SUPPORTING ART ADVANCING CULTURE LETTER FROM THE BOARD CHAIR AND PRESIDENT The Greater Columbus Arts Council’s mission is to support the cultural sector. We do this in a variety of ways—we help artists build their careers, provide sustainable support to organizations, invest in research, share best practices and celebrate creativity and innovation in Columbus. This past year was successful on all of these fronts. >> Operating Support awarded 27 grants for approximately $3.4 million and Project Support awarded 61 grants for $635,471. There was an 8.8 percent increase over 2016 in total grant dollars awarded. >> The release of Arts & Economic Prosperity 5, the research report completed by Americans for the Arts in partnership with the Arts Council, showed that the arts and cultural sector in central Ohio is a major contributor to the economy. The sector generates nearly a half billion dollars in economic activity annually, supports 14,980 full-time jobs and generates $373 million in household income. >> With wonderful weather and a dedicated team of staff and volunteers, the 2017 Columbus Arts Festival was one of our most successful ever. A privately supported event, the Arts Festival secured American Electric Power as the presenting sponsor and the Festival rose to #16 in the national ranking of Arts Festivals by Sunshine Artist magazine. >> The Art Makes Columbus/Columbus Makes Art campaign continues to gain traction and accolades. More stories about Columbus artists are appearing regionally and nationally and arts organizations’ ticket sales are strong, with earned income rising 18.2 percent since 2013. Columbus Open Studio & Stage, an Art Makes Columbus engagement project, saw a 23 percent increase in ticket sales. As always, we are grateful to Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, Columbus City Council and the Ohio Arts Council for our funding and all the individuals, corporations and community partners who support our work in the arts. Tom Szykowny Tom Katzenmeyer Board Chair President and CEO ADVOCACY RESOURCES INFORMING AUDIENCES PROMOTION The second-annual Columbus Open Studio & Stage held on October 7-8 featured 50 artists, seven stages, 11 community partners and a 23 percent growth in ticket sales over 2016. Artists sold nearly $30,000 worth of artwork and made new connections and the public got a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creative process. The 2018 event will be held September 29-30. Community Arts Partnership Awards 2017 RESULTS The Community Arts Partnership Awards moved to the Greater Columbus Convention Center in 2017 in order to accommodate 1,745 PRINT, ONLINE AND growing demand for the entertaining and unique awards BROADCAST STORIES luncheon. More than 700 civic, business and arts leaders gathered on October 26 for a fast-paced show emceed by 918 MILLION IMPRESSIONS Angela Pace. Celebrating individual and business support of the arts, the Arts Council presented individual awards $6.4 MILLION PUBLICITY VALUE to Mark Corna, Corey Favor and Marshall Shorts, and Peter Stafford Wilson. Three local businesses—Donatos, Easton 55 FEATURED ARTISTS Town Center and the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority—received awards of art by Columbus-based artists. 132,546 VIDEO VIEWS The Columbus Makes Art Excellence Awards of $10,000 were presented to BalletMet for Art in Motion and Scott Woods for $482,923 IN MEDIA IN-KIND Holler: 30 Days of Black Art. ADDED VALUE PeaceLove 1.9 MILLION With support from Cardinal Health and Donatos, the Arts FACEBOOK IMPRESSIONS Council provided two scholarships in 2017 for PeaceLove. This innovative training workshop gives frontline mental 322,167 TWITTER IMPRESSIONS health practitioners the tools, knowledge and resources to use the arts to help their clients. Ellice Park, independent 341,232 WEB PAGE VIEWS counselor, and Patrice Palmer, with the Franklin County Correctional Facilities Pathways Program, received training 40% INCREASE IN at the PeaceLove headquarters in Rhode Island in February WEBSITE TRAFFIC and June. Together they have conducted workshops helping hundreds of people struggling with mental health issues in $115,959 EARNED IN Franklin County. GOOGLE AD GRANTS ARTS AND CULTURAL 88 ORGANIZATIONS ENGAGED A COMMUNITY OF 4,128,585 volunteers school children audience members *Data set only captured for Operating and Project Support grantees for the fiscal year 2016. EXPERTISE BEST PRACTICES The central Ohio sector FINANCIAL SUPPORT GENERATES NEARLY A BUILDING AUDIENCES Half Billion Dollars IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 With the release of Arts & Economic Prosperity 5, conducted by $373M Americans for the Arts in partnership with the Arts Council, we saw what in household a powerhouse the nonprofit arts and cultural sector is in central Ohio. income and The sector generates nearly $412.3 million in economic activity, SUPPORTS $373 million in household income, supports 14,980 full-time jobs and 14,980 returns $46.8 million in revenue to state and local government. full-time jobs Grants Outreach The Grants & Services office has worked hard in 2017 on revamping the GoArts online application portal and the Arts Council’s Grant Guidelines. The new online portal launched in early 2018 and provides a more user-friendly online experience to applicants. As part of the new GoArts and Guidelines launch, Grants & Services presented 18 grants workshops in December across the community with 170 applicants attending. Venues included eight Columbus Metropolitan Library branches, six Arts Council partner locations and three community centers. Public Forum On November 15, more than 150 arts and community leaders gathered at COSI for the annual Arts Council Public Forum. The forum provided a sneak peek at the upcoming community-wide collaboration I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100, the new American Museum of Natural History’s Dinosaur Gallery and sought public input on a variety of arts issues and resources through an innovative real-time, online voting system. Raymond J. Hanley Award On October 10, poet Kathy Fagan was presented with the ninth annual Raymond J. Hanley Award for $12,500. In honor of the late Ray Hanley, former president and CEO of the Arts Council, the award is presented to a Columbus artist who has demonstrated a high level of achievement while working at least five years in any discipline. Fagan is the director of the MFA program in creative writing at The Ohio State University, where she has taught for 28 years. She is the first literature recipient of the award. OppART Thirty-four OPPArt & grants workshops were held with 616 attendees covering a range of topics including accessing the Arts Council, 34 616 grantwriting, data and budgeting, fundraising, legal issues and more. WORKSHOPS ATTENDEES COLUMBUS INVESTMENT IN THE ARTS 2016 Every $1 invested by the city of Columbus ROI was matched by $28.80 in total dollars. $15.82 in earned revenue $1 = $28.80 $11.86 in other contributed revenue $ 1.12 in other government support *Most recent fiscal year with complete data. Operating and Project support grants only. In-kind contributions and permanently restricted revenues have been removed. COLLABORATION COMMUNICATIONS CONVENING SHARING Columbus Arts Festival The 2017 Festival featured notable local, national and international artists, representing 37 states, Belgium and Canada, and 55 artists from the state of Ohio. For the first time ever, the Columbus Arts Festival presented Sliders with the Symphony, a performance by the full Columbus Symphony, conducted by Rossen Milanov. The performance was made possible by Safelite Autoglass in partnership with White Castle, whose staff served up free White Castle sliders to the late morning crowd. With the help of presenting sponsor American Electric Power, the Arts Festival commissioned a temporary public art piece by two Columbus-based artists, Christabel and Samuel Wagner. National headliner, Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience got the crowds dancing at the West Bank Stage on Saturday night. Sign Your Art Sign Your Art returned to the Festival in 2017 thanks to support from Easton Town Center. Nearly 800 people participated in making art at the Festival and the artist and community tiles were displayed on signposts in 64 locations around Columbus mid-July through mid-August. Street Performer Program The Arts Council provided matching funds to seven community partners to pay artists to perform around Columbus, adding vibrancy to the city’s outdoor markets and public spaces. PARTNERS INCLUDE: > Capital Crossroads’ Pearl Market > Short North Arts District Gallery Hop 166 ARTISTS > North Market PERFORMANCES > Gay Street Sunlight Market 210 > Gay Street Moonlight Market 479.5 HOURS OF PERFORMANCE > Greater Columbus Convention Center > John Glenn International Airport $35,015 PAID TO ARTISTS arts>sports Nonprofit arts attendance that of Columbus home in Columbus is game sports attendance Attendance from 2015, the most recent year with complete figures for arts and sports. Sports attendance of 3,288,739 from publicly available home game attendance for the following teams: Columbus Blue Jackets, Columbus Clippers, Columbus Crew SC and men’s and women’s football, basketball, ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer and women’s field hockey at The Ohio State University. Arts attendance of 5,212,745 compiled from physical attendance at 91 central Ohio arts and cultural organizations as submitted to Americans for the Arts for the Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study released in June 2017. We can’t say enough about how