2010 Report to the Community
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2010 REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY I am pleased to share Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s 2010 Report to the Community with you. It was just over a year ago that I returned to Cleveland to join this organization, and since my return, I have seen how much county residents truly value the arts and cultural assets that have made the region vibrant for more than a century. Our community is made rich by the exceptional arts and cultural activity that takes place here every day, and I am proud to be part of an organization that supports this important work. We at CAC take seriously our charge: through our distribution of public grant dollars, we aim to sustain the excellence of the cultural assets that enrich all of our lives and enhance our community’s appeal. Since 2007, CAC has invested almost $65 million in our County’s arts and culture sector, and this report demonstrates the positive impact of that investment in our community. This investment has been made possible by the residents of Cuyahoga County who voted to establish a dedicated source of public funding to support local arts and culture and, by doing so, vaulted the region into one of the top five local public funders for arts and culture in the nation. We have an extraordinary resource here in Cuyahoga County, and CAC works hard to ensure that it is invested wisely and well. Our investments support a strong quality of life that has allowed us all to participate in a wide variety of arts and cultural activities that take place across the County. Beyond the venerable institutions of University Circle, CAC’s investment helps bring quality arts and cultural programs to Bay Village, Strongsville, Parma, East Cleveland, and all of the 59 cities and townships that make up Cuyahoga County. These investments are also made to increase access to cultural experiences for students of all ages, and they are an important economic development tool, as the arts provide jobs, attract investments and stimulate local economies through tourism and consumer purchases. This report demonstrates the significant impact that CAC has had on our community since it was created in 2007, and we hope that, as you read on, you will share our pride in the work that arts organizations of all sizes are doing to make our community a lively and exciting place to live. CAC’s successes are truly the result of a team effort. I am grateful to our Board of Trustees, led by Chairman Steven Minter, for its continued leadership as we chart our course to the future. I am grateful to the highly efficient CAC staff for the work that they do every day to ensure that our values of accountability, transparency, impartiality, and partnership are embedded in every decision and relationship we build. I would also like to thank our colleagues at the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, who helped create a climate where public support of the arts could flourish, and for their ongoing advice and counsel. And, of course, we must thank the hundreds of the artists, volunteers, and staff that have built and maintain our arts & cultural sector for making our world a little brighter every day through their work. CAC provides the financial support that helps make our sector thrive – but the real thanks is due to you, the residents of Cuyahoga County. Thank you for making us one of the leading regions in the nation for public funding of the arts, and thank you for your continued support. Yours sincerely, Karen Gahl-Mills Executive Director • Cuyahoga Arts & Culture 3 WHAT IS CUYAHOGA ARTS & CULTURE? Cuyahoga Arts & Culture is the public agency that makes grants to eligible Cuyahoga County-based nonprofits that focus on arts and cultural programming. CAC’s revenue is provided by a dedicated cigarette tax; to date, CAC has awarded nearly $65 million to more than 150 organizations that enrich our community, drive our economy, and educate our residents. In four short years, CAC has evolved into the largest dedicated public funding source for the arts in Ohio, and one of the largest in the U.S. In 2011, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture will distribute $14.8 million to more than 120 nonprofit and public sector organizations all across Cuyahoga County, from Chagrin Falls to Strongsville and every community in between. CAC grants are awarded through an objective, fair and public process. All grant applications are reviewed and scored by independent panels of experts, in an open public forum that is streamed live online. Formulas are used to calculate grant awards, assuring that no preference can be given to one grantee over another. DID YOU General Operating Support (GOS) is a KNOW? multi-year grant that provides ongoing CAC is an independent core support for established arts or cultural organizations that serve political sub-division a wide audience. In 2010, annual of the State of Ohio, award amounts (per organiza- tion) ranged from $1.8 million which is defined by the to just under $6,000. Ohio Revised Code Project Support (PS) is (Ch. 3381) as a “Regional designed to provide support for Arts & Cultural District.” projects that demonstrate both a strong community benefit and a CAC is not part of city commitment to artistic quality. PS grants or county government. have an upper limit of $50,000, and in 2010 project award amounts ranged from $600 to $50,000. 4 CAC also supports a limited number of special initiatives that demonstrate extraordinary community impact. One such initiative is the “Creative Workforce Fellowship,” administered by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, which provides 20 local artists with a one-year, $20,000 fellowship. CAC also supports the Cleveland Orchestra’s annual free concert in Public Square which attracts over 70,000 area residents. DID YOU CAC is not the sole funder for any organization. GOS grants may not exceed 25 percent of an organization’s total budget, KNOW? while PS grants require that organizations demonstrate the ability to provide an equal financial match. ACCOUNTABLE, ACCESSIBLE, RESPONSIBLE Cuyahoga Arts & Culture prides itself on its responsible and transparent stewardship of public funds. Administrative costs remain less than five percent of annual expenses, which means that 95 percent of the taxes collected are reinvested as grants in the community. As a public agency, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s funds must be broadly accessible to the many arts organizations that serve residents of this county. As a result, CAC does not place quotas on the number of grants or categories of grants that it awards. Any organization that meets CAC’s eligibility criteria is welcome and encouraged to apply for a grant. 5 DEMONSTRATING IMPACT Making grants is core to the mission of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture; but to what end? Are these grants making a difference in our com- munity? And how do we know? These questions have been at the core of CAC’s recent research efforts. Based on data from the Ohio Cultural Data Project, a state-wide data collection effort for Ohio’s arts and cultural organizations, it is clear that CAC funding is having a demonstrated impact on our community as a whole.* * These data were collected from 61 General Operating Support recipients over three years, starting with 2007; this demonstrates a period before CAC funding was available for distribution in the community, and culminates in 2009, after two full years of grant funding. The data presented here represent significant numbers and trends in Cuyahoga County’s arts & culture sector, but cannot capture the entirety of the sector, which includes many individual artists, for-profit arts organizations, and nonprofits that are not currently funded through CAC. 6 THE ARTS ECONOMY AT WORK More than 5,000 employees and contractors work for nonprofit organizations that receive General Operating Support from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture; they earn more than $108,000,000 each year and pay almost $8 million in local payroll taxes. Add to that the people who work for arts-focused nonprofits that do not receive CAC funding, those who work for for-profit arts organizations, as well as the countless people who supply the sector with services, and it becomes clear that the sector plays an important role in the economy of this region. DID YOU CAC-funded organizations employ more people than large regional employers like Case Western Reserve University (4,550), Goodyear Tire & Rubber (3,900), KNOW? Sherwin-Williams (3,700), Parker Hannifin (3,300) and American Greetings (2,200). Source: Ohio Dept. Development - 2010 Ohio Major Employers REINVESTING IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY’S ECONOMY Salaries and payroll taxes represent only a portion of the total economic expenditures from arts organizations. In 2009, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture’s General Operating Support grantees generated and spent more than $280 million on operating expenses, from building theater sets and purchasing office supplies, to paying rent and utilities. Many of those expenditures stay right here in Cuyahoga County, as a reinvestment of CAC’s grant funding to fuel local economic activity and development. MAPPING THE IMPACT OF CAC’S INVESTMENT Cuyahoga Arts & Culture funds programming in every city and township across the county. The maps below offer a bird’s eye view of where programming is occurring, and who is attending these programs.* MAP OF CAC-FUNDED PROGRAMMING VENUES 2009-2010* * Each dot represents a site where CAC-funded programming took place, not necessarily where a CAC-funded grantee is based. These include a wide range of performance or event spaces, including theaters, community centers, schools, museums, parks, and others. MAP OF HOUSEHOLDS THAT ATTENDED CAC-FUNDED PROGRAMMING 2009-2010** ** Participation correlates closely to population distribution; map areas depicting lower participation also have smaller populations.