Late Out/Late In
By Len Steinbach

The progressive Late Out/Late In program, conceived by Len Steinbach, CIO of the Cleveland Museum of Art, encourages participation in the arts by inviting employees to stay out late attending cultural and arts events. Employers show their support for a more educated and cultured workforce by allowing those employees to come into work a couple of hours later. This program is being introduced this week by the Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau.
http://www.GetLate.com

Late Out/Late In, the program whereby workers who go out to theater or performance can come in late the next morning, should not be seen as just some “corporate benevolence toward the arts in Cleveland” program. Such an effort would invariably be short-lived with no meaningful long term impact. Rather, this program symbolizes unique sophistication and enlightened self-interest among Cleveland’s business community that could serve as a model for the nation. By stimulating and rewarding the innate but sometimes too dormant essence of ingenuity that lives within everyone, brave, forward looking companies are betting on a more creative staff for better productivity and a competitive edge. By gently encouraging exposure to theater, dance, music and the arts of staff’s own choosing, reinforced by work place friends who have one more reason to get together after work, one more thing to talk about the next morning….maybe “late in” the next morning, they are valuing and improving staff lives as well as strengthening their own bottom lines. They are also demonstrating that they want to cultivate, attract and retain staff whose interests extend into the cultural world around them. Most importantly, this program has special importance for those staff who have grown away from, or maybe never came to embrace, Cleveland’s rich cultural scene. New and renewed arts habits may well extend far beyond the reward of a two-hour morning break. With a little luck and patience these habits will be developed and shared with families and friends and may come to be imbued in their children - Cleveland’s children.

As with any major program or ethos, a critical mass of participation is vital to its success. If Cleveland is going to go on record as The City that treasures the value of creativity in our community, our businesses, and our lives it is going to require quite a leap of faith on the parts of both businesses and workers. It may feel funny at first, like a new pair of shoes. But you loved the way it looked in the window...just wait 'till it’s broken in! And I know that it is going to be middle level managers who will have to break in those corporate new shoes, even if top management says they are ready to “foot” the bill.

Getting to that critical mass will require a lot more than corporate policy decisions. It will need buzz. “You mean you’re company isn’t part of Late Out/Late In?” “How were you able to go out to the theater on a week night? You could come in late the next morning? How cool is that!?” There are of course other factors needed to assure success: clear company policies, access to arts schedules, discount ticket incentive and so on. The Conventions and Visitors Bureau, participating companies and program organizers are working on the details - the program website, http://www.getlate.com already has “Events Hot Sheets” for companies which enroll, as well as straightforward, flexible “company policy” templates that even the most diligent HR chief can love. Cool Cool Cleveland readers will even find an easy way there to tell your boss to “Get Late.”

For several years now, the entwinement of the Cleveland’s Creative Community and the City’s long term economic prospects has been discussed and pondered. Remember the week that Richard Florida (The Rise of the Creative Class) seemed to be everywhere? It’s not that nothing is happening; Case has become very active in understanding and promoting the importance of human creativity in the life of our community and its role in economic strategic planning. The Ingenuity arts, culture and technology festival stands to bring a different aspect of cultural eminence to Cleveland this summer. The Film Festival is a great magnet. Red {an orchestra} is creating new audiences for classical and new music with nary a gray hair to be found its crowd. All these and other efforts are important and bode well for this city. But those efforts are not enough, fast enough, to place the role of culture and creativity where it belongs in Cleveland: at the nexus of economic development and the quality of life of those who are attracted to live and work here. For me, the first great step in really making this a city a creative and arts oriented community is to do everything we can to “simply” get more people out more often into our plentiful range of theaters, concert halls, museums, galleries, and other events and venues. Cleveland can be the first city in the nation where business leaders proudly proclaim the value of culture in their workers lives and why Cleveland is uniquely positioned as a great city to work and live. All that has to happen is that business leaders and boards recognize their tangible self-interest in that goal. Late Out/Late In can help. But it is not a matter of hoping that Late Out/Late In is a major thrust in that direction. It is a matter of assuring that it is.

by Len Steinbach, Chief Information Officer, Cleveland Museum of Art

To sign up for the Late Out/Late In program, visit http://www.GetLate.com (:divend:)