The arts are good for city’s business
Point of view A great asset to Oklahoma city

I have a simple proposal to make to the business and civic leaders of Oklahoma City: The arts are good for business.  

 

I had the good fortune to be invited to join Eddie Walker, executive director of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and Paula Stover, executive director of Lyric Theatre, at the mayor’s state-of-the-city address. About 1,000 people came to hear the superb news. It was an excellent speech and the city’s accomplishments in infrastructure, education, transit and professional sports only underscore why this is a great time to live in Oklahoma City. As a recent transplant, I couldn’t be happier to hear all of this.

What was absent, and I am genuinely making no criticism of any aspect of the speech or its message, was a mention of the arts in the city.

I’m not going to advocate the economic impact the various organizations have on the economy. It is meaningful, but probably not on the scale of an NBA team.

 

 

Mayor Mick Cornett spoke eloquently about the assets the city is funding and building to make Oklahoma City ever more attractive to entrepreneurs, job seekers and investors. From convention centers to air and water quality, it was a long list of good reasons to want to live and work in the city.

I’d like to propose that the quality, depth and breadth of arts opportunities are also key factors that affect decisions to bring jobs and investment to the city.

 

 

The most important asset a business has is its people. People mean families. Many parents want to engage their children’s imagination at the symphony, art museums and exhibitions, Broadway musicals, theater, choral performances and dance, among a much longer list. Great cities are known by their business community and civic leadership. They are known equally — New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles — by their thriving arts communities.

That Oklahoma City can offer Shakespeare in the Park, children’s theater and dance classes is an important selling point for the city. That we have a wide range of sophisticated arts opportunities helps attract the people and assets the city wants to bring here.

I humbly ask that the impressive civic and business leaders of this city also consider that we are valuable to their efforts. We are another kind of civic asset that the city can be proud of. The arts are good for business.

Krasno is executive director of Oklahoma City Ballet.

 

 

 

Read more: http://newsok.com/the-arts-are-good-for-citys-business/article/3434094#ixzz0fjxzJYbS

---