BLOG: Art and Cultural Next
Sam Adams
Early this summer, I attended a gathering of arts and business leaders who met to discuss mutual concerns and ideas. More recently, I met with the Arts Caucus, a group of people from across the creative services sector dedicated to strengthening the role of arts and culture in the Portland region.
As the City of Portland's new arts and culture Commissioner, many want to know what I intend to do with my new position. In turn, I want to know the hopes and concerns of others.
This is a summary of some of the points I made during our dinner conversation. I am posting it to ask for your input, ideas, and questions.
Soon we will launch an arts/creative services strategic planning process. So, sign up to get our website updates.
Arts and Culture Can Save Us
We are losing family wage jobs overseas every day. They are being replaced with lower wage service sector jobs at an unprecedented rate. We cannot compete with China and India's low manufacturing wages - nor should we want to. But we can save ourselves economically by being a world-class place of innovation in all sectors both public and private.
Innovation needs to be surrounded and supported by a local creative culture. The Portland region can and must be the place of innovation built on a foundation of robust, cutting edge arts and culture.
Get a plan
Building on the great work of the Regional Arts and Cultural Council, we need a new regional arts and culture strategy. The last strategy from the 1990 called ‘Arts Plan 2000’ is woefully out of date. Its more recent cousin the 2000 Creative Services Strategy (PDF) failed to adequately address the enormity of the sector's potential for growth and innovation.
We arts advocates are “ad hoc-ing” and “piecemealing” our efforts to the detriment of significant progress toward creating the perception and reality of the Portland region being a world-class art and culture hub.
Instead, our new regional arts and culture strategy must be based on a clear-eyed understanding of where we start and what is realistic in terms of improvement. For example, our region is 25th in per-capita spending on arts and culture. We get far more arts and culture product than we deserve (or pay for) locally.
I think we can move up significantly (for example, I want to add $15 million in new ongoing art support within the next 5 years to get us into the Top 10 of arts funding regions) but it will take a coordinated, accountable, creative public/private strategic approach.
Be accountable
Art and culture do not need to exist only to make a profit, but the collective effort does need to be accountable for results.
In fact, arts and culture naturally have a very strong investment case to make: companies that innovate remain in business; students who receive adequate arts education learn more successfully in all other topics--notably math and science; people who are exposed to art on a daily basis report a higher life satisfaction.
We can translate these case studies and national measures into local action.
Recognize the bridge between art, culture, innovation and business success.
We were mistaken in our past efforts to plan separately for arts and culture and creative services/business success. We were remiss to leave out the innovation required of all businesses everyday and how that challenge relates back to our local arts and culture infrastructure.
Our future business strategies and arts planning must be hand-in-glove efforts.
A real regional effort
I want to underscore the need for us to act more on a regional basis. Most of the Regional Arts & Culture Council's public funding comes from Portland city government. Most of the regional arts and culture facilities are in the city of Portland. This probably isn't going to change any time soon. But what can change with a more robust and genuine regional effort is to bring more private-sector funding for the arts from regional businesses outside of the city of Portland.
“Breaking Down” the strategic opportunities
I group our arts and cultural endeavors in three-ish interrelated categories:
• creative services and business innovation;
• art education for effective lifelong learning; and,
• for arts sake, for the good life, great neighborhoods and a vibrant region.
We can build inter-connected strategies for each of these categories that will propel our regional arts and cultural efforts forward.
Our arts and our cultures can connect us
In their everyday life, I believe the Portlanders should have at least eight self-acknowledge arts and cultural encounters.
I know from my work in marketing that it takes seven contacts to get a message to stick with an individual.
I believe this is important for a person's happiness and growth, for creative thought related to making a living and for enhanced learning capacity of all things.
As the largest "white" city in America, we have a special responsibility to do this in a culturally diverse manner.
You-Who? Where is everyone!?
I was presented this great bubble chart (PDF) depicting the various facets of the local creative community at the recent MetLife Forum Portland's Future: Fueled by Creativity. It shows how everyone in the creative community fit together, from weavers to musicians to graphic designers to gardeners to cooks.
Our task is to now identify the individuals who are engaged in these pursuits and connect them. The sparks that will naturally occur when these creative types get together will fuel our overall creative development.
Equity and the arts
That’s ‘equity’ as in ‘ownership.’ We need to get more arts and cultural groups on track to owning their space. More owner occupied work/live artist space is a must. The Armory and other cultural facilities are a must.
The best place for an artist to live
The Portland region is rated one of the most livable places on earth. We need to build on that fact and become the best place for artists to get affordable work/live space.
Now, give me your thoughts. What am I missing? What am I wrong or right about?
Posted by Sam Adams on August 31, 2005
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I find it interesting that I am the first person to respond to this blog. I am not one of the creative class citizens who spends much time on the computer. Are all the other creativ's on vacation? Not interested in city politics? Or too busy working 2-3 jobs to barely make ends meet, if they are actually making ends meet.
I agree with what you have said in your blog.
I do hope that funding and strategies will be created to better support the arts and help provide more than a few artists with a moderate standard of living.
I own a home in N. Portland that I could no longer afford 20 months after buying it.
I run a small dance studio where I really can't afford the rent ($1.oo/sq.ft in a funky old storefront building in NE). so my student loans from 2 graduate degrees are in deferment and I work for abismal pay for one of Cascadia's mental health treatment facilities. Even with experience and graduate degrees in the mental health field and dance, I do not make my half of Portland's median income (my spouse is in the visual arts and mental health field and does not make his half either).
Portland needs affordable housing for those who are working hard to pay for it, affordable commercial spaces that do not require extensive renovations and living wages for artists. Most of the non-profit arts organizations I have worked for do not offer consistent or even part-time work and the hourly wages are low. I would have to work and drive all over town all day and evening to gather up enough hours to make ends meet. Hence, I opened up my own studio to allow me to remain in one place and provide quality dance/movment instruction.
As a for-profit (really no profit) organization I do not have access to many funding sources/grants. Therefore at present I have to rely on paying students when I would also like to offer more to the community in which I am located. This is frustrating and goes against my belief that the arts should not only be for those who can pay for them.
There needs to be more support for small organizations (profit or non-profit) that does not take hours to apply for. I am busy teaching and working other jobs and do not have the time and resources to write grants all day.
I work hard, have plenty of experience and education, yet may have to give up working in the arts to survive. As I've gotten older the life of the starving artist is less and less romantic and practical. A mortgage, health insurance premiums, dental work, vet bills, groceries are eroding my creative energy.
I live in a creative and beautiful city and state. I wish I could take more advantage of the geography and arts events instead of working all the time. Maybe I'll get to the new wing of the Portland Art Museum when they finally offer some free hours or maybe a whole free day!
Thanks for a place to rant. I love what I do but am frustrated, as are many of my colleagues in the arts.
In light of all the suffering that others are experiencing right now, I am very lucky to be able to pursue my dreams and have a city and home to live in.
Posted by: Kirsten Peterson | Sep 7, 2005 11:50:12 AM