From a purely business perspective, the arts in general and public art in particular are demonstrated spurs of economic development. This happy reality has proven true in my work as the Principal and sole employee of Prospective Inc., which is the exclusive leasing agent for the 4-million-square-foot office component of Reston Town Center, an internationally-recognized urban mixed-use development located in Reston, Virginia.

Last year, the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and Shake Shack joined forces for Summer Rendezvous, a breezy, bright mural on the wall behind Shake Shack’s first Philadelphia location. Edwin Bragg, Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Shake Shack, took a few minutes to talk to me about the partnership.

CRS: What drives Shake Shack’s giving philosophy, both historically and currently?

EB: Shake Shack’s mission is to Stand for Something Good, which means taking care of each other and our communities. Giving back is an essential to connecting to every community that Shake Shack is in. We have a program called Shack Gives Back, a company-wide community program that recognizes Shake Shack employees for volunteering. We also donate with funds, meals at Shake Shack, and more.

This summer, Zions Bank customers were treated to a dazzling display. Bank branches throughout Utah’s Wasatch Front were transformed into galleries showcasing costumes from Ballet West to help promote the local dance company’s 52nd season. Though the bank has helped support the ballet company for years, this clever new partnership brought their affiliation into the spotlight, helping both partners receive widespread media coverage and reach potential new customers.

The Private Sector Network of Americans for the Arts, which includes organizations like Arts & Business Councils and Business Committees for the Arts, works to promote the message that business sector support for the arts is integral to the success and longevity of the arts, and essential in building communities in which the business sector can thrive. This post is one of two that highlights five such organizations that are celebrating monumental anniversaries in 2015 and have spent decades building these vital partnerships.

Two weeks ago we featured the Arts & Business Council of New York, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, and the New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts as they celebrate major anniversaries this year. Now, we turn to the Arts & Business Council of Miami and the Arts & Business Council of Chicago to learn more about their work over the past 30 years. 

At the Americans for the Arts 2015 Annual Convention, I was honored to accept the 2015 Public Art Network Award on behalf of the Association for Public Art (aPA) and also the early innovators who guide our work today. I am acutely aware that as the nation’s first non-profit public art organization, aPA has a unique 140+ year legacy. While we do not operate in the same environment as government agencies, I believe that recognizing our shared public art legacy can fortify our position by imparting clarity, credibility, and clout.

So who were those civic-minded people who founded and supported the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art) and established the earliest percent for art programs in the United States?

Nicole Glotzer

As part of Americans for the Arts’ Internship Program, my fellow interns and staff recently took an office field trip to see a unique public dance performance entitled Yolk by dance company Third Rail Projects. The performance was part of a series of events presented this spring at locations throughout Manhattan by Arts Brookfield, the cultural arm of Brookfield Office Properties. Yolk ran from April 8-10 at the plaza of the Grace Building, a Brookfield property located in Midtown Manhattan.

The piece featured two performers, one dressed in silver, the other in gold, dancing in and around large open eggshells accompanied by electronic music. Third Rail Projects is a multi-disciplinary performance company, and Yolk showcased Third Rail Projects’ explorations fusing dance, installation art, and performance in the public sphere. I watched as a crowd, made up of passersby and employees from nearby businesses (particularly the Grace Building), gathered to view the performance during their lunch hour and was able to see, firsthand, how such a performance could engage employees of the Grace Building and surrounding businesses. It was then that I realized that the performance was less about two girls dancing in fiberglass eggs, but rather the experience it was creating for those in attendance.

In their acceptance speeches at the 2016 BCA 10 Awards, twelve industry leaders spoke about what being honored at the 2016 BCA 10 means to them and why they encourage and seek out opportunities to bring the arts into their worlds.

"We believe that everyone in this room is art. And when art and the folks in this room come together, we spark innovation; we inspire youth. We celebrate and heal communities. We stimulate economies. We sustain this great nation."

Art schools are a funny thing. I know because I went to one. I spent five years making work across various media, trying to develop a voice as an artist, and at the end of it all I graduated with no real sense of what was next. I think this is a fairly common experience for a lot of art school students and it’s an experience that’s dramatically different from a lot of other degrees one might pursue in college. I know that too because I returned to campus five years later to get an MBA, and the education and professional opportunities I received after that were in stark contrast to my undergraduate experience. I went back to study business not because I couldn’t find work with my art degree (well, not entirely), but because I realized years later that I was interested in the way businesses can solve problems and I wanted to build one that solved a real problem.