Comments
A rotating panel of experts will provide commentary on topics related to the creative economy. We encourage readers to respond and share their thoughts.
Danielle Brazell, Executive Director, Arts for LA
How Data Supports Advocacy
Advocacy is both a science and an art: methodical and opportunistic, driven by people who can deliver the message and data that can support it.
Just a few short years ago, before “Web 2.0” and before the Otis Report on the Creative Economy, Los Angeles-area advocates had very little opportunity to organize, much less work together to make the case for why the nonprofit arts sector is worthy of local public support.
Before we had the technology and the data to work strategically, advocates focused solely on the intrinsic value of arts, or “art for art’s sake.” At the same time, the public was calling for smaller, more streamlined government that focused on essential city services, e.g. public safety, health and built infrastructure. The economic crash of 2008 accelerated this viewpoint and caused a tipping point: budgets for arts and culture at the local level began taking disproportional hits. We needed a change in the way we made the case for arts and culture at the local level.
The 2008 Otis Report on the Creative economy allowed us to make the case with substantive data. We have been able to present policymakers with quantitative and qualitative evidence that the creative sector is the 2nd largest industry in Los Angeles, and should be counted along with the other essential city services that enhance quality of life and public safety. With Arts for LA’s new robust advocacy portal and a growing interest in arts advocacy, we have been able to organize thousands of respected advocates—artists, policymakers, business owners and many others—to deliver the message.
The message is resonating! Last year, as the Los Angeles City Council grappled with closing a $450 million structural deficit, at the height of the of the worst economic downturn since the great depression, members of the Budget & Finance Committee refused a suggestion to cut arts & cultural investment. Recognizing that investments in the arts are investments in our economy, and that L.A. is an artist super city, they began citing facts directly from the Otis Report in council chambers:
* One in six jobs is directly related to the Creative Economy
* Despite the economic downturn, the creative sector is holding steady.
After years of hard work on the part of thousands of local advocates and the Otis Report research team, our elected and appointed officials began to speak our language. Or was it that we had finally learned to speak theirs?
As municipalities begin to recover from the economic downturn, advocates are poised to move from responsive to proactive advocacy. Through this new narrative, creativity will continue to provide economic, social and civic opportunities for our region to build upon.
The Arts for LA policy framework highlights three focus areas for our unprecedented collaborative advocacy effort: Arts Education, Creative Economy and Civic Engagement. Each of these issue areas involves policy recommendations and courses of action, built on regional partnership and coordination with initiatives such as Arts for All, Otis College of Art and Design and the California Voter Participation Project. This coordination sends a powerful message to policymakers that the arts are ready to be a part of the solution.
Data combined with strong storytelling drives effective advocacy.
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
Past Comments:
(Nov 28, 2011) Margaret Reeve (mod) said:
@devra breslow,
yes, the creative industry includes the entertainment sector - both performance as well as production
(Nov 18, 2011) devra breslow said:
does the creativ industry include the film/TV/media components?
(Oct 28, 2011) Mark Gonzalez said:
Finances are a sensitive subject for anyone. Resource allocation for the public... exponentially more so. As such, gathering support for something without the use of factual data is difficult. Value judgments, such as the inherent worth of the arts, will rarely inspire consensus.
This puts into focus the tremendous importance of the Otis Report. The Report provides factual, verifiable grounds for the importance of the arts in our society. The Report offers a definition of the role of the arts in our society. And most importantly, the Report furnishes the advocate and policymaker with the opportunity to purge subjective opinion from decision making that affects the general public.
(Oct 28, 2011) Joe Landon said:
I appreciate your articulating the process by which the message gets delivered. It's not how many times you say it nor how loudly -- but anticipating what resonates with the listener, and addressing those concerns or shared goals. Your work is consistently grounded in that understanding. Amen to that.
(Oct 28, 2011) Sandy Seufert said:
Thank you for this blog, Danielle. And I think this time does indeed mark a shift in how we "make the case" for the arts and arts education. While I am sometimes wary of the sometimes narrowness of "metrics," if we use our facts and figures wisely, we can hold fast and, I dare say, even grow. Many other sectors have the assessment thing down and as we grow as field and learn to measure and report on truly meaningful aspects of our work, we will begin to turn the heads of those that have us filed in the "fluff" file. We are all thankful to Otis for their vision and many other organizations need to take the lead on this as well.
Send your questions to econreport@otis.edu