CADI Meeting Notes - January 18th

Dear Artists and Arts Supporters,

Fayetteville Downtown Partners (www.downtowndickson.com) hosted a Cultural Arts District Initiative (CADI) meeting on January 18th at the Fayetteville Public Library. The meeting was well attended and we would like to thank all of those folks who shared their evening with us. Attached to this email you will find a breakdown of some initial survey findings and the meeting agenda. Our next meeting will be held on February 22nd from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. at Scarpino’s Gelateria, located at 329 N. West Avenue across from Alligator Ray’s.

For those of you who were unable to attend, we want to make sure you stay in the information loop. This email includes notes, comments and observations from the meeting. If you have any questions regarding the enclosed information, please feel free to contact Daniel Hintz, FDP’s interim administrator, at 479-571-3337.

Cultural Arts District Initiative
(Point of clarification: When the CADI uses the word “Arts,” we are including visual and performing arts, as well as management and production)

Arts and culture are big business. America’s nonprofit arts industry generates more than $134 billion in economic activity every year, including $24.4 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue. By comparison, federal, state and local governments collectively spend less than $3 billion in support of the arts each year. This amounts to a financial return of more than 8-1.

From the standpoint of economic development, investment in arts and culture is sound financial policy. But the arts aren’t simply about numbers. The arts, as the poet and sculptor Gunter Grass puts it, are wonderfully irrational, exuberantly pointless, but necessary all the same. Whether you are a professional artist or performer, or participate in the arts to satisfy a creative itch, the arts are an integral part of our everyday lives.

The heart and soul of the Cultural Arts District Initiative is the celebration, support and sustainability of the arts in our community AND it is also about ensuring Fayetteville remains the vital, beautiful and creative city we love. However, after all the philosophizing and feel-good language drifts away in the wind, the question still remains. How do we accomplish our objectives to increase opportunities for artists, strengthen the arts infrastructure, increase audiences for the arts and enhance young people’s access to the arts?

The answer is not simple. Educating our community that the arts are not an amenity, but a necessity, is one of the first steps. In order to do this, we need to gather facts to support our case. Enter the recent cultural arts survey (www.downtownfayetteville.org) developed by FDP. We have to figure out what we have before we can start advocating for what we need. This survey is a necessary tool in that process.

Some initial figures from the STILL ACTIVE survey are interesting (That was a subtle hint to fill out the survey!). Of the respondents that categorized themselves as arts supporters, 67% stated there were some arts opportunities in Fayetteville (Categories included Very, Some, Few, None). Of those who categorized themselves as artists, 49% stated there were few arts opportunities and 35% stated there were some. What does this seem to tell us?

One interpretation is there is a disconnect between those who support the arts and those that create the art regarding the needs of an arts industry. Another interpretation could be that artists are just a bitter and brooding lot. We, of course, prefer the former.

Among the various questions asked on the survey, the following question seemed to have the most immediate relevancy (ANOTHER subtle hint to take the survey!): “What are the most important resources for your arts practice?”

The answers seemed to support the initial interpretation of the data. The top three answers to this question were Time (45%), Space (23%) and Funding/Money (11%). During the meeting, several artists responded to these findings by stating:

• Artists need time to produce work because they need other jobs to pay the rent
• Artists need other jobs to pay the rent because people don’t buy art or local theatre/dance productions don’t pay professional wages
• People don’t buy art or local theatre/dance productions don’t pay professional wages because people need to be educated in the “real” market value of these commodities.

Once again, it seems the Achilles heel of this hideous monster called TIMESPACEFUNDING (work with me…) is education. However, is simply educating the public enough or does that approach fall short of the type of aggressive community development we need in order to accomplish our goals?

Of course, that question begs the following question for an answer: “What are our goals?”

At the next meeting on February 22nd from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. at Scarpino’s Gelateria, located at 329 N. West Avenue across from Alligator Ray’s, we will be tackling this issue of goals and objectives. Please bring your ideas and your friends. The more the merrier!

Communication

The CADI will be conducting most of its business via email and we are currently developing a website that can be used as an online resource for artists and community members alike. We will do our best to keep you in the loop, however, if you do not regularly use electronic communication you may miss out on some vitial information. If there are other forms of communication that better suits your lifestyle, please let us know and we will do our best to keep you informed. But remember, that’s what friends are for…