Missoula BCA Business in the Arts Award Luncheon
John C. Hampton, Chairman of the Board, Hampton Affiliates
Broadway Building at St. Patrick Hospital
Missoula, Montana
January 16, 2004
"The Patrons and policy-makers of Oregon's cultural establishment have something in common: a belief that art is more than just enlightening entertainment that can lure people and their pocketbooks to concert halls, galleries and bistros."
"These people argue that a vibrant creative culture is a necessary condition of prosperity without which Oregon will not, cannot thrive."
"A reputation as an 'arts town' also tends to attract 'creative thinkers' — artists, engineers, scientists, novelists, dancers, architects, think-tank researchers, analysts, musicians — who breathe life into a community and make it a livelier place to live as well."
"But for all that is true, the arts have to get consistent support, he said; cultural tourists need to know that the culture will be there whenever they decide to visit. That means state legislatures have to be committed to funding the arts, even in the toughest economic times."
"We can't cripple our culture to the point where it creates a disincentive for the members of the creative class to come here."
"They are the people who provide ideas that propagate new economic activity and new businesses."
"What the business people and arts provides have done in Oregon building a cultural trust that holds millions of dollars, the Missoula Cultural Council and the new Missoula Business Committee for the Arts can do in Montana."
"It can be done. You already have two legs to the stool here. The third leg, he said, is convincing others throughout the state that the arts are important."
"How desolate our lives would be if we didn't have art and culture to relieve the stresses of our everyday lives."
"Art attracts the types of workers and generates the kinds of discoveries that will keep the economy of the future humming."
"Art matters - not because we enjoy it or enjoy making it, but because it makes our economy grow."