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Arts Groups Press on Despite Recession Raising money in a recession is tough no matter where you're based, but arts groups up north face a particular set of fundraising challenges. by Jennifer Guerra Ann Arbor, MI Ed Downing runs the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. And if you ask him the difference between raising money for an arts group in southern Michigan versus raising money for one up north, he cuts right to the chase when

"There is no Ford Motor Company that can lay out $1 million for your budget."

Ford's probably not the best example right now given the current auto crisis, so you can substitute Meijer or Steelcase, for example. Either way Downing's point is still the same:

"We don't have the large industries, corporations to support us. So we have to rely on many individual companies and many individual donors."

And keep in mind a lot of those people only live up north during the summer.

But whether they live here year round or seasonally, Downing says he has to approach them all the same: as stakeholders in the community.

"They may not be symphony goers necessarily, but it's our job to convince them, if you will, that this community is stronger and better because it has a symphony orchestra and that if we went away, something would be missing."

The community will get a little preview of what that could feel like later this year when the Traverse Symphony Orchestra cuts four concerts from its season in order to save money.

And they're not the only ones who need to cut back. Two new reports out look at the non-profit sector in Northern Michigan. No surprise here, all nonprofits who participated in the study have seen their contributions drop significantly.

But it's the Arts & Culture and Environmental sectors that are reporting the biggest drop.

The Old Town Playhouse in Traverse City is no exception.

Phil Murphy is executive director of the theater. He packed the current season with Broadway hits like The Producers and Urinetown because they're usually guaranteed to please the crowd.

But because of the economy, ticket sales are down 20%, the endowment took a 35% hit, and now the group is in the red.

Murphy had a hunch this day would come soon enough. So he did what a lot of non-profits around the country are starting to do: partner up.

"The idea of that partnering has become greater and greater over time because there are limited dollars," says Murphy. "Even in a wonderful place like this where people support the arts, there's a limit to how many dollars there are."

In order to save money, Murphy convinced three other nonprofit arts groups, including the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, to pool there money together and create a website called TREAT. The group shares all the advertising and ticketing costs. People can just log on to one site, they can buy tickets there, and find out about all the arts events that are going on in the region.

Liz Ahrens runs the Crooked Tree Arts Council in Petoskey. She says people still walk through the door to buy art and tickets to various events, but getting them to write a check for a year's worth of membership is harder these days.

Miriam Schulingkamp's been a Crooked Tree member for 10 years. She used to just come up during the summer because she lived in New Orleans. But after Hurricane Katrina hit, she moved to Northern Michigan permanently. She says now she sees sort of the daily struggle local arts groups go through:

"But," Schulingkamp says, "I will also say that having come from New Orleans where there's art all the time and symphonies all the time and orchestras all the time, I am really amazed that at while we may not have 10 choices on any given evening, we almost always have 1."

Now arts leaders just need to find more people in the area like Miriam, before that 1 cultural arts choice goes down to none.