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Arts panel draws on economic potential
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Theaters, museums, art galleries and the symphony — they aren’t just ways to spend an afternoon or a night out.
They’re potential economic generators as well as economic-development tools.
That’s why The Power of the Arts, a committee of groups and individuals from the arts and business communities, formed about a year ago and the reason behind its plans to conduct an economic impact study of the arts.
“When people go to see the Youngstown Symphony, they don’t just see the show and then go home,” said Bryan DePoy, dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts at Youngstown State University. “They go out to dinner before the show and sometimes out for drinks afterward.”
DePoy serves as co-chairman of the Power of the Arts Advisory Council along with Eric Planey, vice president of International Business Attraction at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber.
The Power of the Arts is sponsored by the Raymond John Wean Foundation.
Planey, whose job involves attracting international businesses to the region, said a lively cultural community is an asset in marketing a area to potential companies.
What came as a surprise to him, though, was the impact of the arts on the region’s economy, he said.
An economic-impact study would put that impact in writing and document the information.
“That would open the door for us to apply for grant funding,” DePoy said.
The group is in discussions with an organization to conduct the study of arts in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
The Power of the Arts formed in response to a June 2009 program on the role of arts and culture in revitalizing communities. The program was sponsored by the Wean Foundation, the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley and the Youngstown Foundation.
Through work sessions, a steering committee identified two goals: develop an entity that will raise the visibility of, participation in and revitalization role of arts and culture in the Mahoning Valley; and develop and implement a plan to secure public funding for arts and culture in the Valley.
Before formation of The Power of the Arts, the arts community was fragmented, organizers said, and now-defunct arts groups tended to leave out more grass-roots artists.