Town hall: Arts, business should link up for jobs

The Yuma art community needs to partner with area businesses and entities to bolster opportunities to create jobs in Yuma County, agreed the attendees of the Arizona Town Hall meeting on arts and culture held Tuesday at the Yuma Main Library.

“As part of integrating arts into business, the arts and culture community should strive to have seats at the economic organizations including local chambers of commerce,” said a joint statement.

The meeting included a discussion about the results of the organization's 98th Arizona Town Hall this spring which focused on arts and culture and its effect on education, the economy and the general quality of life in Arizona.

During the town hall in Yuma, the group agreed government funding for arts and culture continues on a diminishing track and that local artists and businesses need to look within themselves “and other private sources to ensure future sustainable funding for arts and culture.”

“We need to get people involved,” said Robert Booker, Arizona Commission on the Arts executive director, a guest speaker at the town hall.

The arts commission has felt the belt-tightening of the state budget and has lost $22 million in legislative gubernatorial cuts and sweeps since the economic downfall, Booker added.

That makes it all the more imperative for grassroots efforts championing arts and culture, he said.

“I've been in this business for over 25 years. I love it dearly but I am constantly frustrated by the lack of voice we have in certain arenas, and I think it is simply a matter of us all singing together. Expose your friends. Share the beauty and the energy that the arts bring you with your neighbors and your friends.”

According to Catherine “Rusty” Foley, executive director of the Arizona Citizens Action for the Arts, arts and culture are a $1 billion-a-year business in Arizona.

“We are important as a job generator of tax revenue and as a supporter of other businesses that benefit from the work we do in the community,” she said at the meeting, adding that the town hall was about empowerment.

“We need you to spread that word. In addition to everything you can do here in your community, working with your local elected officials and so forth, we need to work together on this issue of rebuilding the arts.”

The town hall attendees also agreed there is a need to “educate all Arizonans, especially our elected leaders, that arts and culture are an important segment of our lives that are inextricable linked to jobs, education and our quality of life. Arts and culture are intrinsic to all of these issues and should not be considered a separate or expendable item when funds are limited.”

One way to garner support from area businesses is to demonstrate the value of arts and culture, the group stated. “Have artists and musicians create programs for businesses at their premises, which will help to make connections and build partnerships with business.”

Artists should also work together with other artists, the group continued.

“There are already some good examples of festivals and partnerships between art organizations, tourism industries and education. We should build on some of these local successes and find new ways to expose and integrate local communities with professional artists and artist organizations.”

The joint statement will be shared with other communities and legislators throughout Arizona during similar town halls and events.

For more information about the 98th Arizona Town Hall, log on to www.aztownhall.org.

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.