Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY)

December 8, 2005

Arts groups discuss taking role in revitalization of Rochester

Author: Joseph Spector

Section: Local State
Page: 3B

Joseph Spector
Staff writer

In Monroe County, there are 573 arts-related businesses that employ nearly 16,000 people. What if they all worked together with other businesses to bolster the region?

That was a question posed Wednesday during a first-time conference in downtown Rochester titled "Connecting Creativity to Regional Success."

Arts groups and economic development planners have long viewed Rochester's wealth of cultural assets as key to its vitality. Yet the groups often work in isolation and don't develop partnerships with other community leaders, conference organizers said.

That needs to change, said Sarah Lentini, president of the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester. The conference was the first step. Similar conferences will be held quarterly over the next year.

"We're looking to strengthen relationships to bring good ideas to the table, but ultimately make some positive community changes," she said.

The arts council, which sponsored the daylong event, brought in leaders from Toronto, Maryland and Cincinnati, to discuss how those areas incorporated arts into their economic revitalization.

In Frederick, Md., a mural project served as a catalyst for new public and private development. In Toronto, the city gives out more than 650 grants to artists and arts organizations each year. And in Cincinnati, the Fine Arts Fund raises about $11 million a year for arts groups.

"Every other city in America is looking at how we can strengthen what we have and how we build on that," said the fund's president, Mary McCullough-Hudson, who spoke at the conference.

"The arts do so much in creating a sense of place and a sense of identity."

Rochester officials have shown a renewed interest and a greater commitment to the arts, especially with the development of Renaissance Square off East Main Street.

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and project planners gave a presentation on Renaissance Square during a luncheon for about 200 conference participants.

The $230 million project calls for building a performing arts center, bus terminal and Monroe Community College campus on one square block in the heart of downtown. Brooks, a theater major in college, said a goal is to make Rochester upstate's capital for the arts.

"We continue to see this project as a catalyst to other things that we can do in the center city and in the community around arts and culture," she said.

JSPECTOR@DemocratandChronicle.com

What's at stake

The future of Rochester. A conference Wednesday looked at ways that arts groups can work with community leaders to contribute to Rochester's resurgence.