Posted 03.01.2010

State of the state: Culture

Business and cultural groups create an artful link

By Maria Cote

The list of reasons to support cultural organizations is as vast as the sky in a painting by Rembrandt. Arts organizations add vitality to a community. Imagine Colorado without its many arts museums, the Colorado Ballet or the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Education and entertainment are essential to those who live in the state, as well as our visitors.

Deborah Jordy, executive director for the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, would add one more plug for the arts: economic vitality.

The organization, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary at a luncheon March 11, is a catalyst for the state's business community to leverage the arts for economic vitality.

"We're a membership organization focused on how to engage businesses and their employees in the arts," says Jordy, who's been in her job for six years. "We engage employees of businesses through philanthropy that's committed to arts and culture."

Around 130 businesses, encompassing around 75,000 employees, participate in CBCA, Jordy says. Despite the rough economic times, that number has remained stable over the past few years, though there has been some decline in corporate support for special projects, she says.

Jeff Tetrick, chief financial officer of Pinnacol Assurance, points to a CBCA 2008 Economic Activity Study of Metro Denver.

"Cultural organizations have close to a $2 billion impact in Colorado," says Tetrick, who is treasurer of the organization.

"Through CBCA, we can offer opportunities for our employees to participate in activities, from tours of the Opera House to behind-the-scenes looks at art museums," Tetrick says. >>
Jordy agrees that an integral part of the CBCA is that it's a link, connecting companies and their employees with the cultural community.

"We offer free arts programs to our members, and we see a lot of them go to performances, exhibitions, talks and lectures," Jordy says. "We support everything from edgy performances to family programming, and work with everything from the smallest theater to the largest museums.

"Though we're not a fundraising organization, there is a trickle-down effect. Say an employee of one of the businesses goes to the ballet, and gets a chance to see behind the scenes after the performance. That might inspire the person to visit an art museum, and other places."

And that employee, Tetrick says, will become one of many who will add to the local economy. Denver's cultural community, he says, drives tourism and makes Colorado a better place to live.
"Beyond drawing the employees of businesses to these places, we also offer training programs," he says. "Through these programs, some of our members will sit on the boards of cultural organizations."

Chris Wineman, principal with Semple Brown Design, offers one more benefit of the CBCA. His company has close ties with the arts community. The board chairman of the CBCA explains that Semple Brown works on many of those performance spaces and other cultural facilities.

"It's in the interest of our staff to understand the interplay of space, light and materials in those spaces," he says. "My clients feel as if we know what we're doing, and through CBCA, we meet people and build business connections."

When Jordy looks to the future, she has one goal.

"We'd like to build participation, from small to large business," she says. "We've been successful for 25 years. We need the arts to continue to be an economic driver, so we're excited about the next 25 years."

WHAT: CBCA 25th Anniversary Business for the Arts Luncheon
WHERE: Seawell Ballroom, Denver Center for the Performing Arts,
1101 13th St.
WHEN: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., March 11
COST: $75; for tickets, go to www.blacktie-colorado.com/rsvp event code CBCA25th
INFORMATION: (303) 282-5135; http://www.cbca.org/

Enjoy this article? Sign up to get ColoradoBiz Exclusives. The opinions expressed in this article are solely that of the author and do not represent ColoradoBiz magazine. Comments on articles will be removed if they include personal attacks.

• Page 1