Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES SummER 2014 Sai-natiOnal.ORg 14 think about too and what we can think about, about the arts in general. Cultural institutions specifically, especially ones that have just opened, fall into a challenge if they think, "if they build it, they will come." is is really about making yourself relevant, providing some type of an excellence for everyone. And so if we can along the way make ourselves relevant to what the community needs, if as we open the community, we have a job to do to say, "Now this is yours so what kind of things do you need, what kind of things do you want," as well as some of the offerings that we can do. If we can provide a menu of options there, then we've made ourselves relevant to the community, and that is I think aligned with what Clive said. Jo reeD: Yeah, the Kauffman Center really has been seen as pivotal to the revitalization of downtown Kansas City. Was that something that you had in mind going into this project? JanE Chu: I think the vision of Muriel McBrien Kauffman, who it was her dream to have a performing arts center for Kansas City, so she really gets the credit years ago when she said, "Let's build a performing arts center because I've seen what they can do in other settings," and I believe that this was part of her dream. So her daughter, the chairman of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Julia Irene Kauffman, set forth to carry her mother's vision and make it reality. So what happened was, sort of what I like to call "the front porch effect." When you have an organization, and we weren't the only ones, there were several who set forth and went into the downtown and said, "We want to build something here," you have this front porch effect because you know how you'll sweep your front porch and somebody else will say, "Hey, she's sweeping her front porch, I ought to sweep mine too." And so pretty soon everybody around you is sprucing everything up. So the Kauffman Center did play a role in vitalizing and revitalizing the area and so did a number of others, and I think it was the confluence of all of these organizations together, all sweeping their front porches that made this happen. Jo reeD: Jane, you are known for many things, including being a skilled fundraiser. What was your approach to fundraising? JanE Chu: When you look at fundraising and you think about, I'm making a pitch for money, that's one way to look at it. But when you really look at it and you say, "fundraising really is about connecting people to the things they care about." en you're starting to listen, and you're starting to listen to what do they really care about, and I have some entry points for you and let me give you a menu of options because I want you to win and feeling like there's meaning to your giving as much as I am asking you for money as well. And when you put that framework around it, you're connecting with people, and it's a lot more meaningful and frankly easier. Jo reeD: Why is federal funding for the arts particularly important? JanE Chu: It's very important because there needs to be a place that provides a framework, an environment for the arts that allows the arts to bloom and thrive and is really seen as that pure noncommercial money that creates that framework that doesn't have any agendas or anything like that. And the federal funding can do that. Jo reeD: How do you see philanthropy and public funding working together to encourage vibrant art? JanE Chu: Well I think they work together very well and even research has shown this. One of the things that public funding can do, is it can spark private giving. It can spur people on to say, "Well, we have this framework here, I can help give my private dollars, my charitable contributions to that." So that's a wonderful public, private partnership. You've got two different sectors coming together, that's very satisfying. Jo reeD: You've just been sworn in as Chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts. What are your priorities for the agency? JanE Chu: I think that our job, to make sure that our actions and the grants really are reaching Americans, that they're accessible and that we've attended to making sure that the Americans can say, "yeah, the arts do belong to me and I can see how doing without the arts would be a tragedy,' that would be our main priority is that in all we do through our grants and through the way we convene, the way the NEA brings people together, that we are building communities. Jo reeD: As chairman, you have a wonderful platform. Are there conversations that you would like to start or prompt? JanE Chu: e first conversations I want to have really are about being a convener on how we can all work together that we don't play zero- sum game and the arts are not off standing, off in some kind of a silo by themselves because they are so applicable to our everyday lives. I want to make sure that everybody who's coming to the table, we're having good discussions, we're having the hard ones too as well as the fun ones. We've got to bring people together and make sure that people understand that the arts are not off by themselves, that they are relevant, and we cross sectors and cross conversations. We have multiple people and different perspectives who come to the same table. Jo reeD: Yeah, I find that sometimes because the arts are so pervasive, it's the design of a cop's uniform, it's the busker in the subway, it's the music on our iPods and because it's pervasive, it can also be invisible. JanE Chu: Well that's a good point to make, and it behooves us to make sure that we can make the arts recognized in a way that people understand, that in some ways it's going to be hard evidence from everything from the economic benefits of the arts to the meaning behind it. So we want to provide as many different perspectives about how the arts comes together, but it behooves us to make ourselves much more conscious of where the arts are around us and how they affect us. And we have a great opportunity to explain this and show it and have people experience it. Jo reeD: How do you think we can go about nurturing a nation of arts lovers? JanE Chu: Well one way certainly is to make sure that people understand the relevancy of the arts, even in non-art settings. So they can see the value of this, that not everybody has to participate in the arts by being a painter, for example. Painting is a wonderful thing but appreciating it and how it transcends and teaches you skills in other areas is just as important because we're all about nurturing creativity here. saI MeMbers In actIon CHU continued from page 13

• Cover