A superior arts and culture climate is vital to the economic health of the Hampton Roads region, especially when attracting new business to the area.
What better way to show regional cooperation in Hampton Roads than to share how our numerous arts organizations and venues have developed truly collaborative, economies-of-scale, cost-saving alliances, putting aside artistic differences, geographical boundaries and parochial allegiances to make this happen?
If the arts can do it and lead the way, can other collaborations be far behind? On the January 9th edition of WHRO’s “What Matters,” local arts organizations discussed the global economic downturn and its effects on the health of the arts in Hampton Roads.
It is important for arts organizations to be nimble, changing with audience needs, growing younger participants, moving into more web marketing, and the like.
HRP Board member, Rob Cross, Executive and Artistic Director of the Virginia Arts Festival (VAF) discussed their recent collaboration in marketing efforts with the Chrysler Museum and the Contemporary Arts Center of Virginia. The Virginia Opera has also changed their new season’s schedule to provide two non-rush hour performances due to the many transportation gridlock issues facing our region. The Virginia Stage Company has worked diligently to provide broad appeal, deepen donor resources and expand viable productions at downtown Norfolk’s Wells Theater.
The question was posed: Can all of Hampton Roads many arts organizations be sustained in the face of our current economy?
Funders participating in the discussion, representatives from the Norfolk Southern Foundation and The Norfolk Foundation, predict a “shake-out” with too many organizations needing financial support. More collaborative efforts, such as the merger of Todd Rosenlieb Dance Company and the Virginia Ballet, will be needed, sharing back-office support functions and even providing cross-over of artists.
Anthony Burfoot, Norfolk’s Vice Mayor, reinforced the need for the city’s Economic Development Alliance $500,000 loan recently to the Virginia Symphony (VSO), pointing to the need for a vibrant arts community to attract new business to the region. Norfolk has worked hard to create a downtown as a Theater District with arts, restaurants and other supporting businesses in the planning. “The VSO loan was an economic investment for the City of Norfolk,” says Burfoot. Burfoot also encouraged the various jurisdictions in Hampton Roads to come together as a region and make plans now to keep the arts alive and well, helping organizations become fiscally responsible on their own.
Deborah Wyld, Executive Director of the Norfolk Southern Foundation and Commissioner with Virginia Commission for the Arts, encourages more usage of the recently revitalized and re-energized Business Consortium for the Arts, where organizations can apply for grants and/or loans from a multiple of business foundations at the same time.
Your757.com was launched in 2008 as a joint marketing effort for all regional arts and cultural organizations. And, on-going conversations are being held among its users on how to broaden and deepen audiences and donors as well as sharing resources and administrative functions to achieve economies of scale and save money.
Another example of this type of community success is the pending merger of The Norfolk and Virginia Beach Foundations to become the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.
What of all the venues in Hampton Roads? The Sandler Center in Virginia Beach’s Town Center, the refurbished school which has become the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, the Norfolk-inspired remodel of the “Harlem of the South” historical Attucks Theatre housing the Crispus Attucks Cultural Center and Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center. The multitude of venues came about from years of planning and the desire of each jurisdiction in the region to have their own cultural venue. Previously, Norfolk was seen as the center for arts in the region.
The funders participating noted that the “If we build it, they will come” attitude is no longer a valid business model in this economy.
Rosemary Wilson of the Virginia Beach City Council shared how the Arts & Humanities Commission of Virginia Beach works. The city sets aside $1 for each Virginia Beach resident, and the citizen volunteer-staffed Commission decides how the funding is used for things other than basic human services, i.e. which arts groups are funded. The Commission also teaches arts organizations essential skills, for example, how to raise funds.
The City of Virginia Beach recently loaned $200,000 to the Musical Theater group. Wilson voted against the loan. “It sets a bad precedent,” added Wilson. Loans to the rescue squad for a new ambulance, for instance, are a “different ballgame,” as they represent an essential city service that would be provided anyway.
The feasibility of government support of the arts must be demonstrated to constituents as they represent expenditures of taxpayer dollars, said Wilson.
The artists of the Virginia Chorale, VSO, Todd Rosenlieb Dance Company/Virginia Ballet and the Opera already face the harsh reality that their artistic passion cannot sustain them professionally, and most opt to supplement their income with other jobs such as teaching. The regional arts organizations are also essential to the 400,000 students in Hampton Roads due to budget cuts for the arts in schools. Maintaining high value at a reduced cost is imperative.
The Cultural Alliance serves the region’s arts organizations as their “Chamber,” providing advocacy, education, funding opportunities and networking. The Cultural Alliance has worked as a regional arts advocate since 1983, noting that the Hampton Roads arts communities are forerunners in regionalism and are a vital key to regional tourism marketing. During this economic slowdown the Cultural Alliance advances the widely held notion that the arts are part of the solution as opposed to the idea that public arts funding is an added burden. Patricia Rublein is Executive Director and member of the Board for VaForArts.org.
Why is cultural literacy important? Arts organizations fill in the gaps as an important part of education. And, the region’s arts organizations are involved in long-range planning versus knee-jerk reactions; most are working on scheduled for 2010 now. Collaboration is important to the arts survival in down economic times.
“What survives through the ages?” asked VAF’s Cross. “Great works of art and music.” And, Hampton Roads, America’s First Region, is the cultural hub of the Mid-Atlantic, the natural focal point between Washington DC and Atlanta GA.
