What price art?
Last week, Mayor Carl Morehouse headlined the Chamber of Commerce’s annual “State of the City” lunch, focusing on the City's budget realities and challenges. As part of his presentation, the Mayor distributed a breakdown of our General Fund budget by the Strategic Visions in our General Plan. Lunch attendees were asked to apply their own ideas for how to prioritize spending. Remembering that this was a Chamber of Commerce audience, the results were intriguing. When all the results were tallied and averaged, here is the breakdown of the share of the General Fund budget we currently devote to each area and the proportionate share the Chamber members suggested:
Our Natural Community (protecting our environment):
- Current City share: 1%
- Chamber member's suggested share: 1.43%
Our Prosperous Community (promoting business activity and economic development):
- Current City share: 1%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 3.45%
Our Well-Planned & Designed Community (managing growth and development)
- Current City share: 5%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 4.22%
- Current City share: 5%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 4.79%
- Current City share: 3%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 3.51%
- Current City share 9%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 7.46%
Our Healthy & Safe Community (Police, Fire and medical emergency response)
- Current City share: 52%
- Chamber members' suggested share 49.19%
- Current City share: 1%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 4.35%
- Current City share: 1%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 1.38%
- Current City share: 1%
- Chamber members' suggested share: 1.06%
- Current city share: 21%
- Chamber members suggested share: 19.11%
Amazingly, for a group that has consistently faulted the City for spending too much on art and too little on public safety, their members opted to spend even more money on art than the City and less than we do on safety.
Of course, a key question is not just where our money is spent, but how. There are a couple of pieces of public art that rankle many people in the community, especially the award-winning but locally unpopular "Bus House" behind the Pacific View Mall. Why, many residents and businesspeople ask, would we spend money on such a "useless" extravagence when we don't have enough funding for Police and Fire?
People's tastes differ and I won't defend that particular choice. But Mayor Morehouse explained that almost all our public art projects, including Bus Home, are funded from completely different sources than the General Fund which supports all our Police and Fire expenditures. We might have spent our transportation money differently by not allocating 2% to the project budget to public art when that bus center was built, but it would still be transportation funding and by law can't be spent to hire police officers and firefighters.
So what do we spend 1% of our General Fund budget on that goes under the "Creative City" catagory? Well, we have several historic sites (Olivas Adobe and the Albinger Archeological Museum) that are maintained by the City (and staffed by volunteers.) The City has a small competitive grant program aimed at local music, dance, theater, visual arts and other cultural institutions to help extend their programs to wider audiences. The Recreation department has numerous arts classes, particularly for kids at a time when arts have been cut way back in public schools (and these classes are paid for by participant fees.) The City also sponsors many community events like the thrice-annual Art Walk that bring thousands of visitors Downtown.
Some say all these things are nice, but until public safety is completely funded and all our streets are paved, these are "frills" that we can afford to do without.
Is culture and art worth spending 1% of our budget dollars on? Are these efforts "frills" -- or a wise investment in future economic development?
Arts advocates point to studies (including one done here in Ventura) that count up the number of jobs generated by art and cultural activity, the amount of direct dollars pumped into the economy from those activities and the indirect benefits they generate (visitors to art events who eat dinner before they play or stay overnight to attend Artwalk, etc.)
But in an economy our size, while every little bit helps, that is hardly a significant factor statistically. The real connection between arts and prosperity is less tangible, but even more fundamental.
Quite simply, we all recognize the increasing global homogenization that best selling author Thomas Friedman describes in his book, “The Earth is Flat.” Where national borders, time zones and distance are shrinking in importance, paradoxically, the importance of distinctiveness is growing. If I can get more or less the same white blouse for my wife at the local mall, on-line, at a downtown boutique or from a big box warehouse, it is hard for retailers to squeeze a premium price out of that transaction. They have got to offer buyers either a distinctive white blouse or a distinctive buying experience. If they don't I can pick one up at Target or go online for the lowest price I can find on the Net -- delivered to my door in a couple of days.
The same paradox applies to communities. The more mobility people have for living, shopping or doing business, the harder it is for any place to keep its high value jobs, its highly educated residents or its higher end retail sales.
So what does a community do? Particularly a community like Ventura that starts from a position of relative strength? Few people realize that Ventura already gets more than its share of sales tax dollars, with the County's second highest per capita sales, only slightly behind the more affluent Thousand Oaks. As hard as our retailers work to stay ahead of the competition, we are constantly under pressure to keep sales here. The same goes for our high value jobs.
Is arts the ticket? Is that what sets us apart? Will that provide a distinctive edge? All by itself, no. But as part of a larger strategy, one or two percent for the arts is a remarkably cheap bet -- and the pay-off has great odds. All by itself, a small investment in arts and culture, it won’t leverage huge gains in direct jobs and revenue. But as part of under highlighting Ventura’s Downtown, our identity, our image and our pride . . . art is like the spice in soup. If you didn't have enough potatoes for your stew, you wouldn't economize by skipping the salt and pepper.
Spice alone won’t fill you up or sustain you . . . but it sure makes for a far more interesting and delicious meal.
So maybe it’s time to stop worrying about whether we are spending too much on art and focus on how we find additional resources and avenues for solving our other challenges.
posted by Rick Cole at
1:31 PM
14 Comments:
I want to commend you on the insightful comments on the role of the arts in reflecting Ventura’s identity, image and pride of place. Paintings and photographs of our hills and seashore, plays written by high school teens and poetry written by cowboys who work at nearby ranches each contribute to Ventura’s vitality and to recognition of who we are as a city, differentiating ourselves from other places.
Ventura is definitely California’s New Arts City and we need to do all we can to support and encourage the work already accomplished by the Cultural Affairs Division, the Planning Department and other city agencies supporting the arts. I consider the Ventura Cultural Affairs Division to be one of the most progressive public arts agencies in the country. When I speak about Ventura at national/international conferences, I describe Ventura as the “Smart Arts City.”
If I can sell my photos via the web, my stock photo agency is in London, and my biggest client is in New York, why do I buy my catfood in Ventura? In a world where I can live anywhere... why Ventura? Cape Town has the same climate, Taft is cheaper, Mammoth has better snow, Portland has better beer.
It's because Ventura is an authentic place, family friendly, the traffic isn't too bad, great weather, and the surf is legendary - all great features - but when combined with a local tradition of fine art and culture, a historic downtown, local merchants, community pride, and nature on four sides, you've got a unique, one-of-a kind place.
The WAV, the Museum expansion, ArtWalks, the Music Festival, the Fair, Olivas Adobe and other preservation and arts education programs are vital to maintaining and enhancing the attributes that make Ventura so desirable.
I'm an artist, I love this city, I spend my New York client's money here. If the City is wise enough to support the arts as a benefit for the locals, a draw for tourists, and an economic generator of sales tax... we should all be happy that the side effect is a rise in all our property values.
According to Business Week Magazine, the Ventura area is one of the top metropolitan spots ideal for artists.
The magazine, in its Feb. 26 issue, goes on to say, “Want to know where a great place to invest in real estate will be five or 10 years from now? Look at where artists are living now. Sociologists and policymakers have long been touting art and culture as the cure-all to economically depressed neighborhoods, cities, and regions. The reason? It has been proven that artists — defined as self-employed visual artists, actors, musicians, writers, etc. — can stimulate local economies in a number of ways.”
So it would seem Ventura’s devotion to 1 percent of the city budget to the arts is a wise investment. Those who cry that the city doesn’t spend enough time promoting business development seem to overlook just how beneficial the arts have been to this community. The city has wisely recognized this, however, and created a wonderful niche for itself as “California’s New Art City.”
Ventura’s art scene, coupled with its unique Downtown, is a real draw that can’t be matched by building yet another strip mall or business complex.
The "arts" budget can take many forms. In most cities "public art" is paid for as a percentage of building permit fees. People who love the arts particularly appreciate an aesthetically pleasing environment. It would be very cheap to send out the requisite 50-100 letters from Code Enforcement to make people remove the ugly clutter of illegal banners and signs which proliferate the city - the city has taken a decided position against enforcing this. Another thing people who appreciate the arts do appreciate is a sense of balance and color in a city's edifices. The development of a contextual use of color throughout the city in its buildinga and signage would go a long way toward this goal. there is a free Committee available to evaluate this element. $57,000,000.00 to build the WAV seems disproportionately expensive considering its overall goal - to house artists at $500.00-1000.00 per month and sell a few condos on the top levels.
The harbor area is way under-utilized as an element of business, retail and the arts.
So let's see a real spread sheet instead of all this coy percentage stuff.
Re: "Park maintenance and recreation activities"
If one surveys all the parks in Ventura there are 40-50, There are two very interesting but unforeseen aspects common to all of these parks:
1. The parks all seem designed primarily for the benefit of the person operating the power lawnmower - ie so that person never has to do much beyond going back and forth over vast expanses of grass and hardly ever is forced to ride around or mow around any plant, table or bench placed anywhere in the middle of any said vast expanse of grass; these elements are consciously placed away from anything which would or might require edge trimming etc. As a result, many of the parks look more like pastures than parks. By comparison, parks considered to be quite inviting, attractive and well-planned seem to have a much more integrated set of such elements.
2. Each city park has multi-colored plastic playground equipment [ all obviously from the same vendor ] whose color schemes could be those least in demand at other cities. There are much more attractive types of playground equipment on the market than what we have.
3. Despite the funds expended by taxpayers [ and developers ] on our parks, there are many with handicapped spaces and signs which are woefully maintained, as well as many with exposed wires on lamp posts - for years.
Re: our " well-planned and designed
'arts' community"
Lovers of the arts are also lovers of all things visually pleasing. One would think any "well-planned and designed" community would incorporate a system whereby scuzzy-looking un-approved edifice paint jobs [ such as 1418 E. Main St., 2108 Victoria, as well as multiple commercial buildings which were orginally designed to be finished in natural wood 'colors'and are now painted in totally inappropriate non-'natural wood' colors unrelated to their original 'look' - like the black building next to the freeway which was originally an attractive shade of lighter natural brown when originally built but now looks like Darth Vader's house in black ] and un-approved multiple sandwich board signs on sidewalks around commercial business areas [ Petit & Telephone, Telephone and Market, Main near Telephone ], and dumpsters on sidewalks [ Circle K on Mills ] would be non-existent in a place where Code Enforcement worked to make the community appear " well-planned and designed ".
New Urbanism really started in this country with the writings of Jane Jacobs, a reporter untrained in planning from Scranton, Penna 30 years ago [ 'Life and Death of American Cities' ] and a recent work several years ago. She died last year. She is revered by most planners. Her thinking really defines what New Urbanism is supposed to be about and it's not what one hears among today's Planning Establishment. Her ideas were picked up and somewhat distorted by current "New Urbanists" [ see New Urbanism, Peter Katz, 1994 ]. However, the really good work in New Urbanism design has been produced by the Duke of Wales [ Poundbury, England ] and by Leon Krier[ of Luxembourg ] , who has been called the Father of New Urbanism, but not around here [ Alessandria, Italy; Univ. of Miami School of Architecture bldg., and Windsor Village Hall, Fla. are examples ]. The Duke of Wales took on the entire architectural profession in England and told them they were basically building uninhabitable junk. It took a lot of guts, but he stuck with it and there are meaningful results worth looking at on the web. He even funded a new architecture school for New Urbanism which was fought against by the architecture establishment there, but is still operating.
If Ventura is to become the "New Art City" it should begin by acting like one. The annual art festival actually started out as one for real but has become a collection of painted ducks and assorted non-art called art. As stated elsewhere it is still, in many respects, Bakersfield by the Sea. There is a wonderful collection of stone and stone work going on here called Art City, near the Avenues. It is not heard about enough. The "art" stuff being promoted by the City is, sadly, not really art but a facsimile.
Brooks Institute used to be in Santa Barbara and had a renowned reputation for turning out quality photographers. Now it has become a for-profit trade school, in essence, and even its students question its motives. If it is to become a viable part of Ventura, It needs to identify itself with the community as a brand of note within the arts community of the nation as well as of the community.
So I'm driving from L.A. or Santa Barbara through the New Art City and what is the first "art" I see ? Why, it's the creative work of the New Art City Graffitistas on the Union Pacific bridge crossing the CENTER of this New Art City. It must have some historic significance and be reflective of the quality of art the New Art City endows because it is carefully protected almost like it is some sort of local art form. Perhaps it is.
The artwork on the bus stops is quite nice. The new sculptures at the entries to the city's two golf courses is also quite nice. The new crosses on the Methodist Church are quite nice. The retention of the cross atop the hill above Ventura is quite nice. The "Woody" bus is quite nice. The new "Ventura" sign at Calif. St. is quite nice.
Re. What Price Art?"
The WAV has apparently gone to low tide mode, as the web site for PLACE, its sponsor, does not seem to be up any longer.
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