Collaboration important to success in arts
Posted January 19, 2008
A promising new initiative is taking shape in our region, and it’s worth noting. It is the formation and launch of the new Blue Water Arts Council (http://www.bluewaterarts.org).
For most of 2007, the Community Foundation of St. Clair County researched the concept of facilitating the creation of an arts council for the region. Why we’ve never had our own arts council before is a mystery, and there was no shortage of skeptics along the way.
After site visits to other communities with their own successful arts councils, along with meetings and discussions with key groups and people throughout this region, however, it became clear there was enthusiastic support for the idea. Perhaps more importantly, the continued decline of state funding for the arts prompted many local arts organizations to realize collaboration is our key to success and prosperity in the arts.
We have learned quite a bit about the arts community since we collaborated with local artists, the Acheson Foundation, the Port Huron Downtown Development Authority and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs to open Studio 1219 in October 2005. Even with the ups and downs of operating the Blue Water Area’s only art incubator, the most critical lesson we’ve learned is the importance of arts and culture to St. Clair County and this entire region.
In this part of the state, like those areas on its western side or in the Traverse City and Harbor Springs areas, most of us realize the importance of tourism to our economic health. Whether they are day tourists, weekend tourists, or those visiting for longer stays during the summer, tourism is, and should be, a primary focus of this region.
Our arts community plays an important role in the tourism business of the Blue Water Area. Think of the museums in Port Huron, the International Symphony, art along the river in St. Clair, the new outdoor amphitheater in Marine City or music, theater and the arts festival in Lexington. This area has much to offer and there is no reason not to have a more coordinated effort among these communities.
The new Blue Water Arts Council will support tourism and the arts by becoming the major source of grant funding in this region. Initially, this funding will come from the Charles and Margaret Anderson Endowment Fund here at the Community Foundation. Through the next several years, we hope to add new endowment funds to the grant-making umbrella of the Blue Water Arts Council.
The funding boundaries of this new Arts Council will stretch beyond St. Clair County and will provide funding that supports collaboration among the wonderful arts groups up in Lexington with those in Port Huron, St. Clair, Marine City, Algonac and beyond.
Yet, the support and backing of the Community Foundation alone will not be enough to sustain the new Blue Water Arts Council. The membership and leadership of the new council will determine its success, and it is off to a great start.
There already are 22 member organizations signed up, including key leadership from the Port Huron Museum, St. Clair Art Association, Lexington Arts Council, the ISO, St. Clair County Community College, Studio 1219 and even new arts group being formed in Marine City and Algonac.
In these trying economic times, collaboration among the groups and organizations that make up our arts community is essential. It is a sign they realize they are not competing with each other. They are competing for the tourism dollar against other waterfront regions in Canada and Michigan.
And if the general arts community can move to this level of collaboration, can the business community be far behind?
Randy Maiers is executive director of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County.
Story originally published in the Times Herald on January 13, 2008