Invitation to Fund WNY Arts

Jamie Moses of a new initiative in Western New York being coined The Give for Greatness is aiming to raise over $1 million to fund art organizations in Western New York. Moses released the following invitation to join them on their website http://www.giveforgreatness.org/why-give-greatness

Moses writes, "The Give for Greatness aims to raise $1 million dollars for 47 cultural organizations that have been abandoned by county government.

 

The two-month campaign, organized by Artvoice with help from M&T Bank and numerous partners, including the Fund For the Arts,  begins with a celebration on Mardi Gras, March 8, and closes with a celebration at the Albright-Knox on Cinco de Mayo, May 5. 

 

The Give for Greatness campaign was created as a response to the abrupt funding cut by county government to our cultural treasures. Every theater company, dance company, arts education organization, every small- to mid-size visual arts group, and every literary organization in the county was, by virtue of the budget he submitted, declared unnecessary by our county executive. We humbly beg to disagree.

 

Our county executive believes government should be run like a business. Which business? Adelphia? Enron? WorldCom? Lehman Brothers? BP? Bernie Madoff? The list of businesses that cost taxpayers trillions of dollars in losses is long. Business practices are no guarantee of a better outcome and neither are so-called development projects. The worst practice in Western New York has been the enduring idea Western New York can build its way to prosperity. Millions and millions have been spent on failed or disappointing, money-sucking projects: the Adelphia Tower, the Peace Bridge, AM&As, Bass Pro, the Main Place Mall, the Statler, the Hyatt Regency, the Main Street Pedestrian Mall, etc. And don’t forget the scores of demolitions that occurred to make way for shovel-ready projects that never happened. It’s senseless. What makes a city great are its people and its cultural assets first. Its location and its buildings come after that.

 

This Give for Greatness campaign should be a turning point for Western New York. People all over the world are showing they are fed up with the corruption and the misdirection of their leaders. We need to do the same thing here. A successful community does not need big buildings, and it does not even need to be a big city like New York or Paris, both famous for their cultural attractions. And no disrespect to Bills fans, but to be economically successful it does not need an NFL football team, either. 

 

What works best for sustained growth is a strong cultural community. Santa Fe, New Mexico has a population of only 64,000 residents and not a skyscraper in sight. It also has more than 250 art galleries. Tourism to Sante Fe brings in more than $6 billion annually and generates $760 million in tax revenue. It is second only to New York City in art sales. The Shaw Festival is located in a tiny town a half-hour from Buffalo. The entire town is built around its three theaters and accompanying shops and restaurants. It generates more than $20 million a year in tax revenue. Provincetown, Massacusetts, another small town of only 3,500 year-round residents, is the arts epicenter of Cape Cod and draws more tourists than all the rest of Cape Cod combined—and people aren’t going there for the beaches. Furthermore, Provincetown doesn’t live on the fumes of developers’ daydreams; they don’t even allow any building taller than three stories. In bed and room tax alone, Provincetown generates more than $12 million and tens of millions more in sales tax. Retail and property values thrive in communities with deep cultural assets. More derelict New York City neighborhoods were revived by artists’ activity than all the building projects on Buffalo’s drawing boards in the past 50 years. 

 

So where is the wisdom in starving our cultural community? If every theater company closes, then those theater ticket dollars, as well as restaurant, parking, and vendor dollars, will circulate to the Shaw Festival in Canada. If every cultural institution goes under, why would anyone want to live here? For the entertainment of the Geico call center? To shovel snow for fun? Why would anyone consider moving here? I’ll answer that: They wouldn’t.

 

The Give for Greatness was conceived, and so titled, because it is our belief that a rich cultural community is one of the crucial elements that define great cities and that Buffalo can be a great city. So Artvoice contacted M&T Bank, Oishei Foundation, Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance, Theater Alliance Board, and several others and began cobbling together a number of partnerships to bring the Give for Greatness into being. In the course of building the campaign, the cultural recipients targeted in the campaign, and even non-recipients, have enthusiastically agreed to participate in performances, readings, art installations, or whatever opportunity their discipline offers. WKBW-TV Channel 7 has signed on as a television sponsor, and there is a large NFTA bus and train marketing campaign underway and Lamar billboards, as well. The outpouring of community support for this effort has been simply overwhelming and reflects both how much the community treasures their cultural assets and how severely our county government has misjudged what is important to their constituency. We hope that this campaign is successful and that the county returns to the funding table to give our culturals an opportunity to not just survive, but to thrive.

 

Please help us to support and celebrate the people of Western New York. Let’s be great!"