- The Pennsylvania Arts and Humanities, A Statewide Convening, was held on Wednesday, Nov 1
- An estimated 300 professionals and executives from cultural and arts organizations attended the event
- The conference was a collaboration between Lehigh University and U.S. Senator Bob Casey
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — How does the arts sector recover economically after the pandemic?
That was among topics discussed at the Pennsylvania Arts and Humanities, A Statewide Convening.
The inaugural conference was held on Wednesday at Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University.
An estimated 300 professionals and executives from a dozen of cultural and arts organizations across the commonwealth convened for a full day of programming.
The panels focused on the state of arts since COVID and included workshops on inclusion and diversity and grant writing.
Lehigh University co-sponsored the event with U.S. Senator Bob Casey.
Casey, a Democrat, spoke about the economic impact of COVID-19 on the arts.
"Some of that economic trauma proceeded the pandemic and then was triggered by or exasperated by the pandemic," Casey said via Zoom.
"A lot of people are hurting and it has never been more important to reaffirm the value of the arts and humanities."
'Underfunded' and 'dynamic'
In an engaging exercise, about 50 attendees were asked to jot down a word to describe the condition of arts and humanities in the commonwealth.
Among the crowds' responses were words like challenged, not inclusive, struggling, and underfunded.
They were mixed in with more positive, singular sentiments: strong, thriving and dynamic.
The Arts and COVID-19
Karl Blischke, executive director of the PA Council on the Arts, was among four panelists who discussed the ways that arts have changed since 2019.
Blischke talked about his findings during the Arts and Humanities: Data-Driven Post Covid lecture.
The 90-minute discussion featured data collected from nonprofits across the state.
"When we went into our last planning process, we talked to communities across the state and we asked them what was important to them. And what we heard consistently was that communities needed to be welcoming places and they needed to be places that were vibrant because communities were interested in retaining the residents, having a high quality of life for the residents, attracting visitors, attracting talent, attracting investment," he said.
Attendance down
Community-driven arts thrive in diverse regions such as the Lehigh Valley, Blischke noted.
Data suggests the events also tend to bring in tourist dollars.
It is estimated that residents make up the 70% of the attendance at arts and cultural happenings in the Valley, according to data provided by Genna Styles-Lyas, director of the AEP6.
While that number reflects that locals spend more in advance on tickets, non-residents shell out more the day of the performance or show — a whopping $48.94 versus $25.26.
Audience attendance at some events in the Valley seems to be back to pre-pandemic levels. For instance, Musikfest's 40th celebration in August surpassed its previous records with a reported 1.3 million festival-goers in 2023. However, other events haven't fared as well.
Laurie Zierer, executive director of PA Humanities, found that the data from PA Culture Check, an annual statewide survey of the cultural sector, reported that attendance has dropped 20% since 2019.
Close to 272 organizations participated in the state-wide survey.
According to Zierer, 36% found that their audience levels were back to normal since 2019, while 17% believe those numbers will return to normal in 2023 and 23% in 2024 or later.
In the case of museums
Andrea Bakewell Lowery, executive director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, backed up the findings from data provided by the American Alliance of Museums.
"They talked to 30 or surveyed 300 museum directors, and what they found is that there's really been an inconsistent recovery nationally, with about two-thirds of museums not reaching pre-pandemic levels of visitation yet," Lowery said.
The museums reported a 41% percent drop in attendance. In addition, they reported a 40% drop in school group attendance, a 36% drop in group tours and a 20% drop in special education since the advent of COVID-19.
"I thought this was an interesting piece of data as well that tracks up this variability of admissions relative to hiring. This shows last year and the year before. Sixty percent of museums reported difficulty in hiring and filling positions that they have, vacancies which obviously affects their ability," Lowery said.
What comes next?
While the panelists tossed around ideas on how to recover financially (grants, private donations), they also touched down on another trending topic: the benefits of arts education, specifically for youth and the elderly.
It's something that Marci Martinez-Howey advocates for.
Martinez-Howey is the associate vice president of diversity and inclusion at United Way of Greater Lehigh Valley, or UWGLV, and was a panelist on the Advancing Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Access and Belonging: Ensuring Accessible Arts and Culture Opportunities for All discussion.
"In Allentown specifically, where 50% of the population is Latino, I think the key is, aside from [diversity], is how we are including and providing the access for our diverse populations to appreciate the arts and be able to see and participate in the arts. That is an area that the Lehigh Valley has an opportunity to improve on," Martinez-Howey said.
"When I look at the local school districts, many of them are taking out their art and music and programs that expose our young students to the arts, so as they continue to grow they see the value that the arts have."
One idea she stresses at UWGLV is the connection between the arts and public health.
"We are centered around increasing the quality of life for our aging adults and those who are suffering from dementia or other disabilities and have seen how the arts have helped them increase their quality of life," she said.
"I think the mind-shift of understanding arts not just as entertainment, but as an opportunity to heal and change the quality of life. What we have learned from the pandemic is this increase and concern around mental health, so when we look at arts, we have to look at the healing power that it has to address that issue. There's a really powerful piece to the arts that has been untapped and coming to life."
