Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 30 Mar 2016

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From YouTube: smARTS: What Makes a Creative Community? (Spring 2016)

Description

The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance takes on the question.

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The arts have the power to inspire, heal, teach, connect, and generate joy.

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To talk about how the arts impact our lives is jeannie howe.

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She is the executive director of the greater baltimore cultural alliance,.

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Otherwise, lovingly known as the gbca.

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good to see you! so nice to see you too, carolyn.

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I appreciate being here.

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It's wonderful.. We have so many guests here in the studio to talk about the arts,, but I think you probably have your finger on the pulse of everything going on artistically and culturally here in the region as heading up the alliance.

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Well, we have an incredible area here and such a huge number of activities.

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In baltimore county alone,, I think there's over 1,800 organizations.

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That are arts-related organizations.

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There are something like 4,900 jobs.

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It's really quite extraordinary.. I don't know that people always realize how well integrated arts and cultural is into their lives, or they might not think about the fact.

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That, if they sing in the choir,, they really are an artist of some kind..

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We tend to feel like it's such an elevated position., but folks participate in arts and culture in so many ways.

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More that-- you're saying without even realizing they are. yes, yes.

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And just to talk about the impacts,, I think on day-to-day lives, is incredible.

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People might go, "well, why?, you know,. Why are we funding arts and culture?"?

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Well, it is what it does for our communities,, the vitality of our communities,.

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The wellbeing,, the quality of life,, attracting employees who want to live in communities where there's a vibrant arts and culture scene, or there are activities for their kids..

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But it also does deliver three to one on the investment that the state makes.

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There you go., so there are numbers to support-- exactly.. It seems that the arts cross over party lines --.

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Whether we've had democratic governors or republican,.

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They've been very good supporters of the arts, recognizing how important the arts are.

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You know,, it is really true, carolyn,, that the arts are one of the few issues that really unite people.

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And I think that's true in politics,, but it's also true.

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In community problem-solving, in community development,.

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In the ways that people interact with one another., it tends to be a place --. I don't want to call it "neutral".

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Because that sounds like it's not making a contribution. --.

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But it is a place where people can kind of take their personal interests--.

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Find a lot of commonality.

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And find commonality because it so connects with all of what makes us human.

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And,, you know,, I think, in our contemporary world,.

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We really think about the quality of discourse that we're having and the way that we communicate with one another and the way that we problem solve, and arts and culture has a tremendous, tremendous amount to do with that..

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And then again,, you know,, it's returning a billion dollars,.

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A billion with a "b" dollars, of economic impact for the state.

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Okay, and in the few seconds we have left,.

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Any forecasts for the future of the arts, here?

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well,. I think it's great news that we're seeing the funding increase.

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I think that we will see more connectivity in our region and we're going to see more. I think, awareness and advocacy.

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On the part of the creative community to demonstrate.

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The kind of impact that they have in the ways that they can help our leaders.

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To do the things that they want to do.

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Okay, well, jeannie howes,, always good to see you and we appreciate all the work. You do. you're a wonderful advocate for the arts, and if people want to find out more about gbca,, they can go online as well.

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They can -- baltimoreculture.org, and they should check out the culture fly,, which is our cultural calendar..

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It's the most comprehensive online calendar..

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You can use it on your phone, find out. What's going on in the region.

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Okay, and I love it., it's so cool looking.

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Thank you!, we think so too. okay,, thanks for being here. thank you,, carolyn.