A CITY OF ARTISTS

by Andre Kimo Stone Guess, President and CEO, Fund for the Arts

For many years, you have heard the Fund for the Arts expound this message: Arts Mean Business. This is certainly true for Louisville. The most recent Arts & Economic Prosperity survey from Americans for the Arts showed that the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates around $450 million in economic activity annually in Metro Louisville alone, and the arts and culture industry supports over 17,500 jobs — more than double the median for other cities our size.

And on far more than just economic impact, Louisville is known as a city whose arts community punches above its weight. We are one of the smallest cities in the country to have all the major arts institutions — orchestra, opera, ballet, fine arts museum, regional theater, and children’s theater. We are home to internationally famous conductors, we have raised Oscar winners, produced Pulitzer Prizewinning new plays, taught painters whose work hangs in the most famous museums in the world, and birthed one the biggest rappers working today.

The history and strength of our arts organizations and community are incredibly impressive and something of which we should be proud! It’s no small thing to have these institutions here in our mid-sized town. We can never take for granted the gifts they have given us. But, as I have learned over the past few years, Louisville is far more than a City of Arts.

For over a year now, I’ve been spreading the word about Fund for the Arts’ latest campaign, I Am An Artist., everywhere I go. The goal of I Am An Artist. is to inspire every member of our community to embrace the art that exists in their lives every day and to see themselves as the artists that they are.

As third graders, we had absolutely no problem seeing ourselves and others as artists: painters, dancers, singers, and storytellers. In my attempt to get everyone to tap into their inner third grader with the I Am An Artist. campaign, I learned about CEOs who shred guitar on the weekends, HR directors throwing on the pottery wheel in their evenings, managers moonlighting as Master Gardeners, and so many more.

People across the city are making a life in art, regardless of what they might do for a living.

Our city has been rocked by violent act after violent act that continue to rob us of our friends and neighbors and leave our community reeling. These tragedies now come all too frequently in our country, but that does not make it any less devastating when it happens here in Louisville.

At the Fund, we believe in the power of art to help us heal. Art is good food and good medicine that promotes individual, collective and communitywide health, healing, and well-being.

We cry out for healing, for understanding, and for unity, but struggle to find the right catalyst. Art can be that catalyst.

At the Fund for the Arts, we believe that art is a right, not a privilege, because art is a fundamental expression of the human condition. Art is the way that we make sense of the world around us. It’s how we celebrate. It’s how we tell stories. It’s how we mourn. It’s how we heal. It’s how we connect.

Since 1949, Fund for the Arts, one of the first two United Arts Fund in the country, has raised over a quarter billion dollars to foster the local arts, artists, and arts organizations that serve our community in times of joy and in periods of overwhelming adversity.

This spring, we look forward to celebrating the kickoff of the Fund for the Arts 75th Anniversary Campaign. As part of that celebration, Mayor Craig Greenberg will proclaim Louisville a City of Artists.

There is one huge difference between Louisville being a City of Arts and a City of Artists — and that’s YOU.

Whether we realize it or not, everyone in our community creates and consumes art every single day, regardless of age, ability, race, gender, sexual orientation, resources, income, ZIP code, etc. — from car-singing to kitchen-dancing, from make-it-at-home mixology to amateur herbology, from taking a screen-printing workshop at the Speed Art Museum to enjoying a show under the stars with Kentucky Shakespeare, from banjo lessons with Louisville Folk School to taking the entire family to the latest Redline Performing Arts performance.

We all have the ability and the right to create an expression of our humanity, and our art makes it easier to share in the humanity of others. We have infinite opportunities available to us all to partake in arts experiences along the continuum of great art, artists, and arts organizations in our City of Artists.

In the wake of the destruction and pain our city continues to experience, art is a powerful reminder that people are capable of creating wonderful things. Invest in your own art and the art around you and be ready for the incredible connections you will find in this community.

I Am An Artist. and a proud citizen of our City of Artists and so are you. For more information, visit FundfortheArts.org.