Hunter Museum of American Art

 Last week, John Jung, a co-founder of the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) visited Chattanooga to assess our city for designation as the “Most Intelligent Community of the Year” for 2011. Comprised of leaders in global thought, the ICF studies international communities that are effectively leveraging 21st Century infrastructure to create jobs.

Interesting infrastructure is only part of what captured the ICF’s attention. Another key component of Chattanooga’s “Intelligent Community” story is collaboration, says Jung and other ICF representatives.

As an integral part of Chattanooga’s arts community, the Hunter Museum of American Art connects with a host of partners to collaborate in enriching the cultural vibrancy of our city. Here are a few examples of how we’re contributing:

Art in Public Places

The Hunter Museum recently completed Art in Public Places, a public art project supported by several public and private agencies and thousands of individuals. The Benwood Foundation provided project funding, while more than 12,000 members of the Chattanooga community participated in the initiative by voting for their favorite outdoor sculptures to be purchased by the Hunter and displayed in downtown public spaces.

Strategic Fusion: Establishing an Administrative Trifecta

The Hunter is also partnering with the Creative Discovery Museum and the Tennessee Aquarium in an administrative collaboration which has saved the Hunter nearly $4 million and generated more than $1 million in revenues for the aquarium since the partnership was formalized in 2001.

The collaboration fundamentally changed the operational structure and staffing of the three institutions. The organizations now share staff in four key areas which include: human resources, finance/accounting/IT, marketing and retail sales.

Externally, the collaboration impacted community residents and museum visitors. With $3.6 million in combined savings and $1.1 million in revenue, the museums furthered their missions to deepen connections to the community and provide educational support to schools and other agencies.

In addition to the cost savings and revenue generated for the aquarium, the partnership enabled the museums to undertake a joint fundraising and capital campaign that raised $120 million for the 21st Century Waterfront Redevelopment.

Apart, the museums had never been able to generate this level of funding, and they used the revenues for both internal investments—constructing new buildings for the Hunter and the Aquarium and renovating and creating exhibits at the CDM—as well as external improvements in the community—building new parks, improving infrastructure along the Chattanooga waterfront and launching the public art program.

Art + Issues

Now the Hunter Museum is engaged in another collaboration to make the “Art + Issues” series possible. The Hunter received a grant from the National Endowment of Arts to launch the series of programs which began in March and continue through December. The programs bring together community grassroots leaders and residents in dialogues about major issues facing the Chattanooga community.

Facilitators will include representatives from the Chattanooga City Council, La Paz De Dios, the Chattanooga Community Kitchen and the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, among others. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more from Chattanooga’s leaders and to share their ideas. These conversations will continue online with a new web resource available later this year, which will feature videos of the talks and opportunities to share ideas and learn more.

Help Us Put SmART Feet Forward

The naming of the Most Intelligent Community of the Year will take place in June at the ICF’s annual summit in New York, where Chattanooga representatives will be on hand to publicize the event should our city be elevated to the No. 1 spot.

As we wait for the ICF to announce which community will be designated as the world’s smartest city in 2011, Chattanooga’s arts community will continue collaborating to find innovative ways to engage the public in developing our community’s cultural landscape. In the meantime, we encourage you to join the conversation about Chattanooga’s designation as a Smart 7 City.

To get involved, find and fan the “Smart City Chattanooga” page on Facebook, where you can learn more about the ways our community is emerging as a global entity.