Hi Ho, Silver Bullet!

A legislator asked me last week what the Vermont Arts Council was doing to create jobs in Vermont.  The current recession has gone on for so long and transformed our historical employment patterns to such a degree that it appears that the only relevant public policy conversation anyone can have now is about jobs.  It is an important and relevant topic for everyone, including the arts community.

The legislator was talking with me about our request for a 100% increase in our State Appropriation and her concern was that we were asking for an increase even as Federal funds for low-income heating assistance were being diminished, food bank shortages were mounting, and essential health and human services were being discontinued.  In that context, it was going to be hard to entertain a request for more support for the Arts in Vermont.  It might sound a little like asking for more sheet music for the string quartet on the deck of the Titanic.

Here, then, is what the Arts Council is doing about job creation. In collaboration with State and local partners too numerous to mention, we are:

·        Strengthening our educational system so that our students are not just “taught to the test” but are being trained to think critically about core subject areas, make public presentations on topics they have researched themselves, and work collaboratively with their peers on complex projects to “bring them in on deadline” (this is 21^st Century Creative Workforce Training at its best; turning STEM to STEAM!)

·        Constantly encouraging our local partners to create meaningful public places and ceremonial activities (like First Nights or multicultural Farmers’ Markets) in our downtowns which, in turn, encourage people to open new businesses or relocate already existing businesses to those places (Creative Placemaking for one and all!)

·        Providing core business training to artist/entrepreneurs through our “Breaking into Business” and “Nonprofit Management Training” workshops and scholarships (No, fries don’t come with that…)

·        Supporting the delicate infrastructure that supports the Arts sector statewide; a sector that ALREADY employs 6,400 people (more than are employed in Vermont’s insurance sector), and is the source of nearly $19.5 million in state and local tax revenues (Wait…repeat that please?  One more time?!)

Here is the first message we must constantly hammer home:  the Arts are a force to be reckoned with. 

It is not just that the Arts entertain and enlighten (which, of course, they do).  It is also that they employ, beautify, revitalize, and pay taxes.  Artists are often the first to move in to a “depressed area” to revitalize it. Artists need space, time, and an affordable (read “inexpensive”) cost of living. This has been true in places like Soho and Chelsea in New York City, and increasingly in Vermont in towns like Brandon, Barre, White River Junction, and South Burlington.  Bring in art and artists, and revitalization is just a matter of time…

Here is the second message that we must constantly remind policy makers: the State budget consists of an expense side and a revenue side.  Right now, state and local investment in the Arts sector is less than $3 million dollars (of which $500,000 is the Arts Council’s appropriation). Revenues from the sector, as mentioned above, are nearly $19.5 million.  If the State needs additional revenue for LIHEAP or the Vermont Food Bank, or to address any of the countless societal needs that this recession has wrought, it seems like a little more investment in the Arts sector could quite possibly be the “silver bullet” that policy-makers have been looking for all these years. 

If you think this is true, you are not alone.  No one wins when we each act like a Lone Ranger where supporting the Arts is concerned.  Join our effort to double the Council’s budget by contacting Governor Shumlin today!

Hi Ho, Silver Bullet…Away!

A New Arts and Cultural Alliance: St. Johnsbury VT

Several days ago I had the pleasure of visiting St. Johnsbury to attend, among other events, the centennial celebration of the Masonic Hall.  Fifteen years ago, the Masonic Hall served as the headquarters for the local Passumpsic #27 chapter of the Vermont Freemasons, and was known best for its charitable work and the phenomenal model train set in its basement.

Today, through a remarkable collaborative community effort, the Masonic Hall is now also the headquarters of Catamount Arts.  Therein lies a remarkable story.

For the past ten years or so, a slow reawakening has been occurring in St. Johnsbury.  The venerable cultural institutions that line Main Street, including the St. Johnsbury Academy (my favorite secondary school because the horizontal nav bar on their home page lists the Three As for all the world to see!), the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, and the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, have figured out, along with Catamount Arts, that there is safety in numbers.

During the centennial celebration, Charlie Browne, director of the Fairbanks Museum gave a brief talk on St. Johnsbury’s new Arts & Cultural Alliance on which they have all collaborated (reprinted by permission):

Catamounts Arts, with energy, momentum, and this splendid home, has taken its place as an extraordinary resource for culture and the arts in St. Johnsbury and beyond, alongside a world-class independent high school, St. Johnsbury Academy, a national historic landmark library and gallery, the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, and the venerable and beloved Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium.  No other community of this size can claim such rich resources for art and culture.

Culture is our shared experience, values, heritage, vision, and sense of place.  Art is that universal human imperative to creative expression - from needlepoint to garage rock, from digital design to expressive dance, from filmmaking to poetry, from a well-tended garden to a well-crafted novel, from nature photography to culinary delights, and from watercolors to a handsomely turned cherry wood bowl.  Art in all of its forms shapes and illuminates our shared culture by expressing our values, inspiring our thinking and contributing to our heritage – across our generations.

Together, these four institutions have formed the St. Johnsbury Arts & Culture Alliance, with a shared purpose: to nurture that imperative in us all, and to do so in close collaboration.  I thank Jody Fried and his team, Joe Healy and his Academy colleagues, Matt Powers and his Athenaeum team, and Anna Rubin and her Museum colleagues for breathing life into this organization. 

Together, they have defined and celebrate a St. Johnsbury Arts and Culture Campus, one without walls, but marked by beautiful student-designed banners that line Main Street from the Academy to the Museum and along Eastern Avenue and Railroad Street.  

Together, they are creating a new authentic learning experience for Academy freshmen: the Freshman Humanities Capstone that will bring students into working contact with these like-minded institutions and their resources.

Together, Catamount Arts and the Athenaeum are launching a new arts education program, and a community public sculpture project is in the planning stages.  And together, these four institutions are finally coordinating and sharing their respective calendars or community events!  

Collectively, the Arts & Culture Alliance is a unique community asset, one with a tradition of innovation, and one that is driving a thriving creative economy, from which we all will benefit.  Thank you, Catamount Arts and your beautiful facility for being a leading part of this effort.

It would appear that the next hundred years is off to a very good start in St. Johnsbury!  Now, if I could only find out what happened to that model train set…

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A Study in Contrasts

As part of my ongoing travels throughout the State, I frequently witness startling contrasts.  Most have to do with views or weather. After all, this is Vermont, and we have plenty of varieties of both.

But my recent travels have brought me into contact with two communities, in very different parts of the State, each of which are remarkable in terms of what they offer from a cultural perspective (or don’t), and more importantly, how they view the role of art and culture in their community’s future.

The first community, which I shall call “A,” has for years suffered from the manufacturing flight of the past couple of generations.  Hundreds of thousands of square feet of former factory/mill real estate has lain empty for a long time, and several attempts to “bootstrap” an economy have met largely with mediocre (if that!) success.  Community “A” has not, however given up.  In the past few years they have converted some of the space into a community health center, and looked at what other communities have done that have resulted in new public/private investment.

It seems to be working.  Last week I attended a public opening at a new (re)development in the heart of the downtown, and it was clear to me that the town and the developer of the property had their priorities squarely in the right place.  As Mayor Richard Riley of Charleston SC famously said, “If you want to build public value in a community, give the best parts of the community to the public!”  This community, this developer took the centerpiece of the property and turned it into an open gallery/community use space, taking advantage of the nearly perfect lighting that the clerestory windows drew from outside.  They had invested time and energy into selecting works of art that both captivated the viewer and reflected back the town’s new-found energy and commitment to its future.

Community A still has a long way to go.  But they now have a significant cultural entity with which to draw visitors, to attract workers and their families, to attract entrepreneurs, and to attract additional investment.  The positive energy was palpable, and the community’s sense of pride and achievement is well-deserved.  [And I should also add, the next town over also recently installed a new art center so now each community can build on the strengths of the other as they look to bring people into Vermont!]

Contrast this with my encounter in community “B.”  This town has a storied history, wonderful cultural entities who have been serving as the primary draw for visitors and residents for well over a century.  Their cultural assets include several buildings (museum, library, performing arts facility, and theater), and a school with a strong national reputation for educating well-rounded, culturally aware students.  There is a thriving population of artists and craftspeople whose work is visible in many locations throughout the community and whose combined interests support multiple arts and community festivals etc.

The difference between community A and B is the level of engagement by their respective elected or appointed community leaders.  Community A’s leaders, especially the business leaders, are totally behind the new efforts to establish use this new arts facility as a calling card, a beacon of light to attract new life-blood to the community.  Community B’s leaders seem content to quietly ignore the considerable cultural assets in their midst.  On a recent trip there I stopped by community B’s visitor center, having previously attended many meetings there to discuss how to kick-start their “creative economy,” only to find that the visitor’s center had been moved at least three miles out of town, past “the strip” and its large contingency of car dealerships, fast food restaurants, and mall shops.

What visitor to community B is going to want to find his/her way three miles out of town and then turn back again?

The point here is simply one of perception.  Community A perceives this new art venue as a draw, as a catalyst that will help turn their town around psychologically and, eventually, economically.  People in community A have committed themselves to the arts, and placed one of the most valuable new pieces of real estate in the hands of curators and artists to carry their community spirit forward.

Community B perceives the arts as something very different.  Perhaps the community leaders have grown up with these incredible assets and their stately familiarity is simply not something they see much value in.  Lucky for community B, the people who manage, who perform in, who visit, or otherwise attend these cultural entities are loyal and committed to the work that is presented.  They carry on despite their local community’s leaders’ apparent neglect.

This is a pity.  Community B will have a much more difficult time, despite its significant cultural advantages, in attracting new audiences, new visitors, new investment, and new blood than community A. 

It’s an interesting contrast.