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The Anchorage Arts Community is grateful to the Anchorage Assembly and our community for the support we have received over the past six months. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the arts sector have been devastating because in March we had the doors to our theaters and performance spaces closed without warning.
Unlike many sectors in the community, because we gather large groups together, we will be the last to fully reopen for business. Most of Anchorage’s arts organizations have lost all earned revenue, relying solely on the generosity of donors, grants and funds from CARES Act programs. A survey of just 15 nonprofit arts groups shows losses of $3 million to date, a fraction of the total losses across the arts community. This doesn’t include the losses to artists themselves who create the art you love. The funds recently provided to the arts and culture sector by the Assembly will help sustain the sector during this crisis, which we expect to last for months and even possibly into next fall.
The economic impacts of the closure of our sector will be felt widely. Each attendee to an arts event spends on average $31.47 on expenses like parking, meals at restaurants, drinks at bars and merchandise. Without hundreds of thousands of people attending events at the Museum, the Performing Arts Center and theaters and spaces across Anchorage, there will be millions of dollars this year that won’t be spent.
The arts create jobs too. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, arts and cultural production accounts for $1.4 billion and 2.6% of the Alaska economy, contributing 11,847 jobs. This is almost as many jobs as the mining industry in Alaska. Many of those arts jobs have been lost and will not be back for many months and some will be gone permanently.
Beyond the economic impact, there are the social and educational impacts to consider as well. The arts give spaces for people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and abilities to be included. The arts are a fundamental part of human expression and gather people together to celebrate art, culture and community. Alaska has a rich indigenous arts culture that is part of tourism and brings pride in a way that few things can.
As important as arts are, when times get tough and hard decisions must be made, the arts are seen as an easy place to cut. Cutting the arts now will make community recovery from the pandemic even harder to overcome. Now is the time to invest in the arts to make our home the kind of place we can be proud of. When we are finally able to emerge and be together safely, we will need arts to reduce stress, gather with friends and be part of the economic startup the community will need.
The Anchorage arts community is creating a day of arts visibility and advocacy on Oct. 3 called ARTWORKS Anchorage. Share your art and your love of the arts on social media and with your friends to keep the arts visible. Be sure to tag your posts with #artworksanchorage.
When moving into a new place, what makes your room feel like a home? It’s the art, photographs and other touches you hang on a wall or put on a shelf that makes it feel more comfortable. That’s what we need to think about as we consider what the recovery for Anchorage will look like. To make our community truly feel like a home, it must include a healthy, vibrant and thriving arts sector.
Codie Costello is chief operating officer for the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. This op-ed is jointly co-signed by: Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Alaska Dance Theatre, Alaska Independent Music Initiative (AKIMI), Alaska Junior Theatre, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Alaska Theatre of Youth, Anchorage Community Theatre, Anchorage Concert Association, Anchorage Opera, Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, Cyrano’s Theatre, Momentum Dance Collective, Perseverance Theatre and TBA Theatre.
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