Day to support arts in Wichita

The arts enrich Wichita every day of every year. Now, through 11:59 p.m. Friday, the Wichita community needs to enrich the arts through the annual Art Day of Giving (ArtDOG).

The 2014 and 2015 ArtDOGs generated $550,000 and $1.17 million, respectively, while highlighting the importance of large and small arts organizations to the area’s economy, identity and quality of life. A project of the Wichita Community Foundation, the 2016 ArtDOG has 57 nonprofit groups participating and in some cases collaborating, with $25,000 from Spirit AeroSystems among contributions to the cause.

Giving can happen online at ICTArtDOG.org, which also has a list of events and real-time donation totals. Fun stuff happens into the evening, which offers even more Final Friday exhibits and performances than usual.

Though the city of Wichita remains a strong partner with the arts – with Mayor Jeff Longwell and others having recognized that a vibrant quality of life is crucial to attracting and keeping businesses and especially young professionals – political pressure against investing public dollars in arts and culture elsewhere has underscored the necessity of efforts such as ArtDOG.

Music, theater, dance, visual art, film, history museums – the opportunities and reasons to give are as diverse as Wichita and its culture.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Day to support arts in Wichita."