Research conducted by the Delaware Division of the Arts indicates that state arts organizations identified developing partnerships and collaborations as a top priority.
First State arts leaders had an opportunity to do just that at the recent 2015 Delaware Arts Summit. At Monday’s day long event in Dover, attendees took advantage of workshops designed to provide insight on improving their arts advocacy efforts.
Some of the topics included effective social media outreach and best practices for building audiences.
Randy Cohen, vice president of policy and research with Americans for the Arts was one of the event’s speakers. His address focused on how to articulate the social, educational and economic value of the arts to citizens and local government officials.
“We all love the arts,” he says. “They inspire, entertain and engage us. They really create the communities that we want to live in but we also have work to do in making sure everybody has access to those cultural opportunities. We need to tell our story that when we invest in the arts we’re not investing in a frill but rather we’re investing in an industry.”
Cohen adds Delaware’s non profit arts organizations spend approximately $103 million every year in their communities.
“They employ people locally, they purchase goods and services, they’re members of the chamber of commerce. Arts organizations are good business citizens,” he says.
You can stay engaged with local arts and culture through the Delaware Division of the Arts events page, delawarescene.com
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
