and programs, drawing more than 1.1 million people.”5 The redevelopment of downtown in the Cultural District led to additional development in contiguous neighborhoods like the North Shore – new stadiums and other commercial and real estate projects. It also paved the way for further redevelopment in downtown areas like Market Square and the Pointe. The Trust is one of the great economic drivers of the city. Highlights of the Trust’s impact include:

• Arts and Culture Venues: Theater Square, which includes: a box office, a parking garage, the Cabaret at Theater Square, Carolyn M. Byham WQED Studios; The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts; The Byham Theater; The Harris Theater; The O’Reilly Theater; Wood Street Galleries; SPACE Gallery

2 The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, www.pgharts.org/about/mission.aspx, retrieved 05/11/08 3 The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust 2006 Annual Report 4 The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, http://www.pgharts.org/about/index.aspx, retrieved on 05/12/08 5 Same as above

• Education and Community Engagement: School Day Matinee Series; PPG ArtsMASTERS programs; Art Excursions; Tix for Teachers; quarterly district-wide Gallery Crawls; JazzLive; First Night, a family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration of the arts; and collaborations with many small arts organizations.

• Shared Services: “Since its inception, the Trust’s Shared Services department has realized cumulative savings and cost avoidance of approximately $3.4 million.”6 The Shared Services community includes: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

• Real Estate – Residential and Commercial: Encore on 7th, first new high-rise residential downtown project in over 35 years; Trust Education Center and multiuse space; Cultural District Riverfront Development - the nation's first green, mixed-use, arts/residential development, which will provide “approximately 700 new residential units and 9,200 jobs for the region.”7

The work of the Trust and the impact of the Cultural District helped establish Pittsburgh’s position as the #1 mid-size arts city (AmericanStyle magazine) and the “most livable” city (Places Rated Almanac). Penn Avenue Arts Initiative The Penn Avenue Arts Initiative's (PAAI) mission is “to revitalize the Penn Avenue Corridor, between Negley and Mathilda avenues, by using the arts to enhance public perception of the district, instill pride in the neighborhood, foster inter and intra community ties, and establish an artist's niche. PAAI has been designed to act as a springboard for attracting and enticing artists to live and work in the neighborhoods along the Penn Avenue Corridor. The PAAI is part of a larger community development strategy that intertwines neighborhoods, residential, commercial and cultural projects. It is a project of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation (BGC) and Friendship Development Associates (FDA) Inc. It has been a driving force in the development of an innovative, diverse and cultural district in the East End of Pittsburgh. The vitality of Penn Avenue is not just in the creation that takes place there but in the interaction of individuals of diverse social, racial, and economic backgrounds that come together along the avenue.”8

6 The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, http://www.pgharts.org/about/index.aspx, retrieved on 05/12/08 7 The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, http://www.pgharts.org/cdrd/, retrieved on 05/13/08 8 Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, www.pennavenuearts.org, retrieved on 05/08/08

PAAI accomplishments9:

• Over 30 artists, arts organizations and arts businesses have established themselves along Penn Avenue – 10 equity stakeholders and 20 artist live/work spaces.

• Artist incentives: The PAAI Artist Loan and Grant fund provided eight loans that totaled over $80,000 and awarded 11 grants, totaling over $40,000.

• Penn Avenue has seen over $6 million in private arts-related investments. • Coordinated summer festivals and community events like Unblurred, which keeps

Penn Avenue alive with people. • PAAI Youth Component has provided over $60,000 in micro-grants to employ local

artists, who empower neighborhood children through the eyes of the art experience. Office of Public Art The Office of Public Art (OPA) provides technical assistance to organizations and individuals in the Pittsburgh region, who are planning or implementing a public art initiative, including community groups, developers, architects and government entities. In addition, OPA provides educational programming to raise awareness of public art in Pittsburgh. OPA is a partnership between the Arts Council and the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning funded by The Heinz Endowments. Projects include:

Pittsburgh Artist Registry is the only online artist database in the region available to visual, performing, literary and multi-disciplinary artists living in southwestern PA. Artists create an on-line portfolio by uploading examples of their work, bio, and resume. This valuable resource provides artists a platform to present their work in a searchable format open to organizations, curators, architects, developers, community organizations, and businesses.

Public Art Walking Tours consists of two published walking tours featuring art in public places: Pittsburgh Art in Public Places–Downtown Walking Tour and Pittsburgh Art in Public Places–Oakland Walking Tour. The downtown walking tour is divided into four tours: The Cultural District, The North Shore, Retail District and Firstside and Grant Street Corridor District. The Oakland tour begins at the Carnegie Library in Schenley Park and wraps throughout the park ending at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall.

Cultural Tourism While arts and culture have long been central to tourism and downtown development initiatives, leaders are now taking a wider view of how the creative sectors contribute to regional economic development through other important impacts. The arts:

• are major amenities that attract new residents, employees, and firms to an area; • are sources of specialized work force skill development; • contribute to creativity and innovation in all sectors; and • are vital assets that create pride, visibility, and a unique identity for a region.

These factors could not be more evident than during the Pittsburgh Symphony’s (PSO) recent Pittsburgh 250 Ambassador Tour. Intersecting with the tour, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, traveled to Europe for business development meetings. When asked about the tour Michael Langley, CEO Allegheny Conference, remarked, “Cultural tourism and exchange is often a small spark that creates an

9 Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, www.pennavenuearts.org, retrieved on 05/08/08

opportunity, [for] trade and then investment, and that is when you have people moving to a location. . . ."10 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, along with County Chief Executive Dan Onarato, joined up with the tour at select stops to spark interest in Pittsburgh as a region rich in culture, history and business opportunities.

“The PSO plays a very special role in acting as an ambassador for our city through its tours and performances, particularly those abroad. When international music lovers hear our world-class PSO, they get an immediate sense of Pittsburgh as a world-class city. An active and vibrant arts community is what people expect from a globally competitive city that is also America’s Most Livable City. Our vibrant arts community helps us to attract and retain residents and business opportunities and investments that ultimately strengthen the city and the Pittsburgh region.”11

The opportunity to travel abroad and share our arts and cultural experiences is all about building relationships. In addition to the PSO’s tour, other Pittsburgh arts groups have engaged in this process, including: Patrick Jordan, Artistic Director of barebones productions, who in 2007 traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland to be a part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Quantum Theatre presented the play Dog Face as part of the 2005 Festival de Otoño in Madrid, Spain, and later this year they will head back to Spain to present The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. Arts and Economic Prosperity III Cities that offer an abundance of arts and cultural opportunities will be most successful in their efforts to entice new businesses as well as attract and develop a bright and creative workforce. Arts and culture combined with more traditional quality-of-life factors—including safe neighborhoods, good schools, and accessible recreational and outdoor attractions—make communities attractive to desirable, knowledge-based workers who want to participate in these opportunities during their scarce leisure time. A vibrant arts scene also helps keep young people in the region and slows the “brain drain” that often occurs when students graduate from a region’s institutions of higher education. The recent Arts and Economic Prosperity III study (AEP III), conducted by Americans for the Arts, verifies the importance of Pennsylvania’s nonprofit arts community. Nonprofit arts and cultural organizations represent a $1.99 billion industry for Pennsylvania. Organizations spend $1.03 billion directly and leverage a remarkable $960.99 million in additional spending by their audiences. As part of AEP III, the Arts Council partnered with Americans for the Arts to study the economic impact of the nonprofit arts community in Allegheny County. The year-long study, the first of its kind in this region since the mid-1990s, clearly shows that nonprofit arts and culture is a significant industry in Allegheny County. It is an industry that generates $341.56 million in local economic activity. This spending–$230.7 million by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and an additional $110.87 million in event-related spending by their audiences—supports 10,192 full-time equivalent jobs, generates $204.29 million in household income to local residents, and delivers $33.8 million in local and state government revenue.

10 “PSO tour touts city's assets,” Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 20, 2008, http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08020/850099-42.stm, retrieved 05/05/08 11 www.alleghenyconference.org/PDFs/ACCDPress/PR08PSOTour.pdf, retrieved 05/05/08

Robert L. Lynch, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts, said it best when he wrote,

The key lesson from Arts & Economic Prosperity III is that communities that invest in the arts reap the additional benefit of jobs, economic growth, and a quality of life that positions those communities to compete in our 21st century creative economy. In my travels across the country, leaders often talk to me about the challenges of funding the arts and other community needs amid shrinking resources. They worry about jobs and the economic performance of their community. How well are they competing in the high-stakes race to attract new businesses? Is their region a magnet for a skilled and creative workforce? The findings from Arts & Economic Prosperity III send a clear and welcome message: funders and governments who care about community and economic development can feel good about choosing to invest in the arts.12

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify before the House Urban Affairs Committee today.

12 Arts and Economic Prosperity III, Americans for the Arts, 2007

Written Testimony on the Economic Impact of the Arts on PA Cities Submitted bv Toanne Riley

President, Cultural Alliance of York County PA House of Representatives, Urban Affairs Committee

May 15,2008

Good Morning:

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to present my agency and its impact on York to you today. I would like to note that Eugene DePasquale is the representative from York and has been a huge supporter of the arts. Thank you Rep. DePasquale. I hope all of you will feel free to ask me any questions when I have finished my remarks.

My name is Joanne Riley and I am president of a 9 year old United Arts Fund (UAF) - the Cultural Alliance of York County. The Cultural Alliance functions similarly to the United Way - we raise money once a year through the efforts of volunteers and then distribute the money to 9 arts agencies through a rigorous review process. A panel of volunteers representing corporate contributors reviews, in depth, the business operations of arts agencies including budgets, board policies, and business practices.

We are the central vehicle for driving private support to nonprofit arts organizations of all disciplines. The private sector, led by business leaders who valued the arts as vital to the health of the community, created the Cultural Alliance in 1999. The Cultural Alliance is one of the most respected and efficient vehicles for businesses and individuals to support the arts, and has grown into a powerful grant allocation machine, a common voice within the community, and a catalyst for important arts issues. The Alliance raises more than $1 million annually to provide stable operating grants to 9 member agencies. And these numbers are growing.

The Cultural Alliance is one of more than 60 united arts funds that currently exist in communities across the US, collectively raising more than $100 million for the arts community. We are private nonprofit agencies that broaden support for the arts, promote excellence in arts management, and help ensure that deserving arts agencies are financially stable.

We further strengthen the structure and capacity of the arts through grants, constructive feedback from our allocation process, and creating new generations of arts leadership.

York is a town of 44,000 and a county of fewer than 400,000, yet we have raised, in eight campaigns, more than $8.5 million in cash and in-kind services for 9 arts, history, and culture non-profits in York. Let me say that again - $8.5 million. More than 600 businesses, large and small, contribute to our campaign every year. They are solicited by 3 56 corporate volunteers who help raise this money. We are one of the top UAF's in the country recognized nationally for our success.

Why are we so successful? Why do SO many businesses invest and business leaders volunteer in our campaign? Because the York business community recognizes the Power of the Arts to transform its city and county. They recognize that arts are good for a community's economic growth. They also know that a rich cultural community attracts business and employees.

In the past 8 years, we have seen the arts, history, and cultural community begin to transform York. From the gorgeously renovated Strand Capital Performing Arts Center, to the growth of YorkArts, a gallery and educational center, to the potential new Arts Center, Museum and loft space, to the historic properties owned by the York County Heritage Trust, York is changing. We have a thriving Symphony which recently ended the season with 3 sold out (3600 audience members) concerts - their 75 'hyear. We have a youth and junior symphony for children from Sth grade through high school. York Little Theatre, a community theatre, is also celebrating its 7Sth year. In fact, among them, our nine member agencies have entertained, educated and performed for the people of York and the region for more than 500 years.

The Cultural Alliance has taken the lead role in helping with the growth of our members, which translates to the growth of our city. We have engaged a consultant to conduct a geodemographic analysis of our members and the public through data base analysis and public surveying. Some salient information from that survey, sent to 10,000 households in York and 5000 in a 30 mile radius around York is:

On a scale of 1 -10,l being least important and 10 being most important, where should support for arts, history, and culture rank on a community's public agenda?

The average answer for people living in York for 1-10 years was 7.37.

84% of the respondents felt that arts, culture, and heritage experiences make communities more attractive and desirable places to visit and live. 84%!!!!

We believe arts, history, and culture is the reason small towns like York thrive. Retail, restaurants, and people follow the arts. The studios open, and a town is revitalized. In York, as I mentioned, we have a first class performing arts center - The Strand Capitol - and it is the first place human resource professionals take potential employees and their families. A potential new employee usually asks - do you have a symphony - because it says something important about a cornunity if you have one - whether or not you attend.

It is becoming difficult to raise corporate dollars for the arts - there is increased competition from human service agencies; the corporate environment is changing due to mergers, closings, and the economic times. York is so philanthropic - if we are feeling the pinch here then it must be much tougher throughout the state.

The Cultural Alliance's efficiency in raising and distributing money is in large part due to The PA Council on the Arts. Their money helps fund our operations, which in turn allows us to re-grant 96 cents of every dollar raised to our 9 member agencies. Support of the arts in PA is critical - you are funding an industry that creates jobs, pays taxes, and attracts tourists.

I am so proud of our success. In addition to raising funds, we also provide Venture Funds to non-Cultural Alliance members to help with their arts programming. Our goal is to ensure a community filled with activities, performances and education on the arts. We can not do that without some support from you. We maximize every dollar you give us with matching private funds. This year, our campaign goal is $1.2 million - imagine in a town of 44,000 and a county of fewer than 400,000, re- investing that much money into the arts! I can imagine it - because we will do it.

Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to report a national success story that comes out of a small city. There are many more such stories - we need you to hear them.