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Why are we not focusing more on expanding and nurturing our local economy?
Arts and Windsor
• art helps to develop the consciousness of the people, and therefore it can be a large help in making that happen in windsor.
• How do we use this to get the ball rolling though?
• How do you make people see the value in promoting the arts? From the people that have the power to promote arts in the community, ie. council decreasing funding.
• Call back particpipants who have been in previous festivals in Windsor, and to a face to face conversation it was meaningful to the artists that someone was concerned with how they did in an arts festival. Nuit blanche in Toronto is a 5 million dollar cash input because people are actually out buying things. how do you show this to our city admin? you need to use the stats that are put together by festivals. ie with fringe fest, brought in $90 in grants that wouldn't have been either otherwise.
• How can the city help the arts and how can the arts help the city.
• The built in customer base that is in the core of the city is shrinking because people are leaving the city. When you see something everyday walking by it, you are more likely to stop and see that show, play etc.
• There is possibly an issue of volunteer and sponsor fatigue because the same people are involved in many productions, do we need to get together. Keep in mind that people have a limited budget for entertainment/arts.
• Talk of over saturation of the market, which may be taking away from how great many of the things are. But perhaps it is a matter of getting people from outside of Windsor to take in our arts as well so that the small arts community in Windsor are not single handidly supporting the arts in Windsor.
• A main issue for the ontario arts council is increasing the audience. because the arts are growing, which is great, but if the audience base is not increasing, it doesn't work. we need to get more people into taking in the arts in our community. so, audience development.
• visibility
• People in the outlying communities, outside of the DT community, is that people do not always know what is available to them. so putting things in the paper perhaps? The fringe flyers put in full page of listings where they listed all upcoming art/community events that were going on in the city, so that people know where to look for arts activities.
• There is a REAL need to create one source as a list of all art and community events so that people can partake.
• ARe we seen as a community that values the arts? The municipal council seems to be sending the message by saying that the "free ride" for the arts is over, that arts are not valuable. But part of the thing is that there are effects of having people come out and be part of the community whether they are fans of films, art etc.
• A great example, festival epicure, when the tunnel, canadian side pulled the funding for the festival and the mayor said that it's not big deal because "another festival would come and take it's place" it sends a message to the citizens at large, that festivals and arts are not important.
• Should we be approaching the automobile companies, and reflect them in our art. Should we be going into plants and making art?
• Testimonials that are geared to the general public. ie, forget the doctors and lawyers as quotes, show what is in it for the community at large, ie have people saying, my kids are doing better in school because they are exposed to arts.
• What can the arts community do to get the business people on side as well, so there is a reciprocal relationship between the two. ie, coupon packages, getting people into the seats of local restaurants.
• With fringe festival, there is traditionally a beer tent that helps make money for the fringe, however, since they were in DT windsor, they had a pub night every night , which was successful in their eyes and there is a lot of room for improvement.
• Getting people downtown and moving around is key.
• The council needs to get onside with arts. there is a lot of money going out for big projects like red bull, but fail to capitalize on our local talents. there is no money there.
• Council is passing the buck, because they won't fund individual events, because the city wants the CVB to do the arts events, but they are saying that they don't really want to be the group that funds the arts.
• Is is a matter that the city does not see the arts as a profitable sector?
• Right now there are 11 grant and funding opportunities, and staff is working on this, so there are so many people working on grant applications because the grants are not comprehensive, so that festivals could write one grant application and the funders can see what festivals meet their mandates. and currently people are spending more time on writing grants than planning events
• CVB- they need to promote the arts. they are lost right now, they don't have a format of what they want to see or do, but they are in a bit of a disagreement about where they want to go.
• in short, there is a disconnect between the city and the arts community. but there are still festivals running without funding, and it shows it can be done. yet it generates business for our city, why are they not doing this?
• There needs to be a sense that festival and arts can build relationships with artists and businesses where you want to see each other succeed. it can be as simple as asking how an event was for them, what can be done next time. Mutual support is key.
• We need to start talking about Windsor in a positive voice. We need to start promoting what we have, including the city, and how we feel about the community. Sell what we have. we have a great location, people cannot believe what we have here, because they never hear positive things about our venues and location. promote ourselves!!
• two things to take to city council. the economic rationale, get the word out, pack the chambers with the public so that they can see the public values this. Sell it to Windsor ourselves.
• We need to sTOP selling ourselves to Detroit. we are spending a lot of money on events that do not happen in windsor, ie. grand prix, wrestlemania, yet fail to promote what we are doing.
• We also need to keep in mind that in this city the windsor star is the major source for people to find out what is going on in the community. And they do not always provide the best coverage of local arts events, or have inaccurate info, so it comes down to that no matter how much you do, it can be overshadowed by what they write. They are also known for taking a quote out of context and spinning a story to suit their needs.
▪ SUMMARY: Where are we going to go from here? Action items.
▪ target part of your marketing to the general public, and if all art organizations do that, it could have a large effect.But how do you get to these people who aren't seeking out alternative media sources? cAn you look into posting message on work email boards like for the city, school boards, businesses, saying, this is the event that's coming up and we have enjoyed it. to make it seem like art events are not for the arts community only, but for all citizens of our community. We need to show this is possible.
▪ A lot of people in the factories look at the arts community as elitest and that they have nothing in common with them, we need to create a connection with them.
▪ People who are independently organizing things, need to come together. why compete against each other when you can build the strength of the entire culture. Need to exchange contacts, make it happen.
▪ REach out and expand our arts community, make it so that the arts are inclusive, which will over the course of the years build up a larger, stronger arts community.
▪ Find support for groups that are looking at sustainability of arts and culture, not making money. There needs to be money that goes to groups other than non-profits.
▪ The last word, we need our arts community to band together and work together!
