Twin Cities Thrive Through the Arts

M I N N E A P O L I S, May 15 -- How do you make a city grow and thrive? Minneapolis says the answer is in the arts.

Minneapolis has become a city that grows art patrons. In 2000 there were almost 2 ½ million tickets sold to theater performances alone.

A wide array of art and entertainment has helped turn the Twin Cities into a place where people want to live, and where 15 Fortune 500 companies want to continue to grow. They know the arts are a powerful development strategy.

"The fact that we have a strong arts community as well is attractive to workers who are interested in either relocating here or staying here," said Teresa Eyring, the managing director of the Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis.

The statistics are staggering. It's not just one theater, or one museum or one orchestra: Minneapolis and St. Paul have two nationally recognized orchestras; there are 217 theater groups in the state, 167 museums and galleries and 336 music organizations. And five of the top 15 Minnesota tourist attractions are arts institutions.

"There's lots of breadth, lots of support, lots of space created for individuals to do something," said Lou Bellamy, the founder and the artistic director of St. Paul's Penumbra Theater.

In case there was any doubt on the arts' value, some 92 percent of residents say the arts are crucial to their quality of life, according to a Minnesota Center for Survey Research poll from 1998. "It's essential to my lifestyle," said Minneapolis arts patron Roy Close. "It's very important."

Some 60 percent of Minnesotans polled say they are involved in the arts by "engaging in some creative activity in their everyday lives."

"There's a very real belief that culture and the arts are at the center of community life," said Joe Dowling, the artistic director for the Guthrie Theater. "That you don't find in every place."

Not Without a Cost

This committed investment in the arts comes with a hefty price tag. Minnesota appropriated $13 million for the arts and received 51 grants and a total of $3.2 million from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. And according to the Minnesota Council of Foundations, private, corporate and public foundations gave more than $95 million to arts and cultural groups in 1999.