Maybe you plan to have a little me time on this Leap Day. If your plans includes visiting a museum, listening to music, or taking in a performance, the arts will be at the center of what you’re doing.
“Art makes life better,” says retired P&G executive Lisa Sauer. She is the co-chair of 2024 ArtsWave Campaign along with Jon Moeller, P&G’s chairman, president and CEO.
Each year, community gifts to ArtsWave fund 150+ organizations and artists, creating thousands of performances, exhibitions, arts experiences and lasting memories.
“It makes the place we live in...more beautiful and more interesting, more challenging,” Sauer says.
Not only do the arts make our region a more fulfilling and inspiring place, the local arts community also create an impact that ripples out from the stages and galleries. They fuel the economy. They create platforms for voices to be heard. They inspire the next generation to act. They connect all of us. Stronger arts means a stronger region.
Moeller, the ArtsWave campaign co-chair agrees, and sees how the economic impact of the arts is also good for business at P&G and other local companies.
“We have an objective of recruiting, developing and retaining the best talent in the world... and that's very difficult to do without a vibrant community,” Moeller says. C
A recent report shows that Cincy's arts had a $1.6 billion economic impact from 2019 to 2022. The same report showed that for every $1 invested through the ArtsWave Campaign, the arts organizations, projects and artists it supports generate nearly $43 in economic value for Greater Cincinnati.
“It actually didn't surprise me,” Moeller says of the report, noting how many people BLINK®, illuminated by ArtsWave, brought to the region from all over the world. “That's just one of many very impactful art happenings that exist in our city.”
Enjoying the arts – and supporting the arts – go hand-in-hand in Cincinnati.
"When you put a number against it...You think, '‘Oh my gosh, they are a significant part of the economy,’” notes Sauer.
The 2024 ArtsWave Community Campaign runs through May 23. Donate at artswave.org/give.
Header image: Whitney Wendy Dixon / Pixxel Designs