With all the high-profile ballot items up for grabs on November 6, it was easy to miss Measure 26-146 in Portland, Oregon. The measure passed, and (once they work out the kinks of collecting the monies) will cost every adult in Multnomah County $35 per year to fund arts organizations and education.
This is no 1/10 of a cent tax increase. This is a bill delivered to the doorstep of everyone over 18 to fund about 70 art teachers and approximately $6 million in grants to arts organizations. To be exempt, a person must present paperwork to the county demonstrating income below the poverty line.
Multnomah County is about to start seriously investing in the arts.
Let me be clear: No one is proposing this sort of action in San Antonio. No one. But hear why I think we should at least strive for a situation in which it would be plausible. Not a situation where we have to pay, but a situation where we would pay if we had to.
To get to a place where a county could even realistically propose charging $35 per person for a yearlong subscription to living there, citizens need to see some serious value-added from the existence of arts education and organizations.
According to SA2020, San Antonio wants to invest in the arts, and to do so progressively. This will require a healthy dose of realignment on the part of our cultural institutions, as well as we the patrons.
Formerly the Office of Cultural Affairs, the Department for Culture and Creative Development is one of two city departments directly aligned with the ambitious vision of SA2020. (The other is SAPD.) It takes its mission from the vision cast by the citizens of San Antonio, and makes every effort at transparent and bold leadership of our creative economy.
They are tasked with a balance of competing strengths: history and progress.
As Felix Padron, director of the Department for Culture and Creative Development, asks, “How do you foster innovation in a community that values its history?”
Padron sees the arts as a major key to building on history without erasing it. He draws an axis from south to north along the river, a timeline of our city’s investment in infrastructure and culture. The Missions and acequias are the historical foundation of our city, La Villita and Hemisfair represent the twin efforts of relevance and preservation in the 20th century, and now the Museum Reach of the river with Pearl, SAMA, the Children’s Museum, and soon the Tobin Center will hopefully centralize this new energy as we push toward 2020. “Artists continue to play a key role in the evolution of San Antonio,” Padron says. His office remains committed to fostering their development.
“Artists love San Antonio because it’s easy on the eyes and easy on the wallet,” Padron says.
According to many artists, he’s correct. It’s a really easy place to live. It’s a great place to make art. Let’s rephrase that, visual art and literature. It’s a great place to make the kind of art that can be produced independently without the support of an institution.
San Antonio is an artistic community, but it is not an institutional city. Until the Tobin Fine Arts Center is completed, performing artists, who depend so much on collaboration, are disconnected because they lack the hubs that are only now emerging for visual artists, thanks to Blue Star and the Southwest School.
Kevin Peckham moved to San Antonio from Brooklyn when his wife got a job with Lake|Flato. He’s a musician, an indie rocker with the band Ghost Ghost. Long-distance collaborations are not uncommon in the music industry; they are increasingly fruitful thanks to digital media. However, long-distance connection is made possible by local infrastructure feeding into the disembedded network.
“For a musician, rehearsal space and performance space is crucial,” says Peckham. “Rehearsal space cannot be in a strictly residential neighborhood or in an area with repressive noise ordinances — instead musician communities tend thrive in dense areas on the edge of urban settlement where light industrial and heavy commercial spaces are just beginning to be converted into smaller shops, bars, music venues, etc. In fact, adding a vibrant night-life to a once-gritty neighborhood can be a very effective way to lower crime.”
Actors and dancers are tightly bound to institutions if they want to make a living through their craft. Lee Daugherty, a New Braunfels native, has made a home in Washington DC where she and her husband, Rex, have been professionally involved in the theater for the past five years. ‘’While we would love to move back to central Texas to be near family, we have some hesitation since we both work in the performing arts…at this time, there aren’t enough acting opportunities in San Antonio for my husband to continue the kind of work he has been doing in the DC area,’’ Daugherty says.
Part of supporting the individual working artists, is requiring that institutions take their place in the developing creative economy. Our city has a famously healthy budget, and can afford to invest in organizations that further the arts. However the institutions must do their part in producing a return on the investment. They can’t grow stagnant and disconnected from the city’s desire for progress.
It is fair for the City, when it acts on behalf of the taxpayers, to require institutions to contribute to the stated goals of the community. When people begin to see a return on their investment in the arts, we will incubate the political will to invest further.
San Antonians will need to get used to paying for things too. “For the longest time the community took [the arts] for granted because it was so embedded,” Padron says. But this investment in innovation is going to require some patronage.
That return on investment is both in the form of the ever-nebulous “quality of life,” as well as in marked economic gains. According to the Arts and Economic Prosperity IV report, in Bexar county, audiences attending cultural events generated $72 million dollars in revenue excluding the price of admission. That means that the restaurants, bars, hotels, and retail establishments included in “a night out” at the theater, symphony, or festival all benefit from a vibrant art scene.
Further, the report shows 5,132 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs supported by the creative economy. That’s not a huge number, but it proves that the arts do generate employment, and that investing in it as an industry yields economic benefits.
It may be too idealistic to think that a community will ever pay $35 per year just to improve their quality of life. Just to have more access to things they consider luxuries. But if the arts are part of our cultural identity, if they employ our family members, attract our friends, increase the opportunities for our children, maybe then we would be willing to make that kind of investment.
Bekah McNeel is a native San Antonian. She went away to Los Angeles for undergrad before earning her MSc in Media and Communication from the London School of Economics. She made it back home and now works for Ker and Downey. She is one of the founding members of Read the Change, a web-based philanthropy. You can also find her at her blog, Free Bekah.
Great article as usual Bekah. My take away that I never thought of was Mr. Padron’s question, “How do you foster innovation in a community that values its history?” which explains a lot why San Antonians like to buy cool stuff like art from distant locales and why local artists are considered second class. You are correct that it may be too idealistic at this point to consider our fair city investing in it’s culture and art, but with patience and persistence, it is possible. It is certainly a very desirable outcome if it happens!
I like it!
I think the issue here is that we keep throwing the word “art” around willy nilly. It’s like this blanket term used to describe everything from Renaissance paintings at the McNay to hand-made folk pottery at the mercado. Almost every person I meet in San Antonio calls themselves an artist, and while the leveling of the playing field can potentially create a very exciting and democratic art scene, what I think it’s done here in San Antonio is that it has confused most people (especially those who don’t have a background in art). To the untrained person, there’s not much difference between Joe Shmoe on the street corner drawing caricatures for tourists and Joe MFA making paintings at Blue Star. It’s all art, right? We haven’t defined what we mean when we say the word “art.” Better yet, we haven’t defined our intentions. What type of art work do we want to see? What types of artists do we want to support? We have to educate ourselves and the community about what fine art is, then they can decipher it for themselves. By understanding the difference between fine art and craft art it may allow the community to see the value of contemporary fine artwork, thus improving the chance that they may spend a little extra to buy a photo or painting from a local artist.
And for God’s sake! Let’s get rid of First Friday or at least stop referring to it as an Art event. If anything, it’s a glorified craft fair. People attend this event thinking that they are “doing the fine art thing” or “supporting local artists.” And who can blame them? I mean, are these the folks you’re talking about when you say “artist?” When you say “art” do you mean to include the bottle cap necklaces you can buy out in front of Tito’s? We don’t know if this group of artisans or crafters are lumped into our whole idea of a utopian San Antonio art scene. And therein lies the problem.
Hi John,
I have my fine art orchids on display at my Blue Star studio, and while many people come “just for the art” do so on first Thursday, I find that folks genuinely appreciate seeing my art. I don’t know if it qualifies to be in a glorified craft fair, though as it is priced between $4,000-15,000. So what if they don’t all buy? They get a chance to see something beautiful.
I can’t speak for the other artists here at the Blue Star but I must assume that they put effort into their works just as I do. I know some very fine people here who I respect greatly and I believe their work exceeds that of a craft fair as well.
My point earlier is that many San Antonians do not acknowledge that artists exist here. An earlier Rivard Report article referenced the fact that our local citizenry would be interested in an expensive work until they learned it was created locally.
So at the end of the day what can we do? I agree with Bekah that we start somewhere and begin to embrace the folks who are here expressing the something that is speaking from within. My art is not like others and theirs is not like mine. That is ok by me. Oh. Come visit! 🙂
Mr. Padron asked, “How do you foster innovation in a community that values its history?” Well why do they have to be mutually exclusive? Innovation can find inspiration in history. My question is, do we simply value our history or are we prideful of our history? Pride can be a very dangerous sin. We have to make a conscious effort to stop repeating ourselves. So let’s say what we’re all really thinking here. We’re tired of seeing calaveras and papel picado themed art work! We’re tired of seeing uninspired abstract art! We’re tired of the same ten artists getting shows at Blue Star, ArtPace, The Institute of Texan Cultures, SAMA and the McNay simultaneously! We want to see new ideas and new perspectives! We want to see revolution! We want to see Evolution! But how do we do that? By creating a dialog between the general community and the art community. We need more spaces for new, up-and-coming artists to show their work. Then we need more art critics out there who can create a dialog with the community while also holding artists accountable for the work they produce. We should be open to newcomers and outsiders and not see them as our competition, but rather as assets. And yes, we should support the local artists, but in doing so we need to hold them to higher standards. We need to take responsibility for our own art scene and question the motives of our artists and institutions. It’s time that we stopped relying on Blue Star and ArtPace to tell us what’s good. Only then will San Antonio get out of this rut.
John,
Just to make sure that Mr. Padron’s office gets credit where credit is due: they are committed to finding ways to strike a great balance! They definitely seem to agree with your thoughts that history and innovation are not mutually exclusive!
What do you mean when you say that hubs for visual art are “only now emerging”? The two institutions you mention, Blue Star and Southwest School, were started in the mid-80s. Southwest School’s BFA program is exciting, but I would say the Blue Star Complex if anything is in decline, with the recent loss of several respected art spaces.
I also find it interesting that the conversation on ROI on art investment so often drifts away from valuing the art itself. To me it is cynical to try to sell the concept of art as a way to move more enchilada plates and hotel rooms. Not that I think it’s inaccurate — the public art along the museum reach definitely adds value for the tourist industry. But the other point you make is much more important, which is the extent to which the San Antonio community embraces the arts as part of its cultural identity and wants to support the arts because it values the arts, rather than economic development impact.
Too often, though, the City has invested poorly in the arts. If the money poured into the Museo Alameda had gone instead to well-managed grassroots organizations doing quality work — like AtticRep or Unit B Gallery — and helped these projects expand and reach a broader audience, I think the public would be more excited about public funds going to the arts. Luminaria is a less egregious example, but had that money gone directly to cultural innovators, it could have had a bigger impact and more of a multiplier effect in building a stronger arts community.
I love AtticRep! I do wish they were more prominently on display in our city!
With Blue Star and SSA I was more thinking of their recent efforts to 1) connect artists to global networks, 2) SSA’s move to be an acredited art school, which could make a big difference in it’s reach. But you have a point. They’ve been around for a long time. I’ve been around since the mid-80s and I guess I just hate thinking of myself as old.
I don’t think Blue Star is on the decline. As one of those who goes to First Friday for the art and not the party, I do enjoy what I see, and I appreciate their commitments to fostering the efforts of Mosaic, Say Si, and other things in the complex. Say what you may, they are trying to relevant to the community.
Just to be clear, my comments about Blue Star were in reference to the loss of 3 – 4 galleries around the Contemporary Art Center. This isn’t the fault of the Blue Star CAC, but I do think it unfortunately diminishes the sense that the complex, and in some ways the gallery, is a hub. Hopefully at least a couple those galleries will return as things stabilize over there. This doesn’t have much to do with the main points in your piece, but I did want to be clear that I wasn’t criticizing Blue Star, just the idea that it is an emerging art hub.
Ben, You are in luck, as is San Antonio. Besides the gallery in my studio, two other galleries at least are coming into the complex as major renovations are underway. I am thrilled with the progress and am convinced the Blue Star is on a nice upward trajectory. I hope more people will come here not only on First Thursday, or First Friday, but any time during the month and they will find a warm welcome.