Showcase celebrates area Arts groups and campaign volunteers
Inspired by the Fund for the Arts 2015 campaign theme, #ArtIs, volunteers, community leaders and arts patrons filled the Brown Theatre Tuesday to celebrate the Arts in Louisville and kick-off the Fund’s annual campaign. The Fund’s Arts Showcase took a new approach this year, by combining collaborative performances with personal stories from volunteers and Arts leaders, who shared their vision and experience of what “#ArtIs.”
“The Showcase is more than the magnificent performances we enjoy each year,” said Kristin Wingfeld, Fund for the Arts Vice President and organizer of the event. “Our hope is to inspire the community by highlighting what Art means to the performers, volunteers, civic leaders and donors.”
“Art is bringing color to our lives and life to our community. We want to invite new companies, emerging leaders and individuals from across the region to join us in building a stronger, more vibrant Louisville – the kind of Louisville where we all want to live, work, grow our businesses and raise our families,” said Fund for the Arts President & CEO Christen Boone. “Art is breaking free of traditional spaces. Art is improving education. Art is a defining force driving the region’s economy.”
Boone continued, “More than 20,000 generous donors help bring these creative and educational experiences to patrons throughout the city, but in a region of more than a million people, we have only scratched the surface of what is possible here.”
Louisville’s thriving arts scene entertains more than 1 million people annually, creating an economic impact of more than $259 million. Louisville ranks among top cities for per capita giving to the arts.
More than 1,400 attended the showcase event, at which the campaign’s goal of $8.3 million was announced. If reached, it will be the most raised by the Fund in the last five years.
“We are raising the bar this year,” said Tom Partridge, President of Fifth Third Bank and 2015 Fund for the Arts Campaign Chair. “We can reach this goal because this compassionate community understands the importance of a strong arts program, and what that means for our schools as well as for our economic success. Our goal is attainable and I join with the Fund for the Arts board, staff, and our generous community to ensure Art is thriving here.”
The Fund for the Arts receives 40 percent of its annual budget from area Workplace Giving Campaigns. From those campaigns, 70 percent of donors give one dollar per day or less. To learn more about how to participate in the campaign, contact the Fund for the Arts at 502-582-0100.
