Private Sector News Roundup–May 2017
A program of the Private Sector Network at Americans for the Arts
 
Announcing the 2017 BCA 10: Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts in America
Americans for the Arts is pleased to announce the BCA 10: Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts in America honorees for 2017. Presented every year by the Business Committee for the Arts (BCA), a division of Americans for the Arts, the BCA 10 awards honor 10 U.S. companies for their exceptional commitment to the arts through grants, local partnerships, volunteer programs, matching gifts, sponsorships, and board membership.
  
21c Museum Hotels (Louisville, KY)
Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH)
Guitar Center (Westlake Village, CA)
Halekulani (Honolulu, HI)
Houston Methodist (Houston, TX)
Humana Inc. (Louisville, KY)
Kaiser Permanente Colorado (Denver, CO)
Lincoln Financial Group (Radnor, PA)
Magic Hat Brewing Company (South Burlington, VT)
The Betsy Hotel (Miami Beach, FL)
 
From the Field
The Arts & Business Council of New York’s spring panel and networking reception brought together cross-sector experts to discuss how the arts and intentionally-designed spaces can build competitive advantage and address core retention, engagement, and creativity challenges in the workplace. Read more. 
 
Private Sector Council member, Kristina Newman-Scott, is working hard in Hartford, CT to change the narrative of the arts as an elite pastime to an opportunity for equity and entrepreneurship. Read more. 
 
RACC will hold its annual Battle of the Bands competition tonight in Portland, OR. As part of the event, local businesses compete in from of a panel of celebrity judges and raise fund for over 100 arts and culture organizations through Work for Art. Read more. 
 
The New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts recently held its 33rd Business in the Arts Awards gala;Grappone Automotive Group, Filtrine Manufacturing Co., Bellows-Nichols Insurance, and Sullivan Creative were announced as the winners. Read more.
 
Tim Jones–CEO of Artscape, a Toronto-based non-profit that supports creativity in communities–says that many artists see a divide between the arts and the business world, and that their poor understanding of entrepreneurship disadvantages them in an expensive city like Toronto. Now his incubator aims to bridge the gap between art and business. Read more. 
 
The editorial board of The Seattle Times recently released a wonderful op-ed touting the benefits from supporting ArtsFund, which has been supporting the local arts economy for nearly 50 years. Read more. 
 
Winning pARTnerships
Skaters put an art deco half-pipe inside a an iconic Detroit 1920s skyscraper. The entire project was completed in under two weeks—two days for construction (led by Detroit-based Ramped Construction), and less than 10 days for the paint job. Read more.
 
In a new ad for Chobani, director Michel Gondry brings fresh fruit to life as musical instruments, to perform composer Jon Brion’s original arrangement of Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now.” Watch here. 
 
After a much-publicized effort to invite more international artists and artists of color into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last year, the organization has announced a new initiative aimed at fostering students and professionals from underrepresented communities. Read more. 
 
Eataly, a purveyor of Italian cheese, charcuterie, and foodstuffs, is working with Mario Batali to save one of the world’s masterpieces of artistic expression: Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Read more. 
 
News Roundup
Americans for the Arts BCA Coordinator, Jessica Gaines, makes the case in Talent Economy for creativity as a vital force in today’s business environment, especially as millennials makes up the largest generation in the workforce. Read more.
 
The The Dallas News, an op-ed on how the arts can make you better at your day job. Read more. 
 
Across the pond, Iconic Office’s “competition” is everything that is wrong about how a business might treat the arts and artists. Read more. 
 
From James G. Brooks, the founder and CEO of GlassView, an article on the Huffington Post about why business leaders should support culture and the arts amid an impeding threat to NEA cuts. Read more. 
 
Worried about robots taking over your job? People who have higher IQs and show an interest in arts and sciences are less likely to fall victim to the growing threat of automation, scientists say. Read more.