CALLING ALL ARTISTS
The theater community recently participated in a survey that tried to determine who is attending the theater and where, but I don't recall anyone ever trying to figure out who all the artists are and in what disciplines they participate.
Until now, that is.
Beginning April 1, Ann Arbor-based Arts Alliance will launch an Artists' Census that will try to figure out how many artists there are living and working in Washtenaw County. The survey includes ALL disciplines - performing arts, visual arts and literary arts. And there's nothing that limits the survey-taker's age, training or experience. Professionals and amateurs alike are encouraged to participate.
The only criteria is this: You must either LIVE in Washtenaw County or PRACTICE YOUR ART in Washtenaw County to complete the survey. That's it.
I met with Arts Alliance marketing director Angela Martin-Barcelona a few weeks back to discuss the survey (among a whole laundry list of topics) and we talked about why artists should participate. For one thing, it will help identify the number of artists within the county by discipline. And it will allow Arts Alliance to create new and innovative - and probably much needed - programs and services to help these artists succeed in their work.
But Arts Alliance can't do that if it don't know who the artists are, in what disciplines they work and how to reach them.
Which is ANOTHER important aspect of the survey. Artists often are solo creatures who toil away at their craft with little interaction with others. The survey, Arts Alliance hopes, will help bring together artists from around the county who can then share their experiences with one another. (It's called networking, something that could prove very useful to artists who don't know many other like-minded souls in the community.)
So if you're a poet, a technical writer, a comic book artist, a lighting designer, an actor, a short story writer, a playwright - Joe Z, are you reading this? - a filmmaker, a dancer, a sculptor, a banjo player or someone who participates in any of the other hundreds or thousands of arts-related disciplines who live or work in Washtenaw County, please participate in the survey.
And if you do, you just might win a prize if you answer the bonus question correctly!
The survey begins April 1 and runs through May 17 - and it won't take more than two or three minutes to complete. (It contains only 10 questions, plus the bonus question.)
The survey will be available online beginning April 1 at www.artscount.org. Hard-copy versions will be located at libraries and other creative venues throughout the county.
If you meet the criteria, please fill out the survey - and here's MY reason why you should: The creative community is often scoffed at by politicians and business leaders who don't understand the financial impact we have on our state and local communities. And worse, they seem to think we're nothing but drains on the public coffers who want "free money" for all sorts of fanciful things that no one wants or needs except for the privileged few.
But consider this, as revealed in a recent study released by Arts Alliance: In Washtenaw County alone, arts and cultural organizations generated over 2,600 jobs and almost $57 million in household income in 2002, with a TOTAL economic impact of $165 million, resulting in $2.8 million in local government revenue and $5.2 million in state revenue. (In other words, taxes!)
That's not chump change.
So it's about time we stand up and be counted. And we'll have only ourselves to blame if we don't. (Remember, it's the squeaky wheel that our government leaders respond to. And the more of us they know exist, the more likely they are to listen to us.
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critic_don) wrote,
