On Thursday, The Counterpoint Group along with Washington National Opera hosted and moderated a roundtable discussion on local government funding in DC and how in these tough economic times the city could better work with the DC arts community. More than 27 different groups were in attendance, including the Washington Ballet, Washington National Opera, Film Fest DC, the DC Jazz Festival, the Duke Ellington School for the Arts, the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the National Geographic Museum, the Textile Museum and more. The focus was two fold, a) how to look at the arts as an economic driver in the city and b) how the local government could really refine their processes to help the arts. Councilmember Kwame Brown, the Chairman of the Committee on Economic Development was the guest speaker and pledged to help. The Councilmember opened the discussion by stating, “It’s time to think of the arts as an economic catalyst in Washington”. His sentiments were echoed by Michael Sonnenreich, former President of Washington National Opera: "When the economy is doing well support for the arts is easy, but when it turns south it is much harder. I appreciate the Councilmember's leadership in this issue, both as a DC resident and as a commissioner of the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities. One of the reasons for the growth our city has seen is due to the growth of our arts community."
When the arts community joins together and speaks in one voice, it truly can be a formidable force. The Counterpoint Group has been tasked with putting together several recommendations from this meeting. Please stay tuned for these.
