“As a United Arts Fund, Culture Works raises funds for arts organizations through the Campaign for the Arts,” explained Culture Works President and CEO Lisa Hanson. “The campaign is a reciprocal program where Culture Works takes artists into local businesses to showcase the richness and variety of arts experiences our region offers and businesses host a workplace giving campaign that helps Culture Works provide critical operating support grants to arts organizations. Businesses that host the Campaign for the Arts have increases in employee engagement, higher reported job satisfaction and greater community visibility. The arts in our community benefit from the campaign by reaching new audiences, collaborating across sectors and helping to raise monies that support the arts.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Multidisciplinary artist Rodney Veal, who co-chaired this year’s Campaign for the Arts with Willis “Bing” Davis, also recognized the value of Culture Works as a guiding light in the community.
“Culture Works serves as a protector of the arts ecosystem in the region, to make sure that this platform is there for people and organizations who create art, and to elevate the creativity that occurs there,” Veal said last April. “They play a necessary role in ensuring that there is a fair and equitable distribution of funding and services to artists of all kinds. We need voices at the table from artists who are creating and sharing their stories from many different and wonderful backgrounds, and they need to be supported. Culture Works provides the opportunity for all those different voices to be heard and their creativity to be experienced, which makes our community that much richer and more special.”
Culture Works also notes its Campaign for the Arts unites gifts from individual donors, corporate supporters and workplace giving campaigns into funding for Community Arts Grants. Community volunteers award general operating support to local arts organizations through an open panel application review process. In particular, during the 2022-2023 season, the Culture Works Community Arts Grantees made it possible for more than 168,000 adults to enjoy performances and exhibitions, more than 371,000 young people to participate in cultural activities and events, and more than 147,000 individuals of all ages to access free arts experiences.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
As an outlet for small and medium arts groups, Culture Works also provides Artist Opportunity Grants, Special Projects Grants and student scholarships. The Artist Opportunity Grant program, made possible by funding from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District and administered by Culture Works, is providing $75,000 for the 2024-2025 grant cycle, with grants ranging from $500 to $5,000. Since 2016 the program has awarded more than $220,000 to 77 artists to complete career-advancing projects. In addition, the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District is providing $250,000 for the 2024-2025 Special Projects Grant cycle.
“As a Local Arts Agency, Culture Works advocates for the creative sector at the local, state and federal level,” Hanson said. “Our advocacy has secured federal monies that launched creative placemaking initiatives, provided professional development training for local artists and brought national attention to Dayton.”
‘Working to build our creative economy’
Since assuming the role of President and CEO in April 2017, Hanson, among 12 non-profit executive recipients of the 2024 Ohio Business Magazine Ohio Success Award, has led Culture Works to become the largest provider of general operating support for numerous non-profit arts organizations in the Dayton region.
In 2020, she steered Culture Works through the COVID-19 shutdown, securing special funds from the State of Ohio, the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts to help local artists and arts groups navigate an unchartered economic path.
“The pandemic was a challenge for the arts sector,” Hanson said. “I am proud of the way we, the entire arts community, weathered the closures and funding setbacks. The pandemic changed the arts community. We know what the world looks like without the arts, and we know that in spite of the challenges, our community found ways to make and experience art. Culture Works is committed to fostering that spirit, working to build our creative economy and promoting collaboration among arts organizations, businesses and governments to make our region more vibrant.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
She cites programming as an imperative means of fostering the spirit to keep art alive and impactful. She is particularly proud of Culture Works’ collaboration with the Greater Edgemont Community Coalition on a creative placemaking project.
“Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and local investment from CenterPoint Energy, Ernst Concrete, Messer Construction and Montgomery County, this project offered professional development training to emerging artists that culminated in a capstone, community derived, art installation at the Edgemont Solar Garden on Miami Chapel Boulevard,” Hanson said. “The outdoor classroom space at the Edgemont Solar Garden is beautiful.”
‘When art is missing, it impacts everything’
Last January the Dayton region results of the Americans for the Arts’ sixth iteration of its Arts and Economic Prosperity study, conducted in partnership with Culture Works, were revealed. In 2022, $239 million of economic activity in Montgomery, Miami, Clark and Greene counties stemmed from investment in arts and culture, proving how essential the arts remain within the landscape of Dayton’s economic future. Culture Works joined 373 other communities across the United States and Puerto Rico in this endeavor and collected data in the aforementioned counties.
Culture Works, housed inside the Dayton Arcade, remains diligent in its pursuits but is mindful of present challenges and future sustainability.
“I think one of the biggest challenges facing all non-profits is bandwidth,” Hanson said. “All our staff wears multiple hats, and every day presents new demands. Especially in this digital age, computers, websites, software and data need updates and the costs of this maintenance, in actual cost and in staff time and training, have grown into a major ongoing expense. Keeping our administrative costs low is a strategic imperative. We are stewards of community dollars as well as community advocates.”
Hanson also notes shifting winds across the non-profit arena as leaders are reporting that giving has changed.
“Donors want measurable impacts, and it is important that we be able to show returns on investment,” she said. “On the other hand, some returns you see only when they are missing. For example, educational outcomes in schools without arts programming are lower than those of schools with arts, regardless of other factors, including amount spent per student. When art is missing, it impacts everything. One of Culture Works’ goals is to demonstrate the transformational power of the arts in our community.”
In an effort to honor the past and empower the future, Culture Works is launching its $50 for 50 campaign to raise $50,000.
“Fifty dollars from just 15 percent of the population in Dayton would provide nearly a million dollars in arts organizations that provide outreach and educational programming to our youth, offer free and discounted tickets for students, seniors, and foster new programs by emerging artists,” Hanson said. “It’s an investment with big returns.”
Hanson hopes the campaign will appeal to Dayton’s pride as a beacon of innovation.
“Part of that (innovation) legacy is the environment that fosters creative thinking,” she said. “Dayton is rich in the arts because we have invested in the arts. We’re the home of funk, a city with seven arts organizations over the age of 50, the city of the internationally renowned Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, the home of internationally recognized artist Bing Davis, (and) home to two MacArthur Fellows and a Newbery Award-winning author. Maintaining that legacy and fostering innovation and creativity in the up-and-coming generations matters.”
Credit: SCOTT ROBBINS
Credit: SCOTT ROBBINS
Looking ahead to the next 50 years of Culture Works, Hanson views adaptability, accessibility and collaboration as key factors in the organization’s desire to keep the arts prominent on the hearts and minds of the Dayton community.
“Culture Works exists because our founding organizations adapted to meet the needs of the community,” she said. “My wish is that Culture Works continues to adapt to serve our region, keeping art accessible and welcoming across our whole community. There is a power in singing in a group, offering your voice in support and collaboration with other voices. Culture Works believes that power exists in our united efforts as a community. When we support and collaborate with one another, we all benefit. I am working toward that for the next 50 years.”
For more information about Culture Works or its $50 for 50 campaign, visit cultureworks.org.
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