09/25/2006 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council September 25, 2006 Page 3 This is an important initiative for a couple of reasons. The first is that our arts and culture institution throughout this County are a significant driver of our County's economy. It brings over a billion dollars a year into the County. People coming in that participate in the arts and culture spend money. It employs over 3,000 people directly, nearly 10,000 people if you add in the support jobs and other services. The number one reason why people come to Cuyahoga County to spend money is because of the arts and culture. Professional sports happens to be number two. If you think about that, it makes sense. There are 10 games in the year at Brown's stadium, 81 games a year at Jacob's Field, 41 at the Q, unless we make the playoffs some year. Our arts and culture institutions are bringing people in to the County on a year round basis every day. Our museums our theaters, and orchestra are open. It is also an important initiative for the quality of life in our communities. This initiative would support our arts and cultural activities throughout the County, not just the large organizations in Cleveland, but community theaters, the museums that serve various ethnic groups, all throughout our County. Communities are building art centers because they recognize that the arts attract people who want a certain quality of life and those people tend to be the people who also start businesses and create jobs. They are at income levels that are at the types of income levels that a community would like to attract. Finally, it is an important factor in our educational services to our children. The arts and cultural organizations in Cuyahoga County provide over two million educational experiences per year to students throughout Cuyahoga County. Anyone who was raised in Cuyahoga County certainly remembers growing up and going to an orchestra concert and Playhouse Square and the Art museums and all of the things that we offer children. It is actually a proven fact that children who participate in arts and cultural activities are more likely to do well in school and better on proficiency tests. He learned more about math by learning eighth notes, quarter notes and sixteenth notes than he did in his Math class. Therefore, it would address the very significant needs of our County. As we work so hard to restructure our economy and to attract the kinds of new businesses and industries that we need to sustain our region in the future, we certainly cannot allow the number one economic driver, the one thing which we are currently world-class, to decline. Unfortunately, many of the corporations and others who have supported arts for so many years have left this area, leaving a void in support of our arts and culture activities, a void that this initiative will fulfill. All of the funds would go to support the arts and culture organizations, projects throughout Cuyahoga County. A pretty significant percentage of it would go to provide operating support to the 501(c)(3) non-profit institutions, the museums and theaters, etc. Another percentage would also be available for project-based support, schools and community centers and churches, community arts festivals, school residents, support for special projects that have seen support throughout the County and other groups.