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Policy E.7 Creativity and Arts
The Plan suggests strategies that can help the Town of Ashland and its various organizations build upon the Town’s existing strengths and charm and bring arts and cultural activities to the historic Downtown and England Street. A recommendation was made to develop new uses in Downtown Ashland that will complement existing businesses while enhancing the arts and cultural environment. An example of this would be to create affordable mixed-use, live/work spaces in Downtown Ashland and on England Street. Some uses that would be conducive to live/work space are galleries, culinary arts or music stores, artisan bakery or brewery and artists’ studios. The use of large display windows on the ground floor provide a retail experience and allow the passerby to observe working artists.
Also suggested is the increase of public art throughout the Town to enhance the visibility of the arts and culture environment. Public art may be located in significant areas around the Town of Ashland to convey a positive visual message that Ashland is a town that supports the arts and its artists. For additional information, see Policy CD.13 regarding suggestions for an outdoor art program.
The implementation of these ideas will take the participation of several parties: the Town government, the property owner and Ashland Main Street. This combination of ideas works to build and strengthen an arts and cultural district.
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"Also suggested is the increase of public art throughout the Town to enhance the visibility of the arts and culture environment. Public art may be located in significant areas around the Town of Ashland to convey a positive visual message that Ashland is a town that supports the arts and its artists."
Now, I'm no stranger to the utilitarian use of art. I am after all, a commercial artist. I am a hired gun. One of the causes that I champion is the understanding of industrial and utilitarian design as art. But I can't help but get an initial gut reaction to this that says "Wait a minute. Shouldn't art be made public for the sheer appreciation of it?" Many artists have an instinctual aversion to being used as a marketing tool. Art for the sake of appearance is anathema to the soul of many an artist I know.
It is great to convey a visual message that Ashland is a town that supports the arts and its artists. But only if that message is true. Lets not put the cart before the horse. You can plaster a town with public art, and still not support local artists.
I'm not saying that Ashland is not such a town. Just that artists are tuned into such nuances, and if you want them to come and live and work and create and shed their life's passion in your town, you might want to be aware of how language is perceived. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up the word "Shill". Artists like to use that word a lot.
There is another part that gives me pause:
The implementation of these ideas will take the participation of several parties: the Town government, the property owner and Ashland Main Street. This combination of ideas works to build and strengthen an arts and cultural district.
Now, I'm no stranger to the utilitarian use of art. I am after all, a commercial artist. I am a hired gun. One of the causes that I champion is the understanding of industrial and utilitarian design as art. But I can't help but get an initial gut reaction to this that says "Wait a minute. Shouldn't art be made public for the sheer appreciation of it?" Many artists have an instinctual aversion to being used as a marketing tool. Art for the sake of appearance is anathema to the soul of many an artist I know.
It is great to convey a visual message that Ashland is a town that supports the arts and its artists. But only if that message is true. Lets not put the cart before the horse. You can plaster a town with public art, and still not support local artists.
I'm not saying that Ashland is not such a town. Just that artists are tuned into such nuances, and if you want them to come and live and work and create and shed their life's passion in your town, you might want to be aware of how language is perceived. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look up the word "Shill". Artists like to use that word a lot.
There is another part that gives me pause:
The implementation of these ideas will take the participation of several parties: the Town government, the property owner and Ashland Main Street. This combination of ideas works to build and strengthen an arts and cultural district.
It seems to me that there is an important party who's participation is overlooked.
The Artist.
Ok... maybe the inclusion of the artist is assumed. Inferred. But we are a sensitive breed. We like to be mentioned:
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Policy E.8 Incentives for Arts-Related Businesses
To increase the presence of arts-related businesses and organizations such as art galleries and studios, an art supply shop, theaters (both cinema and stage), a music center, retail music instruments, craftware shops, photography studios, culinary arts, and art and music education venues, consideration should be given to the provision of economic incentives or regulatory flexibility. Examples of incentives are exemption from BPOL fees, real property tax exemption, or special regulatory flexibility for arts and cultural venues within the district for a defined period.
In order to provide such incentives, the Town will need to take advantage of Virginia State Code § 15.2-1129.1 (House Bill 1735) passed in February 2009. This enabling legislation allows any locality to create an arts and cultural overlay district. By creating this overlay district within a designated area, communities are able to grant tax incentives as well as relax certain regulations to arts and culture related businesses for a period of up to 10 years. There are other incentives available in addition to those suggested above. Other examples of the benefits of this designation include flexibility of sign regulations or exemption from ordinances dealing with issues pertinent to Downtown such as parking or hours of operation. The arts and culture overlay district should be established and managed by the Town of Ashland and Town Council with the assistance of Ashland Main Street.
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And there's the rub. "for a period of up to 10 years". See, I've seen this before. You start by making it all comfy cozy for artists. You suck out their life force, using them as your side show carnival act. We are the bearded ladies, the fish boys, the dog men.
And then... when your carnival takes off... becomes successful... grows into a bona-fide theme park... you toss us out on our ears.
The artist can no longer afford to live in the place (s)he has toiled for 10 years, watching as the area grows and prospers. See Gentrification.
I call myself ‘artist’ for want of a better term.
There is nothing self-evident in my creative work except the compulsion to do it.
Through no intent of my own I have been pointed out as something apart,
a 5-legged calf,
a monster.
I have never fought for this position, nor do I do so now to keep it.
Yet I may well at times have felt the winds of megalomania sweep across my brow.
But I believe myself to be immune.
I need only for one second remind myself of the utter unimportance of art in the human world
in order to cool myself down again.
But that does not mean the compulsion does not remain.”
-Max von Sydow from Ingmar Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf”
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Again... I'm not saying all this to be a pain in the ass. I'm not being a nay sayer. I'm not discounting the efforts toward making real change in Ashland. I am merely the herald.
When the soothsayer told Ceasar to beware the Ides of March, it wasn't because he was planning on knifing Ceaser in his sleep.
It was because he felt the change in atmosphere, long before the storm.
Arthur,
ReplyDeleteI am reading your comments above again to be sure I can offer some relevant commentary later on. But want to say for sure that the 'artist' should have been specifically mentioned. From the plan and above:
1) The arts and culture overlay district should be established and managed by the Town of Ashland and Town Council with the assistance of Ashland Main Street.
Again... call me sensitive. But there seems to be a missing party.
Perhaps as you said above it is inferred. But if it had been written including the artist and instead leaving out Town Council, having that august body,(tongue in cheek), inferred, that likely would have immediately been noticed. So I don't think it is a sensitivity issue, it is an omission.
Heck, I'll go on even without more time to reflect...
I think I may be picking up something from your words that I think may over accentuate the differences between artists and others in their pursuits. I will try to flesh it out for myself here.
There is music in the world that gives great pleasure to all in many, many ways. And there is what is referred to as the 'music industry'. The philosophical, artsy, sublime nature of music is perhaps somewhat tainted when it is paired with the word industry, but never the less. There is such an animal. That animal reaps great financial reward to the musical artists, (and reams of others acting as bottom, top, and middlemen, (or middleperson to be gender respective). I expect that a true artist does not measure their satisfaction in their work by their pofits, but they do gain from it financially and as a measuring stick of sorts that they have a true talent and appear to be providing something that brings pleasure/comfort/enjoyment to others.
So there is an ‘industry’ reality to art too and as such, that sort of lumps all together: hardware, realtor, doctor, car wash, etc. That does not demean art as much as it adds to the relevance of art. Hopefully all of us want to provide something that provides some pleasure/comfort/enjoyment/service to the world and all face the challenge of doing so in a way in which they can sustain/refine/evolve/enjoy/survive in ways economic and otherwise. So, if a 10 year incentive was in place and the 10 years runs out, isn't that a still a 10 year opportunity? Not many other endeavors get that opportunity and it is still better than a 100 year wish or a 0 year opportunity?
Your comments have set me to thinking about how to blend all the talents in Ashland, including business, artists, entrepreneurial talent, etc. in such as fashion that all will have opportunity to not only enjoy each other’s offering, but contribute to one another in the process! I look forward to more discussion and more work ahead as Ashland continues to grow and gain!
One more thing.
I want to comment on this line quoted above from “Hour of the Wolf”: “I need only for one second remind myself of the utter unimportance of art in the human world in order to cool myself down again.”
I would say that art can never be unimportant to humanity because art, in all of its forms, is the presentation of human thought and emotion, without which humanity is no longer human.
Gotta go- today is the National Day of Prayer and I've been meeting folks at the town hall lawn this day every year at 12:15pm since 1991 for a brief time to pray for our community, nation, and the world. See ya...
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughtful responses. I'm glad you recognize the omission of the artist from the equation.
As for the difference between artist and others in their pursuits, I am not trying to be elitist towards the role of the artist. However, when discussions about economic revitalization revolve around the use of the term "creative economy" as the keystone to an economic plan, I think one has to acknowledge the role of "artist as spectacle".
The artist is not inherently superior to the hardware store owner, the realtor, the doctor, or the car wash operators. What what they are better at is being a draw. Creating something that hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of people come to see.
Conversely, while a hardware store owner or realtor or doctor or car wash owner might be able to establish a stable business over time, with regular clientelle, the artist is typically always struggling for that next sale. Artists by their very nature tend to live in a state of experimentation. There is nothing to suggest that an artist will be any better off ten years down the road than they were when they started.
In other words, the artist may be good at drawing a crowd, while not necessarily having any direct sales result from that draw. People who like to see artists at work don't necessarily purchase from those artists. The artist becomes something of a museum piece... an exhibit unto himself. The artist as art.
I'll write more about these ideas in upcoming blog posts.