Arts Advocacy

Thank you for supporting the arts!

Here are some helpful tools and additional ways to support the arts through advocacy.

The Impact of the Arts: The Arts Mean Business

Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 is Americans for the Arts’ fifth study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry’s impact on the economy—and the results are impressive. Nonprofit arts and cultural organizations make their communities more desirable places to live and work every day of the year. They provide inspiration and joy to residents and strengthen the social fabric of the community. They also mean business. Not only do they employ people locally and purchase goods and services locally, they also generate valuable revenue for local merchants such as restaurants, retail stores, hotels, and parking garages/lots.

Learn more about the Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 study

Learn more about the local impact of the arts here.

Support the Arts in Tennessee with an Arts License Plate

In Tennessee, we are so fortunate to have a dedicated source of funding for the arts through the Specialty License Plate program. The Tennessee Arts Commission awarded more than 1100 grants totaling $5.5 million last year. The largest source of that funding—nearly 90%—came from the revenue received from specialty and personalized license plate sales.

Join an Arts Advocacy Organization

The Belcourt Theatre is a proud member of the following arts advocacy groups. Individual memberships available through the links below.

Government Partners

As a community-based, mission-driven film center, one of the most important roles we fill is to provide meaningful education and engagement programs that both expand the understanding of works on our screen and inspire visual literacy and an appreciation for the cinema arts. Education and engagement programming, both in-theatre and offsite, are made possible in part with the support of the following local, state and federal agencies. We are so grateful for the support of the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.