The Chicago Community Trust by Suzanne Connor

Suzanne Connor, Sr. Program Officer for Arts and Culture

The Chicago Community Trust

If you missed seeing the maps and Community Profiles that illustrate the disparity of cultural assets across the City, it’s all available here: www.culturalindicators.org

Although this data served as a starting point for informed discussions about cultural planning, we also want to call your attention to an asset that is emerging as a prominent contributor to the creativity and productivity that define Chicago – higher education.  Did you know that there are 35 post-secondary institutions located within the City limits with combined enrollment figures that top 228,000?  When added to about 50,000 total employees, this is equivalent to one out of every ten people in Chicago.  Check it out here: http://www.culturalindicators.org/highereddata

Chicago is, in fact, a bustling “urban campus” where students from all over the world interact with each other and with the civic and cultural life around them.  From law schools to culinary schools, these institutions are attracting people from all over the world.  For example, did you know that 40% of the 7,700 students at IIT are international?  Some will put their skills to work in Chicago, while others will take that degree and all their Chicago experiences back to their homes around the world, strengthening the cosmopolitan image of our City.  

Demographically, Chicago is a young city, with only 10% of the total population aged 65 and over, according to the latest census data.  This extraordinary young talent is attracted, and in many cases, retained by the synergistic effect of a confluence of factors; everything from the lakefront bike path to Millennium Park concerts to stimulating internship opportunities and Benefits like the U-pass and student performance pricing.  The knowledge they acquire extends beyond the classroom; it is enriched by their exposure to the cultural diversity and upward mobility that is the hallmark of our communities.  Whether students arrive from Indiana or Indonesia, they enter an engaging environment where cross-pollination is the key to creativity.

In return, this vast market segment (along with doting parents) is dining, drinking, buying cultural and sports tickets, and shopping; keeping the cash registers and sales tax revenues rolling, particularly in the Loop.  College students are an attractive sector of our workforce, filling part-time jobs as cashiers, waiters, and even cab drivers while they are in school, and eagerly competing for corporate jobs once they graduate – unless, of course, they decide to start a dance company or jazz ensemble, take a class at Second City or Chicago Dramatist, or teach in one of the many arts programs offered in Chicago Public Schools.  

Beyond the well-placed network of City Colleges, there is still a surprisingly wide geographic spread with Chicago State and the University of Chicago anchoring the South Side; UIC on the West Side; Loyola and Northeastern up North – and so many others, too numerous to name!  This “urban campus” is a brand that should be showcased and celebrated, not only because it highlights the assets of our post-secondary institutions, but also because it can be better integrated into the infrastructure of lifelong learning for local residents in the arts and other fields.  

So what does this have to do with the 2012 Cultural Plan?  There is no greater missed opportunity than an undervalued asset.  Failing to leverage the synergy of these institutions of higher learning as centers for creative young talent, research, innovation, and upward mobility overlooks a relevant response to the challenge of positioning Chicago globally.  Forgetting to plant them firmly and prominently at the top of the P-20 educational continuum for all Chicago children in every aspect of City planning lessens the chance that an appropriate percentage of the 228,455 college students will come from our urban neighborhoods.  And leaving them out of the economic equation when mapping facilities and human capital would not be maximizing all the resources available to strengthen the cultural currency in Chicago.  Therefore, I am recommending that this information and the collective role of Chicago’s post-secondary institutions be incorporated in a significant way into the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan. 

Deb Clapp, Executive Director of the League of Chicago Theatres, on the priority in the plan “Optimize City Policies and Regulation so Creative Initiatives Thrive.”

It has been an honor to be a part of the creation of a new cultural plan for the City of Chicago.  I have enjoyed going to town hall meetings and hearing what all kinds of people are thinking about the plan and about the future of our city.  We will all have a role in the arts playing an important and significant role in the future of Chicago.

I have been asked to blog about the priority of the plan that calls for us to “Optimize City Policies and Regulation so Creative Initiatives Thrive.”  Can’t say no to that!  Recommendation 21 calls for us to “Develop the resources, systems, and coordination across city department that reflect a pro-culture government.”  Recommendation 23 calls for us to “Streamline city processes to simplify achievement of cultural initiatives.”  I think these two are so similar that they should probably be combined.  I would argue that many of the initiatives under these recommendations could be achieved if the entire culture of City government were transformed so as to be streamlined and service oriented.  This cuts across all business lines and I imagine would be most welcomed by all.  In fact, I don’t believe that any of these initiatives CAN be accomplished without changing the culture of City government.  It is difficult in the extreme to obtain complete and accurate instructions for any kind of permitting or licensing and, while I have certainly met City employees (especially DCASE staffers) who are kind and helpful (the tow truck driver who had to tow me off Lake Shore Drive when my car broke down, I will never forget that guy), let’s face it…many of them are not.  It doesn’t show up in the initiatives but I would love to see a DCASE staffer (or maybe more than one) charged with assisting arts organizations in navigating through other City departments.

Another of the initiatives in this area calls for Aldermanic arts initiatives and dedicated funding for that.  Aldermen can be extremely helpful in many ways already.  I know that many neighborhoods and wards are not adequately served by arts organizations and I think this would be a wonderful way to connect arts groups with neighborhoods and to strengthen arts groups that already serve neighborhoods.  Aldermen are given so-called menu money for infrastructure improvement in their wards – this money is currently not allowed to be allocated to the arts.  If a portion of that money (more than $1 million for each ward) was dedicated to the arts that would be transformative for neighborhoods and for arts organizations. 

Recommendation 22, Develop New Revenue Streams for Culture.  Fantastic!  Included in the initiatives are percent for art ordinances, real estate development incentives towards cultural contribution and augmentation of hotel occupancy taxes and dedicated tax for arts and culture.  All good ideas and should be done right away.  But I would also say here that direct grants for general operating support are the best way for the City to show support for arts and culture in Chicago.  It is the best way for organizations to grow and to innovate.  It shows that the City is willing to put its dollars where its ideals are.  Bringing more money into cultural organizations is the best way to achieve many of the goals of the plan.  These are difficult times and that is understood by all, but if Chicago truly wants to enhance its cultural assets, that is the way.  I don’t think the plan says it directly anywhere (it does for artists but not for organizations).

I know I talk a lot about money here but there is some truly astonishing art happening in this City within organizations that are constantly on the brink of financial ruin.  This leads companies to shrink, to not take chances and eventually, in some cases to stop, because they just can’t make it work.  That is a shame.  I believe that the tax dollar investment in these companies and these artists pays us back in an infinite number of ways.

The priorities of the plan are excellent.  I think the results of the process are well worth the effort that everyone has put into it.  I strongly urge everyone to read it.  So many of the priorities, recommendations and initiatives dovetail into each other it would seem that there is tremendous incentive to move forward.   The cost of the recommendations of the plan seem like a small investment in something that already makes our City great and can only enhance other efforts underway such as job creation, infrastructure improvement and making Chicago a global destination.