• Feb

  18

  LexArts kicks off 2009 campaign

  Filed under: Arts administration, Central Kentucky Arts News, Current Affairs, LexArts; Tagged as: $1 million, 2009 Campaign for the Arts, George Zack, Jim Clark, Jim Newberry, Larry Bell, LexArts, World Equestrian Games
  

  Note: This is an extended version of the story that appears in the Feb. 18 Lexington Herald-Leader. It includes comments from last night’s kickoff, and those comments are in blue.

  LexArts kicked off its 2009 Campaign for the Arts yesterday with a modified goal due to the ailing economy.

  Last year, the Campaign took in $1,153,522, exceeding the goal of $1,125,000. Usually, that kind of success prompts the arts umbrella organization to ramp up its expectations the next year.

  

  Campaign chair Larry Bell speaks at the Feb. 17 kickoff. Photo by Rich Copley.

  “We set the goal in the midst of a lot of the bad economic news breaking,” said LexArts president and CEO Jim Clark, a few hours before last night’s kick-off party at Spindletop Hall. “We were not going to be limited by national conditions, but we did think it was realistic to set our goal a little lower.”

  Despite the challenges of raising money in uncertain financial times, campaign organizers said supporting the arts is still important, particularly with the FEI World Equestrian Games coming in 2010.

  “Although I am from Lexington, Ky., I lived in New Orleans for six years,” campaign chair Larry Bell, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, said at last night’s kickoff. “And New Orleans would not be the tourist attraction it is, it would not be the convention city it is, without something to do in the evenings . . . It is a thriving community for artists, for musicians and for the culinary arts. Now is that only reflected in the quality of life in New Orleans? No, it is also reflected in the tourism, and tourism is the only industry in New Orleans. So, my experience with the arts is that it is a driver of economic activity.

  “That lesson is transferable, particularly to us, because we’ll be hosting the world next year, and part of the experience they will have is our arts and our entertainment options.”
  

  Honorary campaign chair and retiring Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra music director George Zack invoked New Orleans, and the New Orleans Symphony in particular, in his remarks. He noted the losses the orchestra suffered during Hurricane Katrina, including the losses of instruments and its concert hall, and how the orchestra regrouped and went on tour.

  “Nothing galvanizes a community better than the arts,” Zack said. “When you look to the past, you look at the past through its art treasures.”
  

  Funds raised by the campaign go to support local arts groups both through allocations to major area arts organizations and grants to groups and individual artists.

  Clark said that with the games coming up, “funds are particularly important for groups that are putting together special exhibits and performances for the games. It’s hard to plan when you’re struggling to get by.”

  Since the economy went south, Clark says he and his staff have had to work a little harder to make sure people are fulfilling their pledges to the 2008 campaign, but those contributions are still coming in.

  The campaign is starting with $300,000 already raised, a little bit less than the fund raiser normally has when it launches. LexArts also will have to wait until April to see what kind of contribution it will get from the Lexington Fayette Urban-County Government, which has kicked in $350,000, plus $150,000 in challenge grants the last couple of years.

  Mayor Jim Newberry appeared at the Spindletop kickoff and encouraged people in the audience to, “visit with your council members to encourage their support for the arts, because this is going to be a difficult time, financially, for Urban-County government, and the more they understand the depth and breadth of the support for the arts in the community, the more likely we are to find ourselves in a good position as we go through the budget process.”

  Newberry also cited the Destination 2040 campaign, “an effort to develop a longer term vision for our community.”

  The mayor said in a citywide survey, there was widespread support for, “funding for the arts so, ‘our arts community can become nationally competitive.’ I like that recommendation a lot. I’ve got a little bit of an issue with it though, and that is the part that says, ‘so we can become nationally competitive.’” Then, citing the recent Our Lincoln performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., he said, “If you were there, and you had any doubt about the national competitiveness of the arts in Lexington, Ky., it should have been totally removed that night.”

  
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