Guest Blogger: Maud Lyon

Our guest blogger for this week is Maud Lyon. Maud is the founding director of the Cultural Alliance, and a consultant for numerous nonprofit organizations.
 
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06.07.07
Post No. 1

Tyree, Marshall, Aretha and Albert

Every culture on earth expresses itself through sculpture, music, architecture, storytelling, dance and drama. Art is in the words we speak, the clothes we wear, the landscapes we walk in. History has made us what we are and believe ourselves to be. 

The arts are essential to community life. Culture is, by definition, a shared experience: a performance that leaves us so moved we have to talk to our seatmate, a song so familiar that we applaud the opening chords. Here in southeastern Michigan, we have an incredible array of arts and culture opportunities. We also have a crisis. In our tough economy that all-important, flexible funding called general operating support is shrinking. From the smallest arts organizations to the largest, most established institutions, trouble lies ahead.

The Cultural Alliance is the united voice of our region’s arts and cultural community, a professional association that benefits arts and culture organizations, increasing their ability to fulfill their missions and to deliver services to the community. Just as it is with business and government, this is a time when the traditional solutions are not enough. We must work together to find new approaches that increase earned revenue, reduce costs, find new efficiency and put creativity into the business of arts as well as the product. 

In the seven-county region we represent, there are over 450 non-profit arts and culture organizations. 38% are performing arts, 32% are historical, 8% are libraries or literary organizations, 4% are scientific, 4% are visual arts, and the rest are arts educators, event producers, or media. Geographically, 87% are in Wayne, Oakland or Washtenaw Counties. As the suburbs have grown, so have the number of arts organizations in them. Our largest arts organizations are part of the historic infrastructure of the City of Detroit. All of these organizations are part of the fabric of our region. They entertain, educate, enrich our sense of community and identity, leverage economic development, build bridges across racial divides, provide services to children, handicapped adults and seniors – in short, they change lives. These organizations also employ thousands of people and generate enormous economic impact. 

Nationally, according to a recent Rand study, 49% of arts revenue is earned. In most communities, that figure ranges from 45% to 60%. In Detroit, it is 30%.  Our arts organizations also have much smaller endowments than their national peers – and many small organizations have none. Our region has relied upon the philanthropic contributions of individuals, corporations, and foundations to sustain the arts. The dramatic drop in government support – state and city – has left many institutions gasping for air.  

The good thing about a crisis is that it generates innovation. The next blog entries will talk about what the Cultural Alliance is doing to promote collaboration and to find solutions. We cannot afford to be a region without arts and culture. Creativity springs from the very heart of our community – like Tyree Guyton, who transformed houses and found objects into art. The Spirit of Detroit, our City’s logo, is Marshall Fredericks’ sculpture. The buildings we live and work in are the creation of architects, like Albert Kahn. The arts can use a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan is the vehicle to make that happen.

Photograph © Dave Krieger