Artists' spaces and Public Art = jobs.

I decided to get away for my Birthday. I'm in Ulster County, NY. The heart of the Hudson River Valley. It's 45 degrees and cloudy, the Wallkill river is rushing from all the rain and the Catskills are just popping with green. It's a nice time to be here. It's a great way to get my mind of that job that I'm waiting to hear about! (Still no word.) My friend Marty runs several antique mall booths/shops and we're filling the shelves with new finds. It's a whole complex dedicated to artists and artisans. There's even an artisan cheese shop. It reminds me of listening to Congressman Jim Moran on Tuesday morning talk about the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA. What could be better for the economy the such creative adaptive reuse of empty spaces. Look at this barn...

...in another place it might have been left to rot. It was an old lumber yard. Now this place is a vibrant artists community. There is a restaurant, a coffee shop and more and probably about 25 people who work here (like Marty, his business partner Walter and of course, Blossom who runs the gallery across the way.) Working artists and artisans. Paying taxes (which are pretty high here) and contributing to the economy.

There also happens to be a lot of people shopping today. Just an observation.

But beyond the shops themselves, there is art everywhere. Public Art. I think of Rocco Landesman's tour of the Mural's of Philadelphia. I think of standing in the Hart Senate office building lobby and being in awe of "Mountain & Clouds" as it towers over our lawmakers. And guess what - the art was created by someone. Someone whose JOB it is to create art. And these places are the better for it.

During my time at the Prince Theatre in Chestertown, MD, I coined a phrase that became our motto: "See a Show; Start a Conversation." Well, I encourage you to take a moment or two this weekend, go out to your local antique mall, artist gallery, theater, writers center, whatever... and see a "show" and start a conversation. Talk about what your neighborhood would be like without these places. Maybe it will inspire you to buy a ticket for another event, or make a small donation to your local community theater. The act of spurring the economy can take many different shapes. The NEA's portion of the multi-billion dollar Recovery Act of 2009 was only $50 million. In Maryland, that translated in to $1.4 million distributed to arts organizations saving or creating dozens of jobs. Let's not forget the critical role the arts play everyday, in big cities and small towns across America.

A National Push for Local Jobs

This has been an exciting week. I spent most of Monday and Tuesday surrounded by "the choir" as it were. Arts managers, staffers, artists and advocates gathered from around the country for what was Americans for the Arts largest National Arts Advocacy Day yet. After a day full of training and briefing sessions on Monday, the group hit Capitol Hill early Tuesday morning, fighting more than 40 HOS Motorcades (HOS - Heads of State) which were tying DC streets into knots in order to end nuclear proliferation. Thank goodness for DC's METRO. At our Hill breakfast we heard from the likes of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus. She wore a black t-shirt with a picture of Shakespeare on it which read, "Will Power." We heard from Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. I was proud to be an American when as Mr. Lewis approached the podium, the room stood with a roar. Yet as he began to speak, you could hear a pin drop. A far cry from the greeting he received just a few weeks ago after helping to pass Health Care Reform. What this man has seen. He spoke of the critical role that music played in the Civil Rights Movement. He spoke of how arts are a critical component of our every day life and how "we are all actors on this American stage." We heard from the CEO of the US Conference of Mayors - a group who knows first hand the direct effect of a strong arts community on a city or town's economy. We heard actors Jeff Daniels and Kyle MacLachlan talk about the critical role that community theaters played in their success. And we heard from Speaker Nancy Pelosi - winner of the 2010 Public Leadership in the Arts Ward for Congressional arts leadership given by Americans for the Arts. Speaker Pelosi shared stories of growing up in Baltimore and stories of the thriving arts districts in her current home of San Francisco. It was a great rally and it got us ready to go out and meet with our representatives and urge them to pass a bill funding the NEA at $180 million - returning us, after a long wait, to the funding levels we saw in 1992.

I had the pleasure of working with Theresa Colvin, Executive Director of the Maryland State Arts Council, and several students from Arts Management and Dance programs at Towson University and the University of Maryland - all of whom spoke eloquently and with passion about the need for this funding and for funding of arts education programs as CORE programs in our public schools. We learned that just last week, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) accepted the position of co-chair of the Senate Cultural Caucus - a position that has been vacant for some time. She will serve with Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY.) We were fortunate enough to get a minute with Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) who is a tireless supporter of the arts in the Senate as he was in the House.

What was so significant is that this was not Hollywood, or Broadway, or event the Recording Industry Assoc. of America (though some of them were not only present but played a major role in testifying before the committee,) but this was regular, everyday Americans whose jobs are in as much danger as any teacher, plant worker, flight attendant, municipal worker, or any other American. And we came together on Capitol Hill to make sure our voices were heard.

In 2009, Maryland received more than $4 million dollars from the NEA to fund theatre projects, museum exhibits, public art, arts education, dance exhibitions and more. About 40% of that money went directly to the Maryland State Arts Council so that they could further distribute NEA funds to the far reaches of the state. Almost $1.5 million of that money was from the 2009 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act passed by Congress and Signed by the President which, thanks to the hard work of Speaker Pelosi and other dedicated members of Congress, DID include a mere $50 million for the NEA to save Arts Jobs! It worked, because I, as Executive Director of the Prince Theatre Foundation at the time, secured a $25,000 grant from the NEA to save the job of one of my staff. It was a point I was sure to make to Rep. Frank Kratovil from Maryland's 1st Congressional District, representing my beloved Chestertown.



Arts = Jobs was the mantra of the week. Hundreds of advocates made it clear to their representatives that the arts are a vital part of a recovering American economy. We made it clear that for the small investment Congress makes every year in the arts, it receives an incredible return in revenue to the treasury. Want to know more? Go to www.artsusa.org and read on! Want more information locally? Go to www.mdarts.org for Maryland or google your state's advocacy group.

What can you do? Call or write your members of congress now. Tell them to support the $180 million NEA appropriation for 2011. Tell them to fund the $53 million for Arts in Education programs in the 2011 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. And read about all the other pending bills that are important to artists and arts advocates across the nation.

But even more important then that... Tell your representative what the arts have meant to you, your children and your friends and neighbors right in your own community. Help Congress help all of us. They need to hear from us, NOW!

Start at the beginning

As Rogers and Hammerstein wrote, "it's a very good place to start." Now I am not about to delve into DO, A DEER... however, I am going to talk about most arts & culture organizations start every day, the beginning. Most mornings, on my way to work, I have an opportunity to think about what lies ahead for that day: the challenges, the opportunities, the fears, the joys. Doesn't seem too daunting. But for arts & culture leaders across the country and around the world, this thought process alone can be overwhelming.

From January 2005 through December 2009, I served as the Executive Director of the Prince Theatre Foundation. Located in the soon to be re-named Garfield Center for the Arts at the Historic Prince Theatre, this 1928 movie house has had a rebirth and has been given a new purpose thanks in part to my vision, but mostly to the small accomplishments achieved every day by extraordinary individuals. These individuals included my Board of Directors, my staff, our dozens of volunteers and our patrons. In a town of just 4500 people in Maryland's smallest and most rural county, this organization created something fantastic: a family.

When I accepted this job, which I essentially created for myself as part of a grad school project in the fall of 2004, I started from the beginning. With the exception of creating a 501(c)(3) and forming a board, I had the chance to really think about what would make this new organization succeed. I went to the streets. I met as many people as I could and talked to them about who I was and what I was doing. This small town, like most, is quite provincial. There are families that have lived here for 300 years. There are, in fact, "From Heres and Come Heres," and I was obviously a "Come Here." But it didn't stop me. Within a two years, I had been awarded the Key to the City by our amazing Mayor (now in her fifth term.) I had created, with the help of our dedicated local county arts council director, an award honoring those who have showed unparalleled commitment to the arts (honoring said arts council director and her husband - without whom, there would be significantly less cultural opportunity in our area.) And, I had produced, staged and performed in Jason Robert Brown's "Songs for a New World" - our organization's most successful production to date in both attendance and gross & net income.

There is more to this story... there is more about the challenges I faced everyday. There is more about the work that arts & culture administrators do every morning, and every day as they start from the beginning to create something wonderful, not just so people can see a show, but so people can start a conversation. I hope this blog will help us to start a new conversation about the critical role arts and culture should play in our everyday lives. I hope that we can help more people to understand the impact of arts and cultural organization on the economy, on education, on quality of life, and more.

Join me for the journey, we are starting at the beginning. This blog is based on my experience and my opinion. Not everyone will agree with what I have to say, but everyone should agree that we need to be talking about it. So let's go out and do that. I coined a tag line at the Prince Theatre Foundation... "See a Show, Start a Conversation." Today, we will begin that conversation. Join me.

JS