Arts & Business Council

We hope that more and more Chicago arts practitioners, volunteers and enthusiasts are becoming aware of the ongoing petition drive intended to demonstrate to the mayoral candidates the conviction (and large number—the goal is 10,000 names!) of arts and arts education advocates who value the arts in our city. Be sure to visit www.artspowerchicago.com to ensure your voice is heard and that the arts remain at the center of Chicago’s identity and infrastructure.

Naturally, as a key channel linking the arts with Chicago’s business community, A&BC of Chicago is especially cognizant of the powerful role the arts play in the city’s economy. You may have read or heard the numbers supplied by Arts Alliance Illinois from its own surveys: 24,000 nonprofit and for-profit arts businesses, generating more than $2 billion in annual economic activity and creating more than 150,000 jobs. What’s truly remarkable about these totals is how much can be attributed to what economists would classify as “entrepreneurially” scaled and managed enterprises. Indeed, we at A&BC of Chicago, through our efforts working with a wide variety of cultural groups, have realized that the vast majority of what are dubbed “arts” organizations in Chicago should be duly recognized for what they also are—thriving “small businesses” that are entrepreneurial in spirit, innovative in practice, resourceful by nature and fully invested in their surrounding communities.

Each of the major candidates has expressed an intention to support the further development of “small businesses” in Chicago. They’re talking the talk, anyway: “We can roll out the red carpet for small businesses that locate in neighborhoods, creating jobs in the neighborhoods,” said one; “It’s a very important part of Chicago—the entrepreneurial spirit,” mentioned another.

Perhaps one of the Chicago arts community’s most essential tasks is to insist that the city’s creative economy—comprised mainly of creative entrepreneurs and small business, including the arts—be at the center of any future discussion of “small business” policy. As stated in the “Principles for a 21st Century Creative Chicago,” signed onto by each of the current six mayoral candidates, “Chicago government and the private sector should partner with the arts industry to formulate a new economic development strategy that supports the growth of Chicago’s creative economy and addresses the needs and potential of creative entrepreneurs and small businesses.” The Principles also argue that the “arts industry should have a seat at the planning table and be a partner in decision-making about economic development; neighborhood revitalization; land use; regulatory, tax and business policy; tourism; international exchange; and cultural policy.” Hmm. Kinda makes us want to change our name to “Arts IS Business Council.”

Simply put, good art is good business and, increasingly, some of Chicago’s best run small enterprises just happen to be in the business of…art! Whether YOU are in the business of making art, a volunteer working to support the arts community or an enthusiastic patron, please join the ARTSPOWERCHICAGO chorus of support today and help to make the arts an important part of the electoral dialogue.