KC Collaborative Audience Development Exec Summary
June 20, 2008
This executive summary provides a brief overview of a three-phased audience development research project initiated by the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City and conducted by Surale Phillips between 2003 to 2008. The job of connecting with arts audiences is getting tougher in an increasingly competitive world. Adding to this challenge is the fact that arts organizations often work in isolation, unaware of research and replicable innovations from across town or from across the nation. This report offers guidance for finding new audiences and connecting with all audiences in meaningful ways.

KC Collaborative Audience Development Phase III
June 20, 2008
This report focuses on the many lessons learned by arts organizations in the Kansas City metropolitan area in a multi-year collaborative audience development project. As noted by Jerry Yoshitomi, the findings of Phase III of the project align with recent research in social psychology and marketing, as well as the Web 2.0, social marketing, self-curated world that is emerging. The recommendations and tools included in the full report take into consideration the changes in cultural communication methods and make use of new, more efficient ways of using technology to keep marketing costs down while increasing patron connection and response.

How to Get Affordable Health Care in Kansas City
May 22, 2008
This helpful brochure is a brief overview of affordable health care and health insurance options available for artists in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The information was compiled by the Health Insurance Resource Center (HIRC) of The Actors Fund. HIRC connects artists, craftspeople and entertainers to health insurance and affordable health care. The Actors Fund is a national, non-profit organization that provides for the social welfare of all entertainment professionals.

The Status of Artists in KC
February 8, 2008
The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City and The Charlotte Street Foundation commissioned a new study as part of the KCArtistLink program to examine the demographic and household conditions of artists in Kansas City in order to better understand the relative state of artists’ living and working conditions in the metropolitan area. Using data from the 1990 and 2000 US Census and other sources, the study confirms that Kansas City has become a mid-continent center for artists, where artists have the opportunity to raise families, buy houses and participate as fully-invested members of the community to a degree that they may not be able to elsewhere.

More than 6,000 artists live in the KC metro region, with a combined household income of over $400 million dollars; more than 5,000 are employed in multiple disciplines and by multiple sectors of the local economy. In addition to the highest concentration of visual artists of any major city between the coasts, there are significant concentrations of artists working in other disciplines, including musicians, composers, actors and performers, writers and authors, photographers, and film and multi-media workers. Arts-related occupations such as architecture and design are also well represented in Kansas City.

Executive Summary: The Status of Artists in KC
February 7, 2008
The executive summary of the Status of Artists in Kansas City provides a quick look at the highlights of the recent study of the demographic and household conditions of artists in Kansas City. The study confirms that Kansas City has become a mid-continent center for artists, where artists have the opportunity to raise families, buy houses and participate as fully-invested members of the community to a degree that they may not be able to elsewhere.

Town Hall Meeting for Kansas City Artists, 2007
February 1, 2008
In September, 2007, the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City and Charlotte Street Foundation hosted a Town Hall meeting for metro area artists as part of the KC Artist LINC initiative. This report provides significant insights from the meeting participants about what makes Kansas City a great place for artists to live and work, as well as suggestions for how conditions could be improved.

Phase II Audience Development Evaluation
January 10, 2007
The results of an 18-month collaborative audience development project are documented in this evaluation written by Darcy Minter for the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City. From January of 2005 through June of 2006, 20 different organizations took part in 7 different audience development projects inspired by the 2003 market research of the Kansas City metropolitan area that was conducted by Surale Phillips of Decision Support Partners, Inc. Brief case studies of the projects are included in this 24 page PDF document. Funding for Phase II of the Collaborative Cultural Audience Development Initiative was made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Performing Arts, and the Missouri Arts Council.

"Arts and Economic Prosperity" Summary
December 2, 2005
A condensed 5-page summary of “Arts & Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts Organizations and their Audiences in the Kansas City Metropolitan Region.”

Conducted by Americans for the Arts for the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, this report finds that the region’s arts and cultural organizations generate an economic impact of more than $279 million each year, supporting not only artists and nonprofit workers, but restaurants, hotels, retail stores, parking garages and other businesses, as well as significant tax revenues.

A copy of the full report can be downloaded below.

"Arts & Economic Prosperity"
October 24, 2005
A new study conducted by Americans for the Arts for the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City finds that the region’s arts and cultural organizations generate an economic impact of more than $279 million each year, supporting not only artists and nonprofit workers, but restaurants, hotels, retail stores, parking garages and other businesses, as well as significant tax revenues.

“Arts & Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts Organizations and Their Audiences in the Kansas City Metropolitan Region” was conducted by Americans for the Arts over a three month period beginning in May of 2005. It was funded by grants to the Arts Council from H & R Block and UMB Financial Corporation, with additional support from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

More than 80 of the region’s premier arts and cultural organizations participated in the study. In addition to the information supplied by the organizations, over 1,700 arts-event audience members completed surveys indicating how much they had spent while attending the events, including the cost of meals, parking, souvenirs, baby sitters, lodging and the like.

Kansas City Arts Reach Diverse Regional Audiences
March 1, 2004
This article summarizes the conclusions of a groundbreaking study conducted by the Arts Council in 2004. The study showed that arts and cultural audiences in Kansas City reflect the texture of the five-county metro region: people of all ages, heritage, economic and educational levels. There is a strong regional market for arts and culture, with audiences frequently crossing state lines to attend performances and activities no matter where they take place.

The Artistic Dividend Revisited
March 1, 2004
The author is this study is Ann Markusen, the director of PRIE, the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics. Her research focuses on occupational approaches to regional development and on the arts, high-tech, and defense activities as regional economic stimulants. The Artistic Dividend Revisited updates Professor Markusen’s earlier work on the arts’ contributions to regional economies. According to her research, the Kansas City metropolitan area ranks seventh in the nation in concentration of visual artists, among the top 29 largest U.S. metro areas.

Economic Activity Study of KC Arts and Culture
May 1, 2001
The conclusion Deloitte and Touche reached from this study is straightforward and compelling: "Cultural organizations are a powerful economic and social force within the greater Kansas City community." The Economic Activity Study of Kansas City Arts and Culture was commissioned by the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce with support form the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. The economic activities of the 78 organizations surveyed represented $282 million of direct economic activity in the year 2000, including operating, capital and audience ancillary expenditures. This snapshot of arts and cultural activity in metropolitan Kansas City provides valuable insight into the economics and some of the social impact of arts organizationsvin our community.

1st Steps
November 10, 2006
A report published by the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City summarizing key national studies on how arts education creates better students, better opportunities, and better futures.

Gifts of the Muse
April 6, 2004
Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts
This RAND study seeks a broader understanding of the arts’ full range of effects, including both instrumental and intrinsic benefits. It argues for recognition of the contribution that both types make to the public welfare, but also of the central role intrinsic benefits play in generating all benefits. And it calls for efforts to sustain the supply of the arts with a focus on building demand, particularly by strengthening early exposure.

(Source:WallaceFoundation.Org )

Investing in Creativity
November 1, 2003
Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support Structure for U.S. Artists is a comprehensive research effort to illuminate support mechanisms for artists in the United States. Launched in 2000 with the backing of 38 funders around the country, this project documents and analyzes existing programs supporting artists, explores the interplay of nonprofit, public, and commercial mechanisms in artists' careers, and proposes ways to enhance structures that facilitate artists' work. The project is generating a variety of products useful to artists, funders, policymakers, and others interested in strengthening support for creative individuals, including a review of existing data sources on artists' support structures, a comprehensive national database (NYFA Source) with information about resources for artists, profiles of the environment of support for artists in nine urban places (Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) and in rural communities, public information and constituency building, and overall recommendations for action.

Arts and Economic Prosperity (Summary)
June 1, 2002
This study broke new ground in revealing the magnitude of the impact of arts and culture on the national economy. Arts & Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts Organizations and Their Audiences, released in 2002, reveals that America's nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity every year, including $24.4 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues. The $134 billion total includes $53.2 billion in spending by arts organizations and $80.8 billion in event-related spending by arts audiences:

The $53.2 billion represents a 45 percent increase (from $36.8 billion) since 1992, when Americans for the Arts last studied spending by arts organizations. The $80.8 billion in event-related spending by arts audiences reflects an average of $22.87 per person in spending for hotels, restaurants, parking, souvenirs, refreshments, or other similar costs-with non-local attendees spending nearly twice as much as local attendees ($38.05 compared to $21.75).

The Role of the Arts in Economic Development
June 25, 2001
The non-profit arts industry, with $36.8 billion in annual revenue, is a potent force in economic development nationwide. States and communities have integrated the arts into their economic development arsenal to achieve a wide range of direct and indirect economic goals. This brief report form the National Governors Association documents some of the best practices regarding the arts and economic development from around the country. Governors have positioned their states to use the arts effectively by promoting new partnerships among state agencies, communities, and the business sector and by harnessing the power of the arts and culture as tools that unite communities, create economic opportunity, and improve the quality of life.

Gaining the Arts Advantage: More Lessons...
October 13, 2000
A follow-up to Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts That Value Arts Education, this publication provides answers to several questions. For example, “How are the districts profiled in the Gaining report responding to questions of accountability and how to raise student performance? Do their communities continue to support arts education? Are budgets stable? What specific challenges and opportunities do they face? How are they responding? Have they developed new insights, strategies, practices that could benefit other districts?” This report is a joint publication of the Arts Education Partnership and the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities.