East Bay Culture Corridor and 510Arts.com - Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the East Bay Culture Corridor (EBCC)?

A: The East Bay Culture Corridor is a collaboration between the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond. The forward-thinking partnership reinforces the role of the arts in each community as both a proven catalyst for economic development and as a model for improving quality of life and community sustainability. A chief goal of the four cities if to increase the visibility, accessibility and sustainability of arts communities. The EBCC will foster relationships between the diverse arts communities of each city by leveraging new audiences and resources for the arts as well as new resources for each partner city. Local business will also benefit locally through partnerships with the arts.

Q: Is there a lot of arts activity in the East Bay?

A: Together, the East Bay communities boast:

• One of the highest per capita artist populations in the country with more than 6,000 professional artists calling it home.
• More than 150 languages spoken and many times that number of culturally specific art forms practiced.
• One of the nation's largest per capita collections of public art.
• For decades East Bay communities have consistently ranked at the top of national city diversity figures and their arts reflect this depth and variety.
• Hundreds of non-profit visual arts, music, dance, theater, culturally specific, multi-disciplinary and innovative organizations from the internationally known to neighborhood programs, education programs and offerings for youth, seniors and others.
• Alameda and Contra Costa Counties are home to 5,532 arts-related businesses that employ 21,477 people according to a 2007 study conducted by Americans for the Arts.

Q: How much do the arts positively impact the economy?

A: The arts drive economies. As Americans for the Arts note in their report Arts and Economic Prosperity III, investment in the arts translates to economic impact on restaurants, retail stores, hotels and other businesses frequented by arts patrons. The average amount spent on such businesses by local arts audiences is $27 above the price of admission to the art event; cultural tourists from outside the area spend an average of $19 to $40. Creating sustainable arts communities is good business.

Q: Who Supports the EBCC and 510Arts.com?

A: Funding for the EBCC and 510Arts.com has been provided entirely by private foundations. The collaboration is supported by grants from the East Bay Community Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation and Leveraging Investments in Creativity.

Q: What is 510Arts.com?

A: 510Arts.com is a portal website to be launched October 2, 2009, by the partners in the EBCC to provide information about the diversity and wealth of arts organizations, artists and activities in the East Bay, one of the nation's most active arts regions.

Q: How do I get my organization/work/event listed on 510Arts.com?

A: You can submit events or submit news items through this site.

For more information on art in their respective cities, arts organizations and artists may contact their city EBCC representative as follows:

BERKELEY: Mary Ann Merker, Civic Arts Coordinator MMerker@ci.berkeley.ca.us 510-981-7533
EMERYVILLE: Amber Evans aevans@ci.emeryville.ca.us, 510-596-4382 or Sharon Wilchar emeryarts@aol.com 510-652-6122
OAKLAND: Steven Huss, Cultural Arts Manager SHuss@oaklandnet.com 510-238-4949
RICHMOND: Michele Seville, Arts & Culture Manager michele_seville@ci.richmond.ca.us 510-620-6952

Questions/feedback about the website

Email info@510arts.com

Find out more about what's going on in the Bay Area arts

http://www.sfarts.org