EDA&CC: 2010

ERIE DOWNTOWN ARTS & CULTURE COALITION

Enriching the lives and the economy of our community….Creativity Counts

John Vanco, Director, Erie Art Museum

Deborah Murphy, President, Erie Philharmonic Board of Directors

As lifetime residents of Erie, we have long supported arts and culture in our community. Vibrant arts and cultural organizations are the heart that pumps energy and economic vitality into our city.

As aptly stated by Mayor Joe Sinnot, "Erie's cultural organizations contribute to the dynamic atmosphere of our community. Enriched and alive, the downtown arts community plays an important educational and economic role, while increasing the quality of life for residents throughout Northwestern Pennsylvania." Creativity Counts

We are proud to lend our voice to an initiative that will bring the partners of the Erie Downtown Arts and Culture Coalition to the forefront, and benefit the growth and vitality of our community as a whole. The coalition partners are:

Dafmark Dance Theater

Erie Art Museum

Erie County Historical Society

Erie Philharmonic

Erie Playhouse

expERIEnce Children's Museum

Flagship Niagara League

Lake Erie Ballet

These major arts and cultural groups bring life to our community and help support and create an exciting and alive downtown for everyone to enjoy.

Through this collaboration, these organizations solidify their place as essential community assets and key components to the vibrancy of downtown Erie. Our goal is to strengthen our organizations through a healthy combined vision and purpose, thereby ensuring greater sustainability of the vitality of downtown Erie and the region it anchors. This coalition sends a clear message to all that Erie, Pennsylvania is a special place to work and live, because in Erie, Creativity Counts.

Through our performing arts, visual arts and cultural exhibits we contribute to the education and development of our children, we showcase the vibrancy and importance of our heritage, we contribute to establishing Erie as a "destination", we create an enhanced family-friendly environment, we play a key role in an overall community atmosphere that makes Erie attractive to businesses and their employees, we attract civic minded citizens who become more actively engaged as volunteers, voters, philanthropists, we are part of the economic engine of our community…..Creativity Counts.

According to Americans for the Arts, the nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion annually in economic activity and supports 5.7 million full time equivalent jobs. This is more than twice as many as the American auto industry. As part of the entertainment, travel and tourism sector we are a driving factor in the fifth largest American industry.

The members of the Erie Downtown Arts & Culture Coalition collectively employ over 170 full and part-time employees, with annual operating budgets totaling in excess of $5.l million. The long term commitment of these organizations to stay in the city-center ensures a growing economic impact, both for these organizations themselves and for the surrounding businesses who serve their audiences. By ensuring the vitality of the downtown, we serve the economic interests of the entire community. Creativity Counts

It would be hard to imagine our city without live orchestral music, without the Niagara sailing in our bay on a beautiful day, without a place where children can explore, without the sound of Broadway, without the beauty of dance, without the opportunity to explore our own interpretation of what we see in a painting, and without the history that has made Erie the place we chose to live. Creativity Counts

The Erie Downtown Arts & Culture Coalition brings together all of these things for the benefit of everyone in the community. Creativity does count!