Carolyn Jack

Editor and CEO, Geniocity.com
A project of The Genius Group LLC

Talking turkey on the arts – and don’t forget the survey

I wrote not long ago about the Ohio Arts Council ’s regular efforts to sound out constituents across the state on their community successes and problems and organizational and artistic needs, in order to better serve them.

Though the OAC has a great rep for being particularly conscientious about that sort of thing, it’s not alone. In spite of the widespread perception – pervasive since the American culture wars of the late 1980s and early ’90s – that civic and political officialdom is generally anti-arts, many private organizations and government agencies have made it their business in the last decade or so to find out what’s undermining our local and national arts-and-culture sectors and do something about it.

Leveraging Investment in Creativity (LINC) especially comes to mind. The mission of this 10-year-old New York City-based group is to make the work and lives of American artists easier by researching communities, finding out what resources are and are not available to artists and then offering support – grants, information and idea-sharing – to help those communities provide a better climate for artmaking.

Americans for the Arts does in advocacy what arts councils and groups such as LINC do in financial and infrastructure support. Americans for the Arts makes the case for art and arts education nationwide, spreading the word about their value, keeping arts issues in front of national and community leaders and working to improve support for the arts among the public and elected leaders. 

They can do their work a lot more effectively when they have input directly from members of the arts sector. So, leaders of arts organizations, you can help by filling out the Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders Network survey about current professional-development needs and trends. Both novice and experienced leaders are welcome to participate.

The only way the American public will ever develop a more widespread and lasting appreciation for arts and for creativity in general is if those of us who believe it’s important keep speaking up. We need to untiringly remind our fellow citizens that those two things are among the best of what humanity has going for it – they’re means to the changed and better world in which we all want to find ourselves. 

So on Thursday, I’ll wish a happy Thankgiving to all the people everywhere who are using their imaginations, their powers of expression and the skill of their hands to enrich, inform and improve our lives. 

People like you.