Ohio: the bitter … - New York Notebook - downturn in economy affects Cleveland arts and cultural organizations - Dance Cleveland may have to cancel a program

Dance Magazine, Sept, 2003 by Steve Sucato

Times are tough for Cleveland area arts and cultural organizations. Dance Cleveland, the area's preeminent modern dance presenting organization, has all but eliminated its 2003-04 season due to budget shortfalls. Similarly, Great Lakes Theater festival, also located in Cleveland, laid off its entire marketing staff at the close of last season. Dance and theater producer/ presenter Cleveland Public Theatre cut programming and announced temporary layoffs, and Ohio Ballet in Akron continues to fight a three-year downturn that has reduced the size of the company by nearly half.

Tom Schorgl, president of Cleveland's Community" Partnership for Arts and Culture--a research and planning organization devoted to advancing north eastern Ohio's arts-and-culture scene-sees the decline of the area's economy that began shortly before the events of 9/11 as one of the significant causes of the decrease in contributed and earned income. "I think what has transpired in the area, with Cleveland being at the center, is no different than what is going on all over the country. No arts and cultural organizations, no matter their size, have been immune to the effects of the economy," said Schorgl. "Private-sector support is down, tinned income from ticket sales is down, state support has been reduced to 22 percent of what it was providing three years ago, and federal support isn't at the intensity it used to be."

For many area organizations, this downturn in funding has meant they have had to reline and retool plans and projects they had projected for themselves. Out of these recent setbacks has come long-term hope, as a movement within the dance, music, and theater communities has brought organizations together to look at ways to combine offstage operations, such as administrative, accounting, and marketing functions, to help reduce overall costs and maintain programming. Earlier this year, the Cleveland-area dance community came together for several meetings, including a summit with representatives of Dance/USA and the National Dance Project. The purpose, according to Hernando Cortez, artistic director of Cleveland Repertory Project, was to identify and address several needs, including fund-raising, public relations, and the creation of a clearinghouse similar to that of New York City's Dance Theather Workshop.

Another obstacle is the lack of local public-sector support. "Unlike many other communities its size, Cleveland has no municipal or county grant-making money for the arts." said Schorgl. "I think this exacerbates the current situation many Cleveland arts and cultural organizations find themselves in." He also holed that progress has been made recently with the advancement of a public ballot issue that would address the need for such support.

"This may have been the first time in the forty-seven-year history of Dance Cleveland that ,at have had to cancel a program," said Executive Director Pare Young.

New fiscal realities have forced northeastern Ohio arts and cultural organizations to reevaluate their situations. For those who continue to plan for their futures, the battle for survival has just begun.