'Arts Through It All' Helps Struggling Colorado Organizations During Coronavirus Pandemic

DENVER (CBS4) - A new campaign focused on helping cultural organizations communicate the challenge they're facing during the COVID-19 pandemic gives the many institutions in Colorado the tools they need to help engage with their audience. Arts Through It All is an effort to encourage long-term support while traditional funding is down because of the coronavirus.

"Organizations like mine didn't have the time, the energy, the vision, the space to put it all together," said Claudia Moran, executive director of Museo De Las Americas. "We're dealing with daily obstacles within the organization."

There are less than 20 Latino Art museums across the country and Museo is the only in the Rocky Mountain region. It has been closed since February. The institution planned to open a new exhibition on March 26. Revenue comes from tickets, and their presence is felt most at community events. Both have been put on pause because of COVID-19.

The move to virtual programming is now common among arts organizations, and the plan will likely affect the rest of the year, including popular summer camps. Museo partners with Denver Public Schools throughout the year and now must secure the technology to make sure students can participate on laptops and tablets. Beyond the impact on the arts entity, the individuals who create and contribute are also losing out on their income.

"The values we support today will determine, you know, what we have when this is over," Christin Crampton Day, executive director of the Colorado Business Committee For The Arts. "There are a lot of arts and cultural organizations as well as individual artists that are really struggling to make it through this difficult time."

So CBCA, along with a coalition of others including Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, Colorado Creative Industries and Denver Arts & Venues created this campaign to help organizations explain the need in this difficult time. The message of Arts Through It All asks the public to consider holding off on a refund for any ticketed event, making a separate donation or becoming a member of a local arts group, and purchasing the work of artists. A toolkit online helps groups spread this campaign digitally and on social media.

"Arts and culture are a major economic driver in our state. So it's not just 'Oh, the arts are a nice thing that enriches our lives,'" Crampton Day told CBS4 over a video conference call. "They are critical to our vibrancy and our community."

Americans for the Arts recently surveyed arts and culture organizations nationally on the impact of COVID-19. AFTA found that groups with a budget under $100,000 saw a median loss of $10,000 in revenue between late January and early April. Institutions had a median loss of $1.5 million when their budget was over $10 million in that same time period. Based on this information and an estimate locally that there are about 450 organizations operating in Colorado, the arts community in the state has lost $17 million in that date range.

"This is not something that is anticipated to go away in a matter of a couple months," she added. "Hopefully we can keep this Arts Through It All campaign alive and top of mind so that people will continue to support their local arts community in any way they can."

Many of these organizations thrive on in-person events and the opportunity to fundraise with large gatherings. CBCA hosted its biggest event of the year on March 10, just days before the state shutdown. The Business For The Arts Awards celebration also gave the committee the chance to celebrate their 35th anniversary. One goal of the campaign that complements the ongoing work of its sponsors like CBCA is emphasizing the high participation rate Colorado has in the arts, ranked first in the country by some measurements.

"One of the things that makes our state unique is how we embrace and value the arts and we don't want to lose that," Crampton Day added. "We really just need to rely on citizens if they value the arts and they want them here when we come out of this, it's time to do whatever you can to support arts and culture in your community."

Organizations understand their members and supporters are also struggling at the moment, so they hope to show that we are all in this together. Asking customers to turn a refund into a donation is one way a small gesture can add up during this critical time. Museo and others rely on that revenue, and if thousands of people ask for a refund, the cost will hurt them when they need that money most. All the income they were expecting in March was lost.

"To me, this campaign really put into perspective the situation on both sides," Moran said on the video conference call.

In the months ahead, even as the state starts to reopen and people go back to work, this community will still be catching up on funding. The summer is when arts and cultural organizations are usually thriving, but the outlook does not support their usual projections for the season. Support from cities and counties will also likely drop and sales tax revenue from SCFD will decrease as well if people are not spending at normal levels.

"We don't want these organizations to go away," Crampton Day said.

The available data is a rough estimate as organizations like CBCA expect the losses to be larger than current figures. That's another reason why the campaign will call on the public to support these members of their community they enjoy year after year. A special Giving Tuesday has been created for COVID-19 and arts organizations will look to donations from that drive to make a difference.

"For Museo, as a small museum we really depend on community support," Moran said.  "We like to support our community but we need the support from the community."