Department of Culture Affairs brings “CHAT” to Cedar Rapids Thursday
Cultural, History, Art Team discussion at Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance meeting
CHAT Region 8 includes Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Keokuk, Linn, Muscatine and Washington counties
For Immediate Release May 13, 2008
(DES MOINES, Iowa) –The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs will “CHAT” about culture, history and arts as part of an Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance meeting this week in Cedar Rapids.
The ICCA “Bring a Friend Night” meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, 410 Third Avenue, SE in Cedar Rapids. ICCA is asking members to bring non-members to the meeting, which will include appetizers and wine supplied by Daniel Arthur’s. ICCA will offer a brief program about its activities and DCA will discuss CHAT.
CHAT – Culture, History, Arts Teams – is a new networking program for Iowa’s cultural workers and their supporters, and a reporting tool that will help document their activities and generate more data about the economic impact they have on the state.
Culture, history and arts leaders, workers and supporters living in CHAT’s Region 8 – Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Keokuk, Linn, Muscatine and Washington counties – are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting. More information is available by contacting DCA’s Deirdre Giesler at deirdre.giesler@iowa.gov or 515-281-5111.
“Iowa’s creative economy is growing every year as our cultural workers produce more events and programs that enhance the quality of life for people in our state,” DCA Director Cyndi Pederson said. “The potential for job growth in this area is enormous, but we continue to hear from cultural workers and their supporters who say they need help in making sure their concerns and requests are being heard by local and state leaders.”
In response, DCA created CHAT to strengthen Iowa’s cultural infrastructure; give Iowa’s cultural workers and their supporters opportunities to exchange ideas and information; document the programs and events they offer; and raise awareness about the economic impact they have on the state.
At the Cedar Rapids meeting, DCA will ask culture, history and arts leaders, workers and supporters to create a networking and reporting infrastructure within their region. Each region will identify a team leader and cultural ambassadors.
DCA launched CHAT last week in Red Oak and will hold regional town hall meetings through July. The next meeting will be June 5, 2008 in Waterloo. Ten additional regional meetings are tentatively scheduled for June and July and will be announced as they are confirmed. Iowa’s 13 CHAT regions are comprised as follows:
Region 1: Lyon, Osceola, Dickinson, Sioux, O’Brien, Clay, Plymouth, Cherokee, Buena Vista
Region 2: Emmet, Kossuth, Winnebago, Worth, Palo Alto, Hancock, Cerro Gordo, Pocahontas, Humboldt, Wright
Region 3: Mitchell, Howard, Winneshiek, Allamakee, Floyd, Chickasaw, Fayette, Clayton
Region 4: Woodbury, Ida, Sac, Monona, Crawford, Carroll, Harrison, Shelby, Audubon
Region 5: Calhoun, Webster, Hamilton, Greene, Boone, Story, Guthrie, Dallas
Region 6: Franklin, Butler, Bremer, Hardin, Grundy, Black Hawk, Buchanan
Region 7: Marshall, Tama, Benton, Jasper, Poweshiek, Mahaska
Region 8: Linn, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar, Keokuk, Washington, Muscatine
Region 9: Delaware, Dubuque, Jones, Jackson, Clinton, Scott
Region 10: Pottawattamie, Cass, Adair, Mills, Montgomery, Adams, Fremont, Page, Taylor
Region 11: Madison, Warren, Marion, Union, Clarke, Lucas, Ringgold, Decatur, Wayne
Region 12: Monroe, Wapello, Jefferson, Henry, Louisa, Des Moines, Appanoose, Davis, Van Buren, Lee
Region 13: Polk
The development of the CHAT program comes at a critical time for Iowa’s creative economy. Recent surveys in targeted areas of the state found Iowa’s cultural arts generate thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in economic activity.
For example, a recent University of Northern Iowa study found the cultural arts generated 3,480 jobs and more than $347 million in economic impact in Black Hawk, Montgomery, Pottawattamie, Wapello, Winneshiek and Woodbury counties, and 31 counties that surround them, during a 12-month period ending in Fall 2007.
Another study conducted by Americans for the Arts in partnership with ICCA found 63 cultural organizations in 11 Iowa counties generated 1,986 full-time equivalent jobs and $63.08 million in economic activity in 2006.
A third study conducted for Bravo Greater Des Moines showed the cultural arts supported 1,944 jobs, $87.74 million in industrial output (sales), $44.55 million in value-added, and $29.9 million in labor income in Central Iowa during 2006.
In spite of those numbers and the potential they offer for job growth and economic activity, Iowa ranks 45th in the nation and last in the upper Midwest for per capita investment in the arts. Iowa invests $0.42 per capita in the arts in FY2008; the national average is $1.04, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. NASAA is the membership organization of the nation’s state and jurisdictional arts agencies.
“When you consider how poorly we are performing with regard to our ranking together with the economic impact information we are finding, you can see we are failing to capitalize on the opportunities in front of us,” Pederson said. “Think of how much more economic impact the arts could have if we could improve the investment we make in the arts in Iowa.”
According to NASAA, the top five and lowest five states for investment in the arts per capita in FY2008 are:
(Rank, state, per capita investment)
Top 5 States:
1. Hawaii, $5.21 per capita
2. Maryland, $2.70 per capita
3. New Jersey, $2.58 per capita
4. New York, $2.54 per capita
5. Delaware, $2.41 per capita
Lowest 5 States:
46. Washington, $.40 per capita
47. Arizona, $.33 per capita
48. Colorado, $.31 per capita
49. Texas, $.18 per capita
50. California, $.11 per capita
Among Iowa’s Midwest neighbors, Missouri made another leap in FY08, continuing its rapid rise from 49th in FY06 ($.08 per capita) and 33rd in FY07 ($.64 per capita) to 12th in FY08 ($1.37 per capita). Following is a list of Midwestern states, their rank and per capita investment in the arts, according to NASAA:
6. Minnesota, $1.97 per capita
12. Missouri, $1.37 per capita
26. Illinois, $0.83 per capita
29. South Dakota, $0.80 per capita
32. Nebraska, $0.71 per capita
43. Wisconsin, $0.44 per capita
45. Iowa, $0.42 per capita
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The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is responsible for developing the state’s interest in the areas of the arts, history and other cultural matters with the advice and assistance from its two divisions: the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council. DCA preserves, researches, interprets and promotes an awareness and understanding of local, state and regional history and stimulates and encourages the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts and public interest and participation in them. It implements tourism-related art and history projects as directed by the General Assembly and designs a comprehensive, statewide, long-range plan with the assistance of the Iowa Arts Council to develop the arts in Iowa. More information about DCA is available at www.culturalaffairs.org.
