Detroit arts fund drive could be national model

Detroit arts organizations cashed in on the arts challenge fundraiser and blogger for the Baltimore Sun says that the nation should take notice.Excerpt:But now comes word of a successful drive in
Detroit, a city that hasn’t exactly been a boom town of late. A
remarkable $4.8 million was raised there last week in a burst of
fundraising fervor that benefited 75 arts groups there, including the
Detroit Symphony ($596,000). Given the economy, that’s 

pretty damn impressive. I gather from Mark Stryker’s story in
the Free Press that the online system for contributions wasn’t exactly
flawless, but it looks like it did the job well n the end. I know
that arts groups can be very turf-conscious, especially when it comes
to harvesting prospective donors, so a campaign like this can be
tricky. But there’s something about the concept that seems awfully
appealing to me. It’s a way of reinforcing a message that can’t be
underlined enough — the arts are good for everybody in the community
and everybody who visits the community. Read the entire article here.