Your membership contributions help support the programs of the Allied Arts Council

The Arts make life worthwhile and the Allied Arts Council plays a major role creating a vibrant arts community in St. Joseph. We invite you to become a part of our arts family through an Arts Council Membership.

For those of you who are already one of our Arts Council Members, we thank you for your continued support. The money raised during our annual membership drive allows us to fulfill our ongoing mission to bring arts and people together by addressing the needs of local artists, arts organizations, and art lovers in our community. It is also our goal to foster a thriving arts community that contributes to the community’s economic vitality.
As a member, your gift helps provide high quality, affordable and accessible, programs. Any support, large or small, is essential to meeting these goals and is greatly appreciated.
The funds raised during this drive directly support the Council’s programs. These programs are a vital component of the arts community and a key factor in St. Joseph being named the 2008 Creative Community and the Allied Arts Council awarded the 2009 Outstanding Arts Organization Award by the Missouri Arts Council.

The Council spends its funds wisely. Only 4% of our overall budget is spent on administrative costs. The remaining 96% is spent delivering on our promise to provide quality arts experiences to the community, especially to our children. Your financial gift insures our quality programs remain operational each year:
•Artists in the Schools, a free educational tool provided over 90 sessions to 30 schools last year
•Artscape, a summer arts camp reached 169 school-age children
•Kennedy Center Partners in Education offers workshops on integrating the arts in core curriculum
•The Mayor’s Awards for the Arts recognize out-standing artistic achievement and contribution
• Trails West!® arts festival highlights local, regional and national performance and visual
artists

If you agree that the arts are an important part of our community, please take a minute to invest in your Council.
 

AAC begins Arts and Economic Impact Study

The Allied Arts Council has joined Arts & Economic Prosperity IV™. The research study, which is being conducted by Americans for the Arts, America’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, will evaluate the impact spending by nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences have on their local economies. As one of 200 study partners across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, Allied Arts Council will facilitate the gathering of detailed economic and event attendance data from nonprofit arts and culture organizations located throughout Buchanan County. In addition, Allied Arts Council will collaborate with the community’s other arts organizations to collect surveys from at least 800 arts and culture attendees in Buchanan County during 2011. Arts & Economic Prosperity IV will allow us to evaluate the impact of the recession on the employment and government revenues that are generated by the nonprofit arts industry. We expect that the findings will demonstrate that the arts remain a formidable industry in spite of our country’s recent economic challenges.

Customized findings for Buchanan County will demonstrate the impact of spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences on the economy. Specifically, the study’s results will include:
• The total dollars spent by Buchanan County’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations.
• The total dollars spent by audiences as a direct result of their attendance at arts and culture events in Buchanan County.
• The number of full-time equivalent jobs supported by arts spending.
• The amount of resident, household income—including salaries and wages—generated by arts spending.
• The amount of local and state government tax revenues generated by arts spending.

According to Americans for the Arts most recent national study, the national nonprofit arts industry generated 5.7 million jobs and $166.2 billion in total economic activity during 2005, resulting in $29.6 billion in federal, state and local government revenues. The $166.2 billion total included $63.1 billion in spending by arts organizations and $103.1 billion in event-related spending by their audiences on items such as meals, local transportation and overnight lodging. Complete details about the 2005 study are available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/EconomicImpact.

The Allied Arts Council, the official community arts agency for the City of St. Joseph seeks to make St. Joseph a better place to live through the arts by providing leadership and support for the arts and its sixteen member agencies. Established in 1963 the Allied Arts Council is the 2nd oldest arts council in the state of Missouri. The Council supports its sixteen member organizations by promoting artistic opportunities; by providing financial support, and fostering coordinated cultural planning. It also offers programs to educate and develop future audiences; provides forums of expression for local artists; and advocates for the arts and its member organizations at the local, state, and national levels.

AAC to undertake the development of  Local Arts Index

Allied Arts Council has been selected by Americans for the Arts, to be one of 100 communities that will participate in the inaugural Local Arts Index. These local arts agencies will be part of an 18-month research initiative that serves as a complement to the National Arts Index. The findings from the Local Arts Index will be reported in fall 2011.

The Local Arts Index will be the first county-level study designed to measure the health and vitality of the arts industries throughout the United States. It will use a single methodology utilizing information gathered from research produced by the federal government and private research organizations and covering multiple industries, including nonprofit groups, for-profit arts businesses, employment figures, and more. When these quantitative measures are taken together, the Local Arts Index will provide a year-by-year and community-by-community comparison of the nation’s arts sector.

“The Local Arts Index is an incredible tool for local arts leaders and we are excited to work with our community partners over the coming year. The Local Arts Index will allow the arts groups to place their community in a national context and strengthen the arts in their schools, businesses, and homes,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts.

Americans for the Arts announced the National Arts Index in January. Those findings showed that the National Arts Index fell 4 points in 2008 to a score of 98.4, reflecting losses in charitable giving and declining attendance at larger cultural institutions, even as the number of arts organizations grew.