Building Public Will for Arts + Culture Oregon Briefing

1. Building Public Will for Arts + CultureOregon Briefing February 18, 2015

2. Welcome Brian Rogers, Executive Director, Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust

3. Thank you to our generous supporters • Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (national) • Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (Michigan) • James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation (Oregon) • Meyer Memorial Trust (Oregon) • City of San Jose (San Jose) • Oregon Arts Commission (Oregon) • Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation (Oregon) • Oregon Community Foundation (Oregon) • Rosenthal Family Foundation (San Jose) • Packard Foundation (pending, San Jose) • California Arts Council (San Jose) • Hewlett Foundation (San Jose) • Regional Arts and Culture Council (Oregon)

4. Background Deb Vaughn, Arts Education Coordinator, Oregon Arts Commission

5. Arts participation in the United States “Beyond Attendance: A multi-modal understanding of arts participation,” WolfBrown: • Approximately 74% of U.S. adults participated in the arts between May 2007 and May 2008. • In real numbers, approximately 225 million Americans participated in a single year.

6. Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Group

7. How did we get started?

8. Project Goal To make arts and culture a recognized, valued, and expected part of everyday life.

9. Seeks long-term, sustainable shifts in cultural norms Aligns an issue with existing core values Integrates grassroots outreach with mass media

11. How does this project build on, differ from, and benefit other efforts? • Builds on previous learnings • Extensive literature review • Validates and provides addition evidence and context re: perceived benefits, barriers, etc. • Works from the outside/in • Based upon advancing closely held values of stakeholders • Reaches a new, less engaged/un-engaged stakeholders • Suggests a new values alignment and message framework to engage a broader and more diverse constituency

12. Pilot locations

13. Research methodology & findings Eric Friedenwald-Fishman, Creative Director, Metropolitan Group

14. Literature Review Stack by Flickr user hobvias sudoneighm CC BY 2.0

15. National survey of 2,000 people • Literature review • National survey

16. Oversample in pilot areas • Literature review • National survey • Oversample in pilots

17. 13 focus groups • Literature review • National survey • Oversample in pilots • Focus groups

18. 5 informal discussions • Literature review • National survey • Oversample in pilots • Focus groups • Informal discussions

19. One-on-one interviews • Literature review • National survey • Oversample in pilots • Focus groups • Informal discussions • One-on-one interviews

20. Findings from literature review

23. How important are each of the following to you personally?(% saying “extremely important”) Family Health & Well-being Faith Children and youth Education Religion or spirituality Self-improvement Opportunity Self-expression Creativity Work Heritage Culture Community 52% 40% 40% 36% 35% 32% 27% 26% 24% 23% 22% 20% 16%

24. What’s most important in your life? (# of focus group responses who identified)

25. Connection: Select Oregon Findings • The value of creative expression for promoting connections -- to oneself, to one's family and community, and among new and diverse cultures and ideas -- was a strong theme

28. Creative Expression: Select Oregon Findings • Oregonians reported in the survey fewer chances to be creative, artistic or to express their culture • Oregonians in the survey value everyday stimulus activities (e.g., listening to music, cooking) and engaging in artistic and cultural activities outside the home (e.g., visiting a museum, attending a cultural festival) more highly than respondents in other state oversamples

29. Creative Expression: Select Oregon Findings (cont.) • Of all our pilot oversamples, Oregonians are least likely to identify increased appreciation of cultural diversity as a benefit • There were concerns among some that art and culture may promote only superficial experiences with a culture

30. Creative Expression: Select Oregon Findings (cont.) • The distinction between “the Arts” and “being artistic” was less strong in rural communities where we conducted discussion groups • Creative Expression and arts and culture are a part of what we do everyday

32. Impact of doing more of the creative, artistic and cultural activities people enjoy in their everyday lives (responses to open-ended question) % of respondents giving an answer aligned with each category

33. Benefits: Select Oregon Findings • Along with Californians and San Jose residents, Oregonians are more likely to view art and culture as an essential part of a vibrant community and an important sector of our economy • Among the youth engaged, the value for creative expression was deeper than about promoting opportunities for solving problems and working together and included opportunities to: • escape, such as for those who are bullied • explore and come to understand who you are • therapy / to express ideas that are hard to put into words

35. Perceived importance of various activities: BY AGE (survey respondents identifying each as “important”)

36. Perceived importance of various activities: BY GENDER (survey respondents identifying each as “important”)

37. Perceived importance of various activities: BY RACE (survey respondents identifying each as “important”)

38. Perceived importance of various activities: BY PARENTAL STATUS (survey respondents identifying each as “important”)

40. Audiences: Select Oregon Findings • Communities of color typically place a higher value on creative expression, a survey finding confirmed by interviews • Some leaders in communities of color see creative expression as key to establishing presence, voice and a place of decision making and contribution in communities • Some raise questions about if arts and cultural organizations are really committed to doing the hard work of authentic multi-cultural engagement

42. How important are each of the following to you personally? (% saying “extremely important”) Family Health & Well-being Faith Children and youth Education Religion or spirituality Self-improvement Opportunity Self-expression Creativity Work Heritage Culture Community

43. Thinking about your community, how important are each of the following to you?

44. Barriers: Select Oregon Findings • Oregonian survey respondents are more likely to identify cost as a barrier to engaging in more creative, artistic or cultural activities • Whereas the value of teachers in creating opportunities for creative expression were identified by adult focus groups, participants in the youth group (from 5 different schools) spoke of teachers censuring them and/or their art • In a couple of cases, parents fail to understand / appreciate / foster their creative expression and what it might tell them about their child 

46. MESSAGE FRAMEWORK Purpose To provide a common message that can be advanced across the field … enabling arts and culture agencies and organizations, advocates, educators – as well as new champions – to “speak with one voice.” Intended to serve as a strategic foundation upon which messaging is built, not to provide specific language (at least, not yet …).

47. MESSAGE FRAMEWORK CONNECTION THROUGH CREATIVE EXPRESSION CORE Sharing creative experiences – and expressing our own creativity – helps us connect with others and ourselves.

48. MESSAGE FRAMEWORK CONNECTION THROUGH CREATIVE EXPRESSION CORE Sharing creative experiences – and expressing our own creativity – helps us connect with others and ourselves. VALUES

49. MESSAGE FRAMEWORK CONNECTION THROUGH CREATIVE EXPRESSION CORE Sharing creative experiences – and expressing our own creativity – helps us connect with others and ourselves. WELL-BEING GROWTH EXPRESSION HAPPINESS BENEFITS VALUES

50. Messaging: Select Oregon Findings • Messaging that referred to "experiencing" art and culture was seen as too distant • people described engagement and getting one's hands dirty • Messages about the value of arts and culture in children’s education were popular; several participants noted that the benefit of education was not only for children, but for “everyone”