The Arts - Pittsburgh Couldn't Be Without Them
By William C. Byham, Ph.D., President
and Chief Executive Officer,
Development Dimensions International
"Why Should Business Support the Arts?
- The arts help attract and retain employees. Offering personnel the opportunity to participate in a variety of arts events encourages community involvement and cultural advancement.
- The arts provide an opportunity for business involvement. Creating alliances between business and the arts affords business leaders the opportunity to express themselves through arts participation, to give back to the communities in which they operate and to develop interpersonal skills.
- The arts are good for the community. The arts offer culture and entertainment to local residents, and in turn, create a vital and diverse community. For example, for every $1 spent on arts admissions, $4 are generated in revenue through transportation, parking, restaurant, hotel and retail sales. The arts also create jobs. Recently, 1,138 full-time arts-related positions were created in Allegheny County. Additionally, the arts help support the economy. In Allegheny County, the arts generated $21.3 million in tax revenue in a year.
- The arts add luster to people's lives. Arts programs foster communication and understanding among individuals of different backgrounds and cultures, document and preserve history, and thus become a part of everyday life, and provide an important form of education for children and adults throughout the world.
- Business support to the arts enhances a company's image. It illustrates a concern for local residents, as well as for the company's operating communities.
- Business should give back to the communities in which it operates. Supporting the arts is the responsibility of the community's key stakeholders, such as business leaders. Additionally, business leaders are citizens. Therefore, by supporting the arts, they demonstrate not only their commitment to the community, but their concern as fellow citizens.
- Through publicity and touring, the arts create a solid, commendable reputation for the city in which a business operates. In turn, the city attracts visitors and potential customers, as well as arts supporters.
How Can Business Support the Arts?
Approximately 50% of the total operating costs of arts organizations are realized from ticket sales. Furthermore, government spending allocated to the arts is modest. Therefore, businesses can provide financial support to alleviate financial pressures facing arts organizations.
Employees can volunteer their time and expertise to arts organizations on an on-going basis, as well as for special projects.
Business executives can serve on the boards of arts organizations. By doing so, they have opportunities to share their knowledge and expertise with their operating communities in a creative fashion. The arts organization, the community, the business and the business executive all benefit from this partnership.
A business can increase attendance to arts performances and events by displaying posters and brochures around the office, and by offering employee discounts and special packages to arts-related activities.
Business executives who support the arts can serve as models for other
business executives to follow. For example, they can buy art and display
it in the office; attend cultural events and discuss them with their employees
and associates; and entertain clients at arts events and performances,
thereby assisting in audience development."