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Economic and Community Development Impact of Arts Organizations
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From:
Nechie Hall, Founder & Chairman of the Board, Vladimir Jones; David Dahlin, President & CEO of the Fine Arts Center
Summary:
As a community, we all want prosperity and vitality for ourselves and each other, both individually and collectively. Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region have a solid foundation of outdoor assets, sports events & businesses, and arts and culture offerings, that together form an unbeatable triad of allure and distinctiveness. The community as a whole will benefit from recognizing and embracing these truths, accentuating the positive attributes we possess, and shifting the conversation to what we do have rather than what we don't, while proactively building a future that fully leverages the incredible opportunity this presents.
To that end, the FAC would like to help elevate the constructive conversation about the importance of arts & culture in our community - to quality of life, regional identity, and to economic vitality (local and tourism).
More money is spent by people partaking in arts & cultural offerings than other types of experiences, and tourists who travel for arts & culture experiences spend more and stay longer. Simply put, the more we embrace and support arts & culture as a pillar of our community identity, the more money is invested in engaging in these activities, and is attracted to this community through tourism, which in turn fills the LART coffers, which is used to promote the region, which keeps the cycle moving and growing. It is an effective perennial cycle.
This can be accomplished through strong grassroots, informal, and formal communications across community spectrums, and collaborative efforts and connections. One tangible way to contribute to this effort is through the FAC's Year of Georgia O'Keeffe, which creates opportunities to showcase the community throughout the year of 2015, through community-wide collaboration, participation, and support.
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