Simple Things Your Business Can Do to Help the Arts

In the current economic climate, public and private financial support to arts organizations has leveled off and, in many instances, declined. There are many simple things you, your company and your employees can do to help the arts weather the current economic environment and continue to add to the economic vitality and quality of life of your community:

• Purchase tickets and subscriptions for performances and concerts, and admission tickets and memberships to museums and special exhibitions, and give them as gifts for a:
  • Birthday
  • Anniversary
  • Special Holiday - Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day
  • Graduation
  • Housewarming gift
  • Promotion
  • Special Achievement

• Encourage your employees to include the arts – performances, craft festivals, museums, historic sites, etc. – in their vacation and business travel plans.

• In the workplace:
  • Organize lunchtime programs featuring local arts groups.
  • Organize a lunchtime or after-work dialogue series about the arts or sponsor demonstrations presented by artists from local arts organizations.
  • Hold an arts fair featuring arts organizations and encourage them to provide information about their activities and sell their merchandise.
  • Rent arts spaces, such as a theater, museum (gallery or auditorium) for meetings, company events and holiday gatherings.
  • Organize arts-related events, such as a performance or a behind-the-scenes tour, for employees and their families and friends.

• Encourage your employees to volunteer to help arts organizations with everything from data entry and mailings, to legal and accounting services, to marketing, fundraising and public relations.

• Make your company a catalyst for linking the arts to other organizations in the community. For example:
  • Help stock the local food pantry by making arrangements with an arts organization to offer a discount on a ticket purchase to those who donate canned foods for the pantry.
  • Celebrate the efforts of volunteers who help build or revitalize low-cost community housing by holding an on-site performance presented by local arts groups.
  • Organize hands-on, creative activities presented by local arts organizations in healthcare facilities and human service agencies.

Organize creative workplace programs, such as BCA’s art@work^® to encourage employees to share with others the arts they create, and invite representatives from local arts organizations to be part of this effort.