EDITOR’S NOTE:
Read candidates’ responses to the art survey:
The arts and culture community in Portland is at a critical inflection point, which puts a sharp focus on the November general election that will reshape City Hall.
In Portland’s new restructured form of government, beginning in January 2025 the city’s decision-making will be in the hands of many new leaders who might not have a strong background in the significant role that cultural organizations play in the city’s economy. The arts industry in Portland proper generated $405 million in economic impact in 2022, according to the Arts and Economic Prosperity Study.
With so much at stake and so many new faces going to be running City Hall, arts leaders organized to explain the impact that the arts have on the city.
The coalition of arts leaders includes (in alphabetical order): Meagan Atiyeh, Arts Consultant; Converge 45; Elizabeth Leach, Elizabeth Leach Gallery; Randy Gragg, writer and parks and architecture leader; Mike Lindberg, Civic Leader and former Portland City Commissioner; Jennifer Cole, Jordan Schnitzer Dean, Pacific Northwest College of Art; Mack McFarland, PTSTMM Studio; Mario Mesquita, Manager of Advocacy & Engagement, Regional Arts & Culture Council; Schnitzer Properties, LLC; Kandis Brewer Nunn, Strategic Resources, LLC; Reuben Roqueñi, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA); and Karen Whitman, Karen Whitman Projects.
To inform candidates, the group developed the brief below. ArtsWatch has partnered with this group to make the brief document public and to query candidates about their views on arts and culture. We will compile the answers to five questions from all of the council and mayor candidates and publish them verbatim on our site in October, before ballots are mailed to voters.
The filing deadline to run for office is Aug. 27. Rose City Reform is tracking all the filings here, and its website provides neutral information about each candidate.
Read our story for more context about the state of the arts in the city and why these races are so important to the arts community.
***
THE BRIEF:
Art + Culture VOTE 2024
Arts and culture are fundamental to our humanity. They inspire us—fostering creativity, empathy, and beauty. They also strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persisted even during the recent pandemic that was devastating to the arts locally and nationally.
Engaging in arts and culture creates a sense of safety, provides connection and a sense of belonging, strengthens a community’s character, and plays an integral part in shaping how we feel and live our everyday lives. Art brings people together physically and culturally, through its capacity to tell a community’s shared story, to inspire reflection, and form connections that transcend differences. The following are 10 reasons, cited in the 2022 Americans for the Arts report (version 6), that illustrate why it’s vital to invest in artists, creative workers, and arts organizations to assist communities in recovering nationally, and in Oregon.
- Arts unify communities. 72% of Americans believe “the arts unify communities, regardless of age, race, and ethnicity.”
- Arts improve individual well-being. 81% believe the arts are a “positive experience in a troubled world.”
- Arts strengthen the economy. Our nation’s arts and culture sector—nonprofit, commercial, and education—is an $876.7 billion industry that supports 4.6 million jobs (2020). That is 4.2% of the nation’s economy — a larger share of GDP than powerhouse sectors such as agriculture, transportation, and utilities. The arts boast a $33 billion international trade surplus (2019). The arts accelerate economic recovery. In Oregon, creative industries and work is accountable for 4% of state jobs and includes some of the fastest-growing areas in the workforce, including design, media production and data visualization.
- Arts drive tourism and revenue to local businesses. The nonprofit arts industry alone generates $166.3 billion in economic activity annually—spending by organizations and their audiences—which supports 4.6 million jobs and generates $27.5 billion in government revenue. Arts attendees spend on admission, meals, parking and sometimes lodging, making arts travelers ideal patrons of local businesses.
- Arts improve academic performance. Students engaged in arts learning have higher GPAs, standardized test scores, and college-going rates, as well as lower drop-out rates, across all socio-economic strata. 91% of Americans believe that arts are part of a well-rounded K-12 education.
- Arts spark creativity and innovation. Creativity is among the top five applied skills sought by business leaders—per the Conference Board’s Ready to Innovate report—with 72% saying creativity is of “high importance” when hiring.
- Arts have social impact. University of Pennsylvania researchers have demonstrated that a high concentration of the arts in a city leads to higher civic engagement, more social cohesion, higher child welfare, and lower poverty rates.
- Arts improve healthcare. Nearly one-half of the nation’s healthcare institutions provide arts programming for patients, families, and staff. 78% deliver these programs because of their healing benefits —shorter hospital stays, better pain management, less medication. The state of Massachusetts now supports “cultural prescribing” as a reimbursable expense in the state’s health exchange, and major efforts are under way in the US Department of Health and Human Services and by the U.S. Surgeon General to recognize arts and cultural participation as a critical component of public health in America.
- Arts enhance the health and well-being of our military. The arts heal the mental, physical, and moral injuries of war for military service members and veterans, who rank the creative arts therapies in the top four (out of 40) interventions and treatments. The arts promote resilience during pre-deployment, deployment, and the reintegration of military service members, veterans, their families, and caregivers into communities.
- Arts strengthen mental health. The arts are an effective resource in reducing depression and anxiety and increasing life satisfaction. Just 30 minutes of active arts activities daily can combat the effects of Covid-19 isolation and loneliness. The University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine has created a comprehensive community art and wellness framework that is based on 20+ years of evidence-based research.
Economics matter: In the Portland metropolitan region, the economic impact echoes strongly. Statistics extracted from the Arts & Economic Prosperity Study (version 6) report for 2022 and the recent “Our Creative Future” regional cultural plan underline the importance of the creative economy.
- The greater Portland area had $456.5 million in total regional arts industry expenditures between organizations and audiences. Of that total, the City of Portland accounts for $405.1 million alone. And of that amount, more than $309.2 million was earned as personal income by Portland residents who held 6,446 jobs. In turn, those residents paid more than $15.2 million in state taxes, $62.4 million in federal income taxes, and $10.5 million in County and City of Portland taxes.
- Across the tri-county area, 80% of voters support dedicated arts funding. And 74% of them have participated in an arts/cultural activity in the past six months.
- Arts and culture drive growth in the regional economy, and generate a high rate of return on public investment. Nearly 45,000 jobs in the region drive a $5 billion creative sector, which includes software publishers, advertising agencies, architectural services, internet publishing, and film and video production.
- Washington and California are outspending Oregon per capita on arts and creative industries and have seen double digit growth in the percentage of their overall workforce and economy that are creative. Regionally, we are behind our neighbors.
Citizen report and the recent regional cultural plan, “Our Creative Future,” could help the City build back to its former reputational standing and simultaneously help artists and creative workers remain in our community:
- Build towards an inclusive arts and cultural community that reflects, serves and welcomes all.
- Forge purposeful connection and coordination in the arts and cultural community.
- Empower the arts and cultural community with sufficient, sustainable funding and other resources.
- Drive economic growth through the arts and cultural community.
- Utilize the arts and cultural community as a vital partner in the health and development of every community.
Challenges we must overcome to harness arts and culture for thriving in Portland:
- Portland’s marquee institutions are modestly funded compared to similar cities. Additionally, there are many small, BIPOC-led under-resourced organizations. Compared to our population size we have relatively few mid-sized cultural nonprofits.
- Access to space for creation and presentation is limited and shrinking for cultural nonprofits, artists and creative small businesses.
- Portland’s population is becoming younger and more culturally diverse; some organizations are adjusting successfully; others face diminishing support.
- The donor community is underdeveloped; many organizations achieve less than the national average in individual giving. And the corporate and philanthropic communities could be more engaged in supporting the arts.
- Audience demand and enthusiasm is generally healthy, a key building block that needs to be exploited to help ensure a reinvigorated arts and culture sector.
- There is a lack of collective impact, joint ventures, and programming initiatives that provide visibility outside of Portland that could be used to help repair the city’s reputational issues.
- Portland lacks a clear culture/arts centered economic development strategy that is centrally organized, resourced and coordinated.
- Despite a high density of creative activities and ventures in neighborhoods, the city does not have an organized cultural district certification, grantmaking or support program.
- Despite the high concentration of artistic, design and creative industry workers in Portland, there are relatively few professional development, training, business venture start-up funding or loan opportunities for artists/creative small businesses.
- There is no current framework for artists/creative workers as a core demographic in the city’s affordable housing and/or workforce housing strategies. Compared to cities of our size, we have few artist live/work spaces and/or redevelopment projects.
- The city/county workforce development plans do not identify creative workers (a large percentage of whom are self-employed or freelancers) as a critical demographic for workforce support or development.
- The city/county/metro cultural infrastructure is aging and there is no long-range cultural infrastructure plan to address the future venues, districts and amenities that are critical to downtown and neighborhood viability and thriving.