LEARNING ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP FOR ARTS AND CULTURE

 
Tom Schorgl, President & CEO of the Community Partnership for Arts & Culture located in Cleveland, recently detailed for the Rotary Club of Hudson his organization’s comprehensive strategy and goals for Northeast Ohio. CPAC is a nonprofit service organization offering competencies in public policy, business development and research. CPAC provides business training and support to individual artists as well as business assessment and diagnostic services to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.
 
 
The CPAC objective of integrating arts with community led to a planning process to
  • Provide public access to arts and culture
  • Promote life-long learning partnerships
  • Encourage charitable organizations to work together
  • Develop resources for the arts and culture community
The initial focus of the Partnership was to determine the economic impact of arts and culture on the community, including the effect on suppliers to cultural groups.
 
 
The strategy developed for the Partnership addressed capacity building and public policy leading to an Arts Entrepreneurs program and City Government Issue 31 for public sector funding. The City pledged $250,000 and the Partnership raised $750,000. And, a proposed tobacco excise tax in Cuyahoga County to establish an arts and culture issue recently received a 75% voter approval. The excise tax generates $15 million annually.
 
Schorgl holds BFA and MA degrees from the University of Iowa and an MFA from Miami University in Ohio. He is the recipient of the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award, the Cleveland Arts Prize’s Robert P. Bergman Award and the Ohio Citizens for the Arts’ William R. Joseph, Ohio Arts Advocacy Medal.
 
For more information about the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, please go to www.cultureforward.org.
 
To learn of future Rotary Club speakers and topics, please go to www.hudsonrotary.org.