The Obama Campaign hops on the "Great opportunity for exposure!" Bandwagon

The local Obama campaign office posted this on craigslist:

The East Henrico OFA office is in need of a local artist willing to come and paint some of our campaign office walls for the election. 
We have the supplies and permission to paint some of our blank walls and need someone talented and willing to come help out the OFA team and get President Obama re-elected. This is a great opportunity for an artist to gain exposure as many people are going to be coming into the office and seeing their work between now and the election. 
If you or someone you know would be right for this please contact us! Our Office is located at 4719 Nine Mile Rd in the Basement of the McEachin & Gee Law Firm. Please email or call us at 937-4725.  

Here is my response to them:

I am writing to you in response to your posting on craiglist seeking an artist for the campaign office.

I am an Obama supporter, voted for him in the first election, and intend to vote for him again, without hesitation.

However, I am terribly disappointed in your post. The Obama campaign has raised $690 million dollars as of August according to the NY Times. That money is being spent on high end advertising firms, network advertising time, youtube ads, Hulu ads, and just about every other place it is possible to squeeze and ad before a viewer.

Here is an opportunity to hire someone locally... a member of the 47%, to create original artwork for your campaign office. The good will generated in the artist community in Richmond would go a long way to generating support. Instead, you are repeating the tired phrase of "great opportunity for exposure". Here's a newsflash... the entire world is selling the same thing you are... opportunity for exposure. Artists are dying of exposure.

When considering commissioning an artist, one should use a variation on Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative; assume everyone else is asking for the same thing you are asking for. An artist who is exposed as "working for free" will certainly generate more opportunities... to work for free. If this is the economy the Obama administration is promoting, perhaps my unquestioning vote needs to be reviewed.

National Goverors Association Presents New Engines of Growth: Part 4, Catalyzing Community Revitilization

This is the fourth in a series of posts discussing a study released in May 2012 by the National Governors Association titled "New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design".

The report makes the argument that arts, culture, and design can assist states with economic growth because they can:

1. Provide a fast-growth, dynamic industry cluster

2. Help mature industries become more competitive

3. Provide the critical ingredients for innovative places

4. Catalyze community revitalization; and

5. Deliver a better-prepared workforce.

My first post discussed The Industry Cluster, and I showed how the newly formed networking group The Ashland Arts Alliance serves to solve many of the issues raised in forming and accelerating the growth of a creative industry cluster.

My second post covered how creativity can help mature industries become more competitive through creative marketing, bolstering tourism, and innovative manufacturing.

The third post talked about:

• Launching cultural districts and arts enterprise zones.
• Creating spaces for artists and other creative talent to cluster, interact, and thrive.
• Integrating arts, culture, and design into innovation hubs that encourage collaboration.

So now lets talk about number four: Catalyzing community revitalization. The chapter begins:

All over the country, states and cities are scrambling to find ways to reinvent and revitalize communities and neighborhoods. The arts, culture, and design sector can be a catalyst to revive older commercial districts and neighborhoods and can be part of a state strategy to reclaim abandoned investments in physical infrastructure and communities.

As an example, the study cites Austin Texas:

Because creative people like to be around other creative people, even if they are in different businesses, Austin, Texas, is one of the great economic success stories in the United States in the last 30 years. There is no question that the region made great strategic moves and creatively exploited its assets, especially the University of Texas, in building new pillars of economic prosperity. But it is also true that Austin’s flourishing music scene and its funky cultural attitudes—best summed up in the local slogan “Keep Austin Weird”—were key ingredients as well.

Now I'm not familiar with the "Keep Austin Weird" slogan. A quick Wikipedia search yields:

Austin is the self-proclaimed "live music capital of the world" and the people of Austin reflect a friendly, accepting culture of artistic and individual expression that maintains the city as a vibrant and eclectic creative center and haven for anLGBT community, intellectual community, community of naturalists and environmentalists, and for subcultures and people(s) who are not mainstream. In a mostly conservative Texas, Austin is "Weird" because of that and because it continues to be liberal and progressive politically, socially, in culture, in the arts and in music, among other things. "Keep Austin Weird" moves beyond a mere slogan, to reflect the dynamics that encompass Austin.

I like this. It reminds my of my welcoming blurb for the Ashland Arts Alliance:

This is a group for creatives in all arts disciplines in the Ashland, Virginia area to find each other for potential collaboration. I believe that Ashland has a lot of "arts" professionals and hobbyists who live under the radar, and are looking for significant change in attitudes about arts both locally and nationally.

This is a call out not only to fine artists who might think that the area is not ready for the subject matter that they deal with, but also for musicians, dancers, videographers, photographers, graphic designers, filmmakers, illustrators, stylists, recording artists and anyone else that considers themselves to be "artists".

Lowbrow, body art,street art, spoken word, hoopers and spinners, and any area of alternative. Diversity is a word being bandied around a lot lately. Lets see some real diversity in Ashland. I know its there... it is time to be seen. All economic levels, all lifestyle choices.


Here's a photo of some of our members from a story in Richmond's Style Weekly magazine:

Nicole Randall (front), Heather Addley, and Courtney Ford, part of The Clockworks Collective, and members of the Ashland Arts Alliance

It illustrates that if you want to have a successful arts and culture scene, the more open and welcoming it is to the people who dedicated their lives to creating art, the more successful you will be. And yes, we are often considered "weird. See my post on Xenophobia. 

Part 2 of the chapter speaks to restoring distressed communities and reclaiming abandoned spaces, and the trend for artists to be the pioneers in such efforts. The study reads:

Taking heed of this trend, in April 2011 the Ford Foundation started a $100 million program to develop artists’ spaces across the country. In announcing the program, Luis Ubinas, the foundation president, cited the economic potential of artist communities in the founda- tion’s decision to commit such a large sum:

“We...believe that this investment in arts infrastructure will advance the well-being of communities because artists and art spaces can play a significant role in boosting local economies.”

States and cities are propelling this new economic vitality as well as using historic preservation and artist relocation programs, for example, in catalytic roles.

Read that again: "artist relocation programs". As I keep saying, the competition to acquire artists is rising. Not just artists, but artists who are leaders. Catalysts. I'll go ahead and be self indulgent, and point out that the title I gave myself as founder of the Ashland Arts Alliance is "Catalyst". This was before I read or was aware of the report. I'm starting to think perhaps I should be shopping around, looking for the best opportunities in the country for my particular set of talents. The incentives are rising.

The study points out the city of Paducah, Kentucky:

The Paducah, Kentucky, Artist Relocation Program was started in August 2000 as a way to reduce urban blight, preserve historic buildings, and bring artists in particular to the downtown area of LowerTown, the city’s oldest neighborhood. Incentives offered to artists and others include 100-percent financing for the purchase and rehabilitation of an existing structure or the building of a new structure; free lots for new construction, as available; assistance in paying professional fees; and national marketing exposure as a part of the LowerTown Arts District. In the first year, eight artists moved to LowerTown. In the second year, the number increased to around 20. In 2010, more than 100 artists lived and worked in the neighborhood.

This is sort of like giving artists 40 acres and a mule.

A study conducted by Americans for the Arts in 2009 found that Paducah’s arts scene brought in $27.8 million in 2007

The final part of the chapter addresses improving livability and quality of life through creative spaces:



The question of how to foster high-quality places is one of the most important in economic development today. By providing amenities, connectivity, and sense of place, public art and well-designed public spaces can be part of the answer. They contribute to the visual landscape and character of a state or city. They help transform transportation corridors and waterfronts into welcoming places for people to live, work, play, and gather as a community.

As an example, it cites percent-for-art programs, and this interesting bit about Vermont:

In Vermont, artists, community members, and engineers are working to integrate artistic enhancements into the redevelopment of a portion of U.S. Highway Route 2 through the village of Danville in a way that combines state and local efforts. The Danville Transportation Enhancement Project brings together the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Agency of Transportation in a first-time partnership to work with the town. Much of Route 2 throughout Vermont has already been widened and better designed, but the Danville section of the highway remains to be completed. Route 2 is essentially the community’s main street, as it runs through the town center connecting the school, general store, and several churches. The goal of the project is to upgrade road conditions through the town to meet Federal Highway System requirements, while enhancing the feel of a small, close-knit, rural community and pre- serving a pedestrian environment. With broad public, private, and multiagency support, the Danville project provides a template to help small communities deal with quality-of-life issues as they relate to the demands of infrastructure.

I'll conclude this series with part 5, Delivering a Better Prepared Workforce. The chapter speaks to creative education, which has been a recurring topic on this blog.

National Goverors Association Presents New Engines of Growth: Part 3, Critical Ingredients for Innovative Places

This is the third in a series of posts discussing a study released in May 2012 by the National Governors Association titled "New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design".

The report makes the argument that arts, culture, and design can assist states with economic growth because they can:

1. Provide a fast-growth, dynamic industry cluster

2. Help mature industries become more competitive

3. Provide the critical ingredients for innovative places

4. Catalyze community revitalization; and

5. Deliver a better-prepared workforce.

My first post discussed The Industry Cluster, and I showed how the newly formed networking group The Ashland Arts Alliance serves to solve many of the issues raised in forming and accelerating the growth of a creative industry cluster.

My second post covered how creativity can help mature industries become more competitive through creative marketing, bolstering tourism, and innovative manufacturing.

The third chapter of the study opens:

The most successful American places in the 21st century are likely to be innovation hubs. They are locations that support an open innovation business model, foster co-location, and promote easy and constant interaction among many different industries and a wide variety of creative workers, from artists to scientists to engineers. It may seem ironic in today’s global economy, but place has become more important than ever.

Later it states:

Proximity reduces the overall costs of collaboration and makes it easier for the collaborators—both businesses and individual workers—to respond to new opportunities quickly and retool or reconfig- ure as needed.

And then later:

A number of states are supporting the development of more and better innovative places generally and innovation hubs specifically. Three recurring themes have appeared in this effort:

• Launching cultural districts and arts enterprise zones.
• Creating spaces for artists and other creative talent to cluster, interact, and thrive.
• Integrating arts, culture, and design into innovation hubs that encourage collaboration.

The town of Ashland Virginia just launched an arts and culture district. I've been working up in Arlington Virginia, where one of the most remarkable and innovative spaces I've ever seen was created, the Gunston Arts Center. I'll be writing a post on that in the near future. Here's a sneak peak; a theatrical scene shop and two performance spaces on the campus of Gunston Middle School. The shop is available to all county theatrical companies to build sets. Here I'm beginning construction on the set for The American Century Theater's production of Sister Mary Ignatious Explains It All For You.

Scene Shop at Gunston Middle School

Overhead view of Arlington County scene shop at Gunston Middle School

Here are a couple of shots of the installed set. Note, these are not photographs of a classroom at a Middle school. They are photographs of a set of a classroom built in a black box theater on the campus of a Middle School!

The set installed in Theater 2 at Gunson Middle School

Close up of set for Sister Mary

The study goes on to say:

Just as states have created spaces for individual artists to live and work, they have created spaces within cities and towns for a wide variety of creative individuals and enterprises—artists, website designers, architects, writers, university professors, product engineers—to be close enough to visit one another “before the cup of coffee gets cold.” Increasingly, states are helping to create hubs and zones that encourage this kind of proximity, not just within economic sectors but across a diverse range of industries in which creativity matters, such as technology, entertainment, journalism, finance, and high-end manufacturing. The most successful of those initiatives are incorporating the arts and creative enterprises, not only as part of the industry mix but also as partners in the planning and development of the innovation zones. Inclusion of the arts and culture in all dimensions of hub development helps to create a fertile habitat for innovation and, ultimately, economic renewal and long-term prosperity, even in states that are facing some of the most acute economic challenges.

There is a recurring theme in all of this. That of government providing not just a hand wave of zoning with a few tax incentives amounting to a hundred dollars a year or so, but of providing real tangible space and other incentives to draw creative people to their communities.


I say the competition is on. I say that it has never been a better time to be an artist in America, and that communities will have to up the ante if they want to draw driven, committed, creative individuals to be part of their economic growth strategy.


This is serious business folks. We are talking about the potential extensive relocation of many of the most creative people in America. What is going to draw them to your town? What are you going to do to keep them?

National Goverors Association Presents New Engines of Growth: Part 2, Enhancing Competition

This is the second in a series of posts discussing a study released in May 2012 by the National Governors Association titled "New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design".


The report makes the argument that arts, culture, and design can assist states with economic growth because they can:

1. Provide a fast-growth, dynamic industry cluster

2. Help mature industries become more competitive

3. Provide the critical ingredients for innovative places

4. Catalyze community revitalization; and

5. Deliver a better-prepared workforce.

My first post discussed The Industry Cluster, and I showed how the newly formed networking group The Ashland Arts Alliance serves to solve many of the issues raised in forming and accelerating the growth of a creative industry cluster. 


I'll now move on to number 2, and talk about how arts, culture, and design can help mature industries become more competitive.


The chapter begins:

States have several efforts under way focusing on industry renewal and retool- ing that connect well with arts, culture, and design. Those efforts also provide an important opportunity to further cooperation between economic development and arts and cultural agencies. One such effort concerns manufacturing, with states (including eight states participating in an NGA Center for Best Practices policy academy) focused on how to integrate inventing, designing, and producing high-value-added products into existing and emerging manufacturing industries. Another effort concerns tourism. The Western Governors’ Association 2011–2012 initiative focuses on ways to strengthen the Western economy by promoting growth of the outdoor recreation and tourism sectors.

In many industries, producing the most important new products and services depends on maintaining the worldwide technological lead. But that kind of leadership also depends on deeply creative individuals who can imagine how people can use things that have never been available before and who can create ingenious marketing and sales campaigns, write books, design cars, and imagine new kinds of software that will capture people’s imagination and become indispensable to millions.

Ok, sounds like some pretty lofty goals, eh? How does this fit into small town America?  Well lets start with marketing campaigns. We have a new pizza shop in town, called Gold Coast Pizza. They opened in November, and the owners, Ken and Karen Russell, are from Oregon. Their pizza is a speciality item.. specifically, it is west coast style pizza.

Being half Sicilian and growing up in Brooklyn, I have some pretty pre-conceived notions of what pizza is supposed to be. And this ain't it. However, I'm always one for trying new things, and the fact is that their pizza is pretty darned good! Now to me, it doesn't come close to a genuine New York style pizza, but my wife thinks it is the best pizza she's ever had.

I told Karen that they should have a presence at the Ashland Strawberry Faire, where the organizers projections were for up to 40,000 people. I came up with an idea. Since their logo is a silhouette of a covered wagon, and they have photos from the California gold rush on their walls, I would create the character of an old prospector, and hand out coupons.

I came up with a repeatable schtick:

"The name's Gold. Gilbert Gold. And I've struck gold! Gold Coast Pizza that is. Extraordinary Inducements. But one pizza at full price, get another half off. You've got sixty days to stake your claim!"

I based the coupon design on an old advertisement I found for steam ship transport to the west coast:

I had a harmonica with me and sang the song "Oh My Darling, Clementine". It begins "In a cavern, in a canyon, excavating for a mine, 'twas a miner, forty-niner, and his daughter Clementine" I don't have an exact count, but I'd estimate I handed out about 1,000 coupons at the fair. People loved the character. There were two main reactions to Gold Coast Pizza; either people had never heard of it, or they had tried it and loved it.

I've also done creative marketing campaigns for my haunted attractions, and even gave a presentation to a marketing class at a local high school school a couple of years ago on the use of Alternate Reality Marketing Campaigns.

Speaking of haunted attractions, this is certainly related to tourism. The Halloween industry has been growing steadily over the years, and currently generates seasonal money second only to Christmas. Theme parks got on the haunted attraction bandwagon around the year 2000. Thousands upon thousands of Halloween enthusiasts visit haunted attractions each year. Spooky World, a private haunted attraction in New England, grew to do two million dollars in ticket sales each season!

And speaking of Christmas, I do that too:

Father Christmas

Father Christmas and Pesci the Elf

My Dad started this wen he was 6 years old. I made many of the buildings.

As for manufacturing, how about designing a fountain with one of the world's leading fountain engineering firms? In 2006, I worked with Richmond sculptor Tom Wright to create the first in the world fountain of its kind, in conjunction with Kusser Fountainworks:

Fountain Design

Fountain comes in at about 4:45 on the following video:

And I'm just one guy. Imagine a collective of individuals dedicated to doing things that have never been done before. Dedicated to seeing the world in new ways. People who dream of things that never were, and say "why not?"

An Anemic Arts and Culture Plan

A friend passed on this link in leesburgtoday.com regarding the Arts And Culture District Overlay in Leesburg, Virginia. The Leesburg town council voted to create the overlaly district in March of 2011.

From the Article:

In 2009, the Virginia General Assembly passed enabling legislation to give cities and towns in the state the authority to create boundaries for their own arts and cultural districts and offer tax incentives in doing so. The council voted to create the Arts & Cultural District in March 2011, and the ordinance was enacted that July.

The incentives created for artists to move to the overlay district are listed as:

Both BPOL and real estate tax rebates are offered to the qualifying organizations over a 10-year period. If 50 percent or more of the gross receipts of the Qualified Arts Organization are generated from an activity that qualifies the business for the incentives, the business would be eligible for a 100 percent BPOL rebate in year one; 90 percent in year two; 80 percent in year three; and the number would continue to decrease by 10 percent each year. The same rebate schedule would be true for town real estate tax rebates. Qualifying businesses are also entitled to zoning fee exemptions. To receive the incentives, qualified businesses, whether new or existing, must apply to the town manager to be eligible.

Now I don't know about you, but not many artists I know of are in the market to purchase the buildings their studios are located in. So real estate taxes aren't much of an incentive to the average artist. As for BPOL, the tax rate in Leesburg for retail merchants is .1%, so if you do say, $30,000 worth of business (which many artists would love to have), the tax rate is $30.00

Think about that... the artist's incentive to move to the arts and culture district is $30.00. But this peters down by $3 per year... $27 in year two, $24 in year three, etc..

To qualify for this whopping $30, applicants had to submit a five year business plan! Again from the site:

"We hadn't really gotten any applications to apply for the district," she said. "We found that local arts organizations found the application to be a bit cumbersome, specially in the area of the requirement for [submitting] a five-year business plan and pro forma."

These folks sound honestly surprised that their incentives didn't work. Arts and Culture Districts are being hawked as the savior of economic development in small towns and neighborhoods across the country. And they think artists are going to come running for $30?

The article concludes:

Outreach to community partners and businesses will continue, and a future meeting with the recently-established Friends of Leesburg Public Arts 501(c)(3) is planned. In looking at ways to continue to open up the district to new businesses, and to make the application process easier, the task force proposed three amendments to the Town Code, which the council initiated this week. These include: amending the code to extend the period of time that existing businesses have to apply to six months; amending the code to eliminate the need for a five-year business plan if a business has been in continuous operation within the district for five or more years; and amending the code to include graphic art design within the definition of a Qualified Arts Organization. These Town Code amendments will come back to the council for review and a vote.

If any of you have been reading this blog for any period of time, can I just say "I told you so"? Anyone want a friendly wager that revision 1 won't work?

Arts Organizations vs. Artists

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you have probably noticed a recurring theme... that of "arts organizations" vs. "artists".

I see the role of an arts organization as being twofold:

1) To bring arts to the community
2) To financially support artists, so they can actually create the art that is being brought to the community.

Too many times I see business models which rely on the artists supporting the organization, rather than the organization supporting the artists. Arts administrators for organizations often get paid far more than the artists working for those organizations. Organizations rationalize costs for materials, advertising, promotions, and administration, but somehow can't justify actually paying visual and performing artists a fair wage for their time.

We live in a time when the process of art creation is continually devalued. Over an over again I see the phrase "it will be great for your portfolio!" or "you will get plenty of exposure!"

The problem is, if everyone thinks like this, the only thing exposure will be good for is getting more non-paying work. It is like Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative:


"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."

What does this mean in practical terms? Don't do anything you wouldn't want everyone else to do. If you are asking someone to work for free, assume everyone else is also asking that person to work for free.  From the artists perspective, what good does it do for you to perform for free in front of 10,000 people, other than to let 10,000 people know you are willing to perform for free?

It is high time for artists and arts organizations to re-evaluate their relationships. Self sustaining business models must be created that allow for artists to prosper, so that they can afford to bring arts to their community.

How Much is Your Time Worth?

I continued to be intrigued and puzzled over the attitudes many non-profits have regarding the value of time. I have seen accounting managers fret over $5.00 in undocumented expenses, and wring hands over $20 in cost overruns. I have seldom seen anyone worry about labor overruns.

I'll give you a concrete example. Let's take a typical state sales tax exemption form such as this:

Most non profit groups like you to bring these forms with you when you go shopping, and have the store manager fill in their info. The problem is, most sales clerks are not familiar with such a form, and it usually takes a while to round up the manager. Suffice it to say that 15 minutes is a realistic time frame for filling out such a form in a typical retail store.

Now, let say I am running around  shopping for an event or a production, and dropping $20 here, $30 there, maybe sometimes less than $10.00. Virginia has a 5% general sales tax. So, on a $20 purchase, I would be saving the non-profit group $1.00.

If I were running a business, and paying an employee say, $16 an hour to run around shopping, it would not make sense for me to have that employee fill out one of these forms for any less than $4.00 in savings. (actually more than that, because the real cost to my business of having an employee whom I pay $16 an hour is at least double that). So, it wouldn't make any sense for me to have him/her stand around for 15 minutes unless the money being saved exceeds the money I am paying to have that person to stand around for those 15 minutes. In real terms, this would be a $160 purchase.

However, non profit mentality tends to be that your time is worthless. You are expected to stand there for however long it takes to save the organization even ten cents. If you are in a contracted or flat salary position to execute a project, this means that your hourly rate drops dramatically.

On a similar note, if the scope of a project is increased there will typically be fretting over the materials budget but zero consideration into any extra labor involved, unless it threatens to keep a project from being completed by a given deadline. $20 extra in material can be considered more of a burden than 20 hours extra in labor.

So this question goes to both the artist, as well as the arts administrators and boards managing arts organizations. What is an artist's time worth? Is it minimum wage? $10 an hour? $20 an hour? How much does the highest paid person in your organization get? Is their salary supported by having numerous people below them working for scandalously low wages? Do you even keep track of the man-hours involved in your productions?

How much is YOUR time worth?

Major Earners in the Cultural World

The next time someone tosses the phrase "we're a non profit" in your face like it is either an excuse for having a crappy business plan which doesn't include actually paying you for the work you do, or as some sort of elitist one-uppance, here's some food for thought. I just came across this 2010 article from the New York times listing some of the highest earners among "cultural" non profits.

Institution                                                                      Name                                                                                Compensation

                                                                                                                                                                         (calendar year 2008

                                                                                                                                                                       unless otherwise noted)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation                       Thomas Krens                                                     $2,741,96

Metropolitan Opera                                                        Peter Gelb, general manager                           $1,345,000 (F.Y. 2010)

Museum of Modern Art                                                  Glenn Lowry, director                                         $1,320,000 (F.Y. 2009)

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts                       Reynold Levy, president                                    $1,181,030 

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts      Michael M. Kaiser, president                             $1,131,000 (F.Y. 2009) 

Smithsonian Institution                                                 G. Wayne Clough, secretary                               $525,700 (F.Y. 2010)

New York City Opera                                                    George Steel, general manager                        $360,000

The Website guidestar.org has financial reports available for nonprofits around the country. Some basic information is free, but you can get the IRS form 990 if you are willing to pay for the reports. The form requires listing the highest paid officers and employees.

Everyone In the Circle Please Shift One Seat to the Right

Here following is my open letter to government officials. It is intended primarily for my local town council members, but extends far beyond:

Dear Council Members,

I am writing to you as member and Catalyzer of the Ashland Arts Alliance, a newly formed creative "industry cluster" focused on Ashland, Virginia. The Ashland Arts Alliance is one month old, and boasts 64 members, with membership growing almost daily. The Alliance includes a core of professional visual and performing artists and craftsmen, who have forged a career in the "creative arts". It also consists of novices, hobbyists, and students.

The three primary goals of the Alliance are collaboration, referral, and solidarity. These goals have been and will be achieved through rapid communication channels, open-mindedness, inclusivity, and lateral empowerment. In the thirty days since the Alliance has gone "live", we have had 11 advertised "meetups", with 7 more announced.

One of the strengths of the dedicated "artist", for lack of a better term, is the habit of seeing both potentiality and actuality in a fresh light. This is certainly not to denigrate the imagination and creativity of every individual, as indeed I believe we are all artists by birthright. Rather, I use the word "habit" intentionally, for as artists, particularly professional artists, many of us must use all our creative energies on a daily basis to create a microcosm around us that allows us to thrive financially and spiritually with the world with which we are presented. Sometimes this means re-shaping the world around us. Sometimes this means simply viewing that world in a new light. In this spirit, I applaud your visionary action in creating an Arts and Culture District overlay in Ashland.

I bring your attention to the Comprehensive Plan adopted by the town council on December 6th, 2011, particularly to policy CD.13 titled "Public Art". As a refresher and for the education of the public, the policy reads:


The use of public art as a landmark enhances the visibility of arts and culture in the environment. As part of Creativity and Arts in Downtown and England Street, this area can serve as an on-going outdoor art exhibition using sculpture in open spaces. Public art should be displayed throughout the town, at places such as Town Hall, the Ashland Town Center, local parks, and on busy downtown streets such as England Street and South Railroad Avenue.

By locating art in significant areas throughout Downtown, a positive visual message is conveyed that Ashland is a town that supports the arts and its local artists. The Town should encourage Ashland Main Street to determine appropriate locations, a maintenance routine, and develop a request for proposal to solicit art for display. An additional method of highlighting creativity and arts in Downtown and on England Street is to feature art in businesses throughout town. This may be the artwork of local artists or area students. To enhance the Town’s appearance, art can also be displayed in vacant storefronts throughout Downtown. These connections and arrangements for the display of artwork in businesses should be made by Ashland Main Street.

The idea of bringing more public art to Ashland is a sound and inspiring one. Alas, funding for such projects in the current economy seems to be a Herculean, if not Sisyphusian task. While I have faith in the long term achievement of such a goal, I can't help but wonder what might be done to accelerate a public art endeavor.

As I have the habit of holding several thoughts in my head simultaneously, (a talent which I have found to prove quite useful time and time again), I will also bring to your attention the town ordinance on signage, Article XX Sec. 21-207.1, General Provisions (which is too lengthy to repeat here), and point out that I have heard frequent laments from business owners who think that the sign ordinance is too restrictive.

I believe that an obstacle that serves both to frustrate the business owner as well as impede progress in procuring public art for the the town of Ashland is the limited definitions we have come as a society to apply to "art". In a more quiet time in our cultural past, before the advent of electricity, signs had a tendency to be works of sculptural marvel. Illumination and industrial development have resulted in a trend for signs to escalate into ocular insults... either too boring to attract attention to a business, or too gaudy to be tolerable to a populace sensitive to aesthetics.

One possible solution to both goals... namely the acquisition of public art and a more visible promotion for business, is to consider "signage" as "art". That is, consider proposals for either two dimensional or three dimensional visual displays for each business that do not conform to existing sign ordinances, yet can help to promote the business in a creative and appealing way.

One such approach I have seen was in Martinsburg, WV, where large "artists pallets", about 4 feet wide and supported in a steel stand, were placed on the sidewalk before each business in the downtown area. These "pallets" were painted with murals by local artists. The images tied into the nature of the business before which they stood. An eastern dragon before a chinese restaurant, a family on vacation before a travel agency, and similar ideas. If the art can be designed in such a way as to promote a business, the business owner would be more likely to be willing to pay for their own "sign-as-art".

To initiate this endeavor, I would suggest facilitating a meeting which includes visual artists, business owners, and town representatives. Various ideas for two dimensional and three dimensional possibilities can be discussed, including size, materials, and possible locations for placing such creations. I believe part of the success of such a project will require refraining from creating an actual ordinance for such pieces, but rather approach each one as one does any piece of art... individually.

I have adopted a motto of late that goes to my vision of believing in mutually beneficial solutions to seemingly unrelated problems; "Everyone in the circle please shift one seat to the right". The idea is that the solutions to the problems are already in existence, and simply by changing our perspective or our individual function within the system, those solutions can become self evident.

I thank you for your time. Sincerely,

Arthur Brill

What Can a Town do to Help?

I had a meeting Thursday afternoon with Alexis Thompson, the economic development co-ordinator  for the Town of Ashland, VA. Also in attendance was newly elected town council member Steve Trivett, who's term begins July 1st.

To be frank, the meeting consisted mostly of me rambling on for over an hour. I went through each of my blog posts Thursday morning and took notes. When all was said and done, I had three pages of them. I have no doubt that it seemed like I came to the meeting mostly to complain.

Alexis was a great listener, and every once in a while Steve would comment on a conversation he and I had had about the subject I brought up. Steve has been a commenter on this blog, in the best spirit not only of a politician (Which I don't mean as a bad thing. I know people automatically think of the word as such these days, but I mean it in the sense that he takes the whole community into consideration with his responses, and doesn't just say what I want to hear), but as someone genuinely interested in the topics I raise, and who perhaps hasn't considered that particular issue from that particular viewpoint before.

About two thirds the way through my seemingly unending list of what I'd like to see happen, Alexis asked me a question that made ME pause for a moment. "What do you think the town can do to help?"
I wanted the easy answer. Money. Lots of it. Sprinkled here and there for artists to do the things they do.

Alas, on nearly every level in this country, public money is hard to come by. Particularly on state, county, and town levels. I recently read an article that Richmond, Virginia was reducing (at least temporarily) the amount of money in the "percent-for-art" program, which is supposed to be 1% for any public project that is over $250,000. When I mentioned that the town of Clayton put aside an art budget that was a whopping 10% of the construction cost of a new law enforcement center, I was understandably met with blank stares. That kind of money just isn't possible for most towns. When I mentioned that several theater festivals I had worked with in small towns had operating budgets of a million dollars, Alexis asked "Do you know what the town budget is?" (I didn't, but I do now. It is just under 8 million dollars, and they are trying to figure out how to make ends meet)

So... handing out money is out of the question. So what are other ways a town can help?

One way I suggested was to support the newly formed "industry cluster" known as the Ashland Arts Alliance. Help promote it. Make people aware of it. Consider it as a resource any time creative services are needed.

I also suggested that the town could facilitate helping artists get grants and other corporate donations. Show them where the money is. Pair them up with not-for-profits and grant writers.

Create public art that serves to promote local business. I saw this done to great effect in Martinsburg, WV. (I'm first and foremost a commercial artist, so I don't have qualms about such projects.)

Steve also suggested that the town could officially endorse artist proposals to county and state organizations. An example would creating an after school program for at-risk kids which involved artists.

I think the biggest thing I came away from the meeting with was that we are really just scratching the surface of ideas of how a town can help. All the ideas don't have to come from one side or the other. There really are in fact, no "sides." Just different perspectives.

I'd love to see a followup meeting of artists, town government members, county officials, and even state officials to talk about how we can all work together... what the opportunities are... where the funding is... what the needs are FROM government... and how the artist can fulfill that role.

I guess what I'm asking is... What can an artist do to help?