annual community campaign
Community Contributes $11 Million to Annual Campaign for Arts
Julie Janson, Chair of the 2010 Annual Community Campaign for the Fine Arts Fund and President of Duke Energy Ohio & Kentucky, announced that donors in our community gave $11 million for the arts in the annual campaign -- an amount equal to 100 percent of the contributions in 2009 and more than any other such campaign in the nation.
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Ms. Janson noted that in February she had announced a goal of exactly that amount, saying: "We decided that we had to set an ambitious goal in order to ensure that people continue to share the benefits of the arts that make our community such a vibrant and appealing place. And this year, setting a goal equal to last year's donations was very ambitious."
“This is an extraordinary sign of community support for the arts and the benefits they bring to the entire area” noted Lee Carter, Chair of the Fine Arts Fund Board of Trustees. “People recognize that our dance, theatre, museums, music, art centers, and so forth make communities more vital and bring people together throughout the region. We set a very aggressive goal and people really communicated how much they value the arts with their donations.
In addition to their support of the Annual Community Campaign, several foundations -- including the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation -- made additional contributions in special initiative funding. Ms. Janson noted that the contributions from the Campaign and these investments total $12.3 million for the community in 2010.
Ms. Janson said, “There are many amazing stories about the breadth and growth of contributors this year.” Noting that campaign contributors come from all across the region and most give less than $150, she described the efforts of "people who work in small non-profits, medium-sized service agencies, regional restaurant chains, and global companies where employees expanded their giving over last year."
“This would not have been possible without the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. During the campaign, we focused on the fun of the arts by working with people from all across the region to perform a surprise public dance to local music and we created pop-up galleries and shows on buses to kickoff the campaign. We've heard from all corners of the region: the arts make our community a great place to live and visit,” she concluded.
Ms. Janson announced the lead volunteer of next year’s community campaign for the arts, Edgar Smith, CEO of World Pac Paper.
**It is with your support that we were able to reach our goal and we THANK YOU!
RSVP for Our Party!
We are announcing the results of our annual community campaign at a party tonight!
And we would love for YOU to join us!
The Campaign Celebration Party is at the Carnegie art center in Covington, one of many organizations supported by your contributions to the annual community campaign for the arts.
The evening includes cocktails, snacks, and a special guest bartender -- Molly Wellman!
For more information and to add your name to the list of those celebrating, please click here.
We look forward to seeing you at the celebration!
If you haven't had the chance, it is not too late to donate. Click here!
Update - Annual Community Campaign for the Arts
Each week during the annual community campaign for the arts, the Cincinnati Enquirer provides an update about the contributions from people around Cincinnati. We are sharing that information with you on the blog for the remainder of the campaign.
The Fine Arts Fund annual community campaign brings people together from across the region to support the music, dance, storytelling, art centers, festivals, and museums making Cincinnati a vibrant place to live, work, play, and visit.
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Photo credit: Mikki Schaffner
Know Theatre of Cincinnati is one of the places that people all around Cincinnati support with donations to the annual community campaign.
Know is part of the energy and life of its neighborhood in Cincinnati. Nearly every week, Know staffers host a community event in the Underground lounge or theater space upstairs. People meet, socialize, share ideas, and make plans at this innovative and entrepreneurial organization's events.
Currently on stage at Know Theatre is the two-part play Angels in America, by Tony Kushner. Jackie Demaline writes that the show is "compelling" in her review: "Know Theatre's "Angels in America" is divine."
Both a love story and a political drama, set in the 1980s against a backdrop of greed, conservatism, sexual politics, and the discovery of AIDS, this story centers around a group of separate but inextricably connected individuals whose relationships are disintegrating as the AIDS crisis starts to grab hold. Kushner’s dark, cynical humor captures the fragility of the human condition through his prophetic and sublime script.
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches opened April 3 and runs through May 8. Angels in America: Perestroika opened April 23 and has been extended through May 15.
As of April 22, Cincinnati area residents and supporters have contributed $9,699,659 (88%) toward the Fine Arts Fund annual community campaign goal of $11 million for Cincinnati’s arts. The campaign continues through April 29.
Last year through 38,500 contributions, the community invested $11 million in the arts supporting large and small organizations around Cincinnati. View a list and map of these organizations at www.fineartsfund.org.
Everyone can donate on our website here.
A Little Bit Can Add Up to a Lot
The Enquirer editorial board gave us a wonderful shout-out, calling for broad support to our annual community campaign -- for the dance, theatre, music, museums and so one that benefit people all over our community.
Here's what they said, in part:
For decades, Cincinnatians have taken pride in our rich array of arts institutions - the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Playhouse in the Park and other groups that have won acclaim nationally and worldwide. Too often, however, those community assets have been viewed on a pedestal.
The Fine Arts Fund is trying to change that perception by pointing out the reality of the arts' broad- based reach to Greater Cincinnati residents. The umbrella arts-funding organization's annual campaign has been emphasizing what Margy Waller, FAF vice-president, calls the "surprising benefits to everyone" that come from the music, dance, theater, visual art, festivals and more that add to our daily lives and attract people to our region.
"This art makes our community vibrant and brings people together," Waller says.
But as happened last year, the recession continues to take its toll on the community's support for the arts. As of last Thursday, FAF was 80 percent toward its $11 million goal, with the campaign set to end April 29. Compared to previous years at this point, the 2010 campaign is behind schedule.
"This is proving to be an even more difficult year than we thought it would be," Waller said.
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Vibrant arts activities make an important contribution to an area's quality of life. Businesses find that talented workers, particularly young professionals, are attracted to cities that offer a wide array of cultural offerings.
This is an area in which Cincinnati has built momentum....newer, smaller groups have sprung up and found loyal audiences in such areas as the Gateway Quarter of Over-the-Rhine.
Cincinnati, especially its urban core, is reinventing itself in ways that promise growth, despite an economic forecast that's less than robust. The arts represent a terrific way to help maximize that growth by helping people share ideas.
...the arts are becoming less Cincinnati-centric as well. There are groups and special projects in Covington, Middletown, Clermont County and elsewhere that receive FAF support, so residents in those areas have a stake in the campaign's success as well.
As with last year's campaign, FAF is looking to its strength - thousands of small individual donors - to help the campaign reach its goal in its final days. This year, it's making an extra effort to go beyond the traditional employee campaigns in the workplace.
"We hope people will contribute, even if they haven't been asked at work," Waller said. "If everybody does a little bit, it adds up to a lot."
The arts are broadening their reach in our community, and support should become more broad-based as well. However small the amounts may be, residents throughout our region should consider supporting arts groups that, year after year, bring richness to their lives in many ways.
You can read the whole thing here.
To donate now, click here.
Update - More Contributions for Annual Community Campaign
Each week during the annual community campaign for the arts, the Cincinnati Enquirer provides an update about the contributions from people around Cincinnati. We are sharing that information with you on the blog for the remainder of the campaign.
The Fine Arts Fund annual community campaign brings people together from across the region to support the music, dance, storytelling, art centers, festivals, and museums making Cincinnati a vibrant place to live, work, play, and stay.
As of April 15, Cincinnati area residents and supporters have contributed $8,773,485 -- 80% -- toward the Fine Arts Fund annual community campaign goal of $11 million for Cincinnati’s arts. The campaign continues through April 29.
Everyone can donate on our website here.