Thank you to all who attended the Illinois Arts Alliance Annual Members' Meeting on Wednesday, January 16, 2008. Close to 200 people filled the auditorium of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower in Chicago to discuss the role of the arts in creating vibrant, more livable, and more prosperous communities in Illinois.

Our keynote speaker was internationally renowned urban expert Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, a bipartisan, nonprofit alliance of U.S. mayors, corporate executives, university presidents, and nonprofit leaders. Carol delivered an inspirational talk entitled "The Creative City" that challenged attendees to make a more persuasive case for the arts by highlighting the unique ability of the arts to strengthen cities and regions:

• The arts are a magnet for talent: intelligent and talented people are attracted to areas that invest in creativity.
  
  
• The arts forge connections between people of diverse backgrounds.
  
  
• The arts express the distinctiveness of a city or town; they are one of the most powerful ways to amplify what makes an area unique.
  
  
• The arts foster innovation: the ability to create something new, different, and unexpected is what the arts are all about.

Carol's remarks also challenged arts advocates to identify and cultivate new allies and stakeholders in order to build a stronger, more powerful, and more diverse coalition of arts supporters in Illinois.

"The arts are a part of a larger creative economy that includes what we know as the creative industries. Not the creative class, but creative industries - architecture, design, engineering, publishing, entertainment, sports, and media. If you align with these industries, here's what happens: Together, you make up 2.2 million jobs in this country or 1.9% of the total.

"Just to put the importance of this creative industries sector in perspective: That is 400,000 more jobs that the 1.8 million jobs that manufacture cars, planes, trucks, boats, and trains."

A moderated discussion of distinguished panelists responded to Carol's remarks. David Hawkanson, executive director of Steppenwolf Theatre, served as moderator, and joining David and Carol on the panel were Evanston Mayor Lorraine Morton and Tony Jones, president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The meeting ended with the opportunity to network with other IAA members and supporters while enjoying cocktails and refreshments as well as live music by the Jones College Prep Jazz Combo.

In the coming weeks and months, IAA will continue this evolving conversation and develop strategies to increase the number of stakeholders in the arts and elevate the positioning of the arts and creativity in the civic and corporate dialogue.

We would like to thank Paul Boulis and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for hosting the event. We are grateful for the participation of our featured speaker Carol Coletta as well as our panelists David Hawkanson, Tony Jones, and Mayor Lorraine Morton.

We would also like to thank Sodexho for catering the event, Bottlenotes for providing wine and champagne, Andrew Suprenant for filming the event, and Zach Abubeker and Wally Reichert for photographing.

To read a selection from Carol Coletta's remarks, click here. (PDF)

To watch video of Carol Coletta's remarks, click here.

To watch video of the panel response, click here.

To visit the 2008 Annual Members' Meeting photo gallery, click here.

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info@artsalliance.org