By Jackie Demaline
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati likes the arts - a lot. A new $2.7 million study proves it.

Preliminary results of the Cincinnati Performing Arts Community Report show that three out of five residents of our eight-county region attend live performances, and more than 80 percent agree that performing arts are important to community pride, quality of life and the economy. More than 90 percent believe arts are important to education.

`Dispelling myths'

What this is about, says Urban Institute project manager Mary Kopczynski, is "dispelling myths ... that arts are only for the elite. There's no big "ah-hah!" for people who work in the arts. They knew this all along, but there hasn't been the data to support it."

Cincinnati is one of five U.S. communities chosen to be a pilot site in a first-time, three-year study commissioned by the new national Performing Arts Research Coalition. It was conducted by the Urban Institute and sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts. The other communities are Denver, Pittsburgh, Seattle and the entire state of Alaska.

While arts have been part of larger studies of Greater Cincinnati, and statistics have been gathered on attendance habits , this is the first study that attempts to measure how people feel about the importance of the presence of performing arts in their communities and lives.

`A mainstream activity'

"For the first time we really have evidence that the arts are fully, broadly supported," said Playhouse in the Park executive director Buzz Ward. "Arts are a mainstream activity."

Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken's budget, released late last week, makes a strong commitment to the arts. It includes $2 million in arts capital improvements, $700,000 more than the funding suggested by City Manager Valerie Lemmie. It likely will be discussed this week in budget hearings.

The numbers reported by the "Cincinnati Performing Arts Community Report" illustrate why, Mr. Luken said.

"I recognize that our arts community is vital to the success of our city," the mayor said. "It reaches out to different ages, incomes, races. That's what Cincinnati needs to do."

A key factor in Cincinnati's participation in the study is that it is one of a handful of U.S. cities that has a major symphony, opera, ballet, resident theater and a presenting arts center.

While the entire study (including income, education, racial background and household makeup) won't be available until early 2003, preliminary data suggests that belief in "value" of the performing arts is evenly distributed across age and geographic categories.

Interestingly, the report also dispels any "arts versus sports" argument. According to the study, people who attend performing arts are more involved in all aspects of community life. They attend more professional sports than the average citizen and are more likely to volunteer and attend community events.

"All the problems the city is looking at - education, economic development, quality of life, healing strife - the arts are part of the solution in every category," says Mr. Ward.

Study results show that the arts have more work to do, Mr. Ward added. While more than four out of five people agree they "value" the arts, only three out of five attend.

And while a majority of Cincinnatians agrees that "performing arts nurture cultural understanding," important in a city that has been grappling with racial strife, it's a significantly smaller percentage than the number of people who agree the arts are valuable in terms of education (25 percent fewer), community pride and economic development.

The surveys will be repeated from February to June 2003, with Boston, Austin, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Sarasota, Fla., and Washington, D.C. joining the original five communities.

The completed national report is expected in 2004.

E-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com