Arts Council of Richmond reaching out to make changes
The Arts Council invites some local bloggers over for lunch and a chat about Richmond’s relationship with (and support of) the arts. Tell us your thoughts…
This past Friday, John Bryan, president of the Arts Council (soon to be renamed “CultureWorks”) invited some local blogger-type people over for lunch and a chat. The topic of discussion: How the Arts Council is trying to change Richmond’s relationship with (and support of) the arts.
We started the discussion by going over a summary of the Richmond Region Cultural Action Plan (RichCAP), an effort lead by WolfBrown, a marketing research and consulting firm for nonprofits. They worked for over a year with a 23-person task force composed of members representing the City of Richmond and Henrico, Hanover, and Chesterfield counties, corporate funders, and visual, performing, and history cultural arts organizations. The final report was ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN pages, but Mr. Bryan thankfully pared it down for us to six goals presented by the task force upon completion of their research:
- Increase the contribution of arts and culture to the economic vitality of the region.
- Expand cultural participation on a regional basis.
- Promote cultural equity and build on cultural diversity.
- Build a coordinated, equitable, and innovative system for creative education.
- Sustain the Richmond region’s artists and cultural organizations.
- Provide for ongoing coordination, advocacy, and dialogue on behalf of arts and culture.
I know. Good intentions, but quite vague and sweeping at this point. WolfBrown also included a series of recommendations offering the Arts Council and the Task Force somewhat less-vague steps for accomplishing these goals, all at varying levels of completion as of right now. That’s all a bit meaty and long-winded at this point, but if you’re interested in knowing more about those, leave a note in the comments and we’ll break it down for you.
The point of this get-together was basically for John Bryan to 1) see what we thought about this whole RichCAP thing and 2) try to select one issue or idea (for now) pertaining to the betterment of cultural arts in the Richmond region that the Arts Council/CultureWorks would then champion.
Obviously #1 was pretty easy for us because bloggers are known for their chattiness and opinionated natures. But #2? A mighty big task, that one. Us? Choose a cause to jump start the Art Council’s new efforts to essentially transform the culture of Richmond? Yikes. But try we did.
We tossed around a few ideas, including challenges related to First Fridays, the City’s policies about and support of cultural arts, the need for support of grassroot efforts, lack of public art, find jobs for graduating arts students in this area, and the restrictions created by Virginia’s ABC laws.
Another topic that kept popping up during this discussion was the issue of the admissions tax, likely because of the relatively fresh wound caused by the hooplah over at Rumors. For those of you not familiar with the admissions tax, our understanding of it is this: when a venue puts on a show, it automatically has to take 7% off of the money brought in by the show to pay this admissions tax. This reduces the amount of money then passed on to the performers, the distributors, and so on and so forth. Consequently, shows and performers that would otherwise play in Richmond opt for Charlottesville and other areas rather than coming here to avoid the cut in pay. Bottom line: Richmond’s cultural scene suffers because the pool of artists willing to come here is considerably smaller.
But it doesn’t just pertain to bringing in out-of-towners. All venues, including those featuring local performers, are struggling because of it. And while the admissions tax *is* a law and should be honored while it’s on the books, it doesn’t exactly set the perception that Richmond is a town that appreciates live performances because it makes it more difficult for those to happen.
It seems like tackling the admissions tax would be a good place for the Arts Council/CultureWorks to start in their efforts. But obviously that’s just one route they could take.
We’ll be meeting with John Bryan every couple of months this year, and he seems ready and willing to listen. So here’s your chance to let the big-ups know what you want for Richmond’s arts. Leave your input in the comments, and we’ll be happy to pass them along.
Aaaand go.
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Valerie Catrow
Valerie Catrow is editor of RVAFamily, mother to a mop-topped first grader, and always really excited to go to bed.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
The admissions tax is a good place to start.
A.B.C. laws and rules would be a close second.
Keep in mind that currently, its arguably better to be a fly-by-night promoter who purposely cuts corners and ignores rules for short-term gain than try to increase professionalism and profile and thus increase chances of being a target of officials. Richmond needs to move away from this atmosphere, but NOT by squashing all the little guys, but helping them grow.
Another issue is cooperation and mutual promotion. Certain people and venues get the official nod as well as more promotional support from local media than others. Some of that is natural, but at some point the competition runs counter productive unless there are also attempts to promote the whole ‘scene’.
If, in the early nineties, the City had taken a fifth of the Friday Cheers budget and instead used it to promote Richmond as an alternative rock mecca, we would be living in a different city. (Of course, that brings in the question of public financing, but I will leave that alone for the moment.) Anyone still remember the valiant Route One Music Conference and Festival? It’s really too bad that Richmond lost the nucleus of clubs open on Grace St. that were bringing in national and international touring artists.
Alright, old guy shuts up now.
One way to amend the admissions tax would be to exempt businesses that gross under (Place amount here) per year.
The admissions tax has been a thorn in the side of venues for years!
Valerie, Thanks for the re-cap. It all seems so much clearer to me now!
Still: no answers…yet.
Great summary Val. Thanks for that. A couple of ideas, in no particular order.
1. Get this CAPS business under control. I’m not a brick and mortar business owner but what I hear is that there’s more money grabbing and intimidation going on than anything else.
2. The new performing arts center downtown should place a heavy focus on local acts.
3. The city should subsidize or at least go in 50/50 with school boards to get all types of local, professional artists and performers out to elementary, middle and high schools. This is fun for the kids and cultivates an audience for contemporary work. Of course we have outstanding teachers at all levels around here but different perspectives are essential to growth. Artists can be more pro-active about this as well. Students of all types, especially those in the arts, need to see and be in contact with people who are making careers out of their creativity in addition to or outside of the educational realm.
4. Maybe venues could get together and offer some kind of multi-location season pass. This might encourage performing arts enthusiasts to attend a wider variety of events.
If I think of more I’ll let you know…
I strongly suggest listening to Joel Katz, the arts management professional who kept the Carpenter Center afloat before the ‘Cultural Insanity’ started.
As a recent addition to the Richmond area I am happy to see this kind of information shared so that I can better understand the things I see occurring in this town.