Our Mission
The Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester is the umbrella service organization and industry association for arts and culture in the ten-county greater Rochester region, including: Cayuga, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates counties. Its mission is to develop, promote and strengthen the cultural industry. The Arts & Cultural Council directly serves the cultural community - artists and cultural organizations - as well as the community at large. The Arts Council is a funder, an advocate, a service provider, a convener, a resource for research and technical assistance, and a planner, implementing initiatives and strategies across the 10-county area. The Council leads the development of a comprehensive Cultural Development Plan. The most current plan has the following goals:
Goal 1: Create opportunities for artists to serve as valued resources to the culture and economy of the community.
Goal 2: Market to build new audiences.
Goal 3: Build collaborations between arts and community development.
Goal 4: Make the arts basic to education.
Goal 5: Strengthen the economic base of the cultural industry through new revenue development.
Goal 6: Create change in the public's perception of the arts
Goal 1: Create opportunities for artists to serve as valued resources to the culture and economy of the community.
Artists are the resources who bring vision and skills to the community, and who fuel the economic development of the region's cultural industries. The Arts Council is committed to build a stronger community of artists by addressing their needs through an ever-increasing number of programs and services. These include SOS grants; group health insurance; Internet promotion and web site development; Artists Forums; counseling and technical assistance. Back to top
Goal 2: Market to build new audiences.
Our market research (link) shows that there is the potential to encourage participation in the arts by a broad group of people who live in the Rochester region. The Arts Council works to tap new audiences for its cultural organization members through this web site and other promotions. With the Greater Rochester Visitors Association, we are reaching people who live within a 250-mile radius and building their interest in Rochester's cultural resources. Back to top
Goal 3: Build collaborations between arts and community development.
Increasingly, the arts are being recognized, accepted and supported as integral to the processes of community and economic development. Many of the Arts Council's new initiatives focus on developing positives assets in our young people through the arts. The City of Rochester collaborates with the Arts Council on a number of initiatives, including Culture Builds Communities and ArtWorks. The United Way of Greater Rochester works with the Arts Council to fund after-school arts programs. Back to top
Goal 4: Make the arts basic to education.
Arts in education, as taught as disciplines, and as used to teach other subjects in grades K through 12, are central to strengthening education as well as to building audiences for the future. The Arts Council convenes an Arts in Education Roundtable made up of educators and cultural workers, dedicated to collaborating to make the arts basic in our schools. The Arts Council also convenes a Higher Education Alliance for the Arts which promotes cross-communication and programming between our college and university arts programs. Back to top
Goal 5: Strengthen the economic base of the cultural industry through new revenue development.
Rochester's cultural organizations and artists need broad-based, predictable and efficient funding mechanisms. New funding approaches and sources need to be developed. The Arts Council advocates for public and private support of the arts. Because of successful advocacy on behalf of the state arts agency, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Arts Council has been able to substantially increase the grants it makes through Community Arts Grants. Back to top
Goal 6: Create change in the public's perception of the arts.
When the Arts Council launched the six goals of the Cultural Development Plan in 1995, this goal topped the list: the general public perception of Rochester's arts and cultural industry then was negative. We believe that during the subsequent years the perception has improved dramatically. Our community - its citizens and leaders -- now prides itself on its wealth of cultural resources, and the arts are seen as integral to the economy and education of our citizens. Back to top
The Arts Council implements each of the goals outlined above through an array of programs and services.
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