Ky’s arts programming needs your help as we emerge from a COVID shutdown

More than 35 years ago, The Kentucky Center opened, bringing together the public and private sector to create an enduring community and statewide asset that would have a lasting impact on the commonwealth. Today, it will take that same level of commitment to navigate the impact of COVID-19 and allow us to continue to serve as a beacon for the arts and culture in Kentucky.

The impact of The Kentucky Center, along with its parent organization Kentucky Performing Arts (KPA), is seen and felt in a multitude of ways. As an economic engine, KPA attracts tourism dollars that benefit Kentuckians. As an arts education hub, it extends the arts to those in underserved communities and, as an art facility, it allows Kentucky to stake its claim as a treasure among states that enthusiastically support the arts.

The arts are, in many ways, the lifeblood of our state. Through numerous programs, KPA keeps the arts alive in every county. Our education programs traverse the Commonwealth, bringing performing arts to those who never had the opportunity to experience live art. The Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) brings more than 250 high school students to a college campus every summer for three weeks to explore art forms and engage with peers, and it provides scholarship opportunities to 30 colleges and universities.

As the largest performing arts organization in the commonwealth, Kentucky Performing Arts contributed more than $15.8 million to our local economy, with an additional $10.5 million economic impact by our patrons. Prior to COVID-19, we reached an annual operating budget of nearly $25 million, based on both earned and contributed income. As the virus began to spread, we closed our stages and our primary revenue ultimately vanished. The spread of the virus forced us to reduce our overall expenditures by 75 percent to stay afloat.

With a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of vaccines being distributed to the public, we look forward to the possibility of reopening. However, we still face daunting challenges once the dark clouds of the pandemic have lifted. Significant financial challenges await us. Our resources were depleted by a fire that damaged The Kentucky Center building in 2018 and, of course, the halt of all performances since the beginning of the pandemic.

Even during this dark period, the 345,000 square foot Kentucky Center building requires hundreds of thousands of dollars for routine maintenance annually and that amount will increase. For our doors to reopen and stage curtains to rise, we must ensure a safe post-COVID environment for our artists and audiences, which will require more than a million dollars in capital investment, facility modifications and staff training. This is an investment in the future of our local and state economies, our communities and our youth.

To regain our momentum as a contributor to the state’s economic ecosystem – we see this as an investment that will pay dividends to the state’s coffers, further supporting the recovery of all of Kentucky. As a state-owned facility, we respectfully ask for your support to help us bring arts and culture back, to provide jobs and help drive our local and state economies.

If you support the arts in Kentucky, please ask your state legislators to support KPA so that in return, we can support Kentucky again, as we have for more than 35 years.

Kim Baker is the President and CEO of Kentucky Performing Arts.