Dear Mayor McGinn, Do This! Sincerely, Anonymous: PART 2

We asked important members of the arts community to weigh in on what Seattle Mayor McGinn should do about the arts (and sometimes to ventriloquize what they would like to hear him say in place of his speech at this year’s Mayor’s Arts Awards ceremony). Here are some of their thoughts.

(Continued from Part 1)

An Arts Administrator (speaking in the Mayor’s voice):

Fellow Seattleites,

I have called this press conference to bring you up to speed on two important new policies in arts and culture. First, as you know, we have a difficult budget deficit to overcome.  

Aides and arts professionals have informed me that investments through the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs return over 3 to 1 in tax revenues for the city. Therefore, I announce that in 2011, the Arts and Culture budget will be increased by $18 million.  Ladies and Gentlemen of the Council, I believe our work on the budget is done. We have found the silver bullet.

We can also include incentives to incorporate cultural facilities in the next wave of construction in our densest neighborhoods. We need to make sure that artists can live and work in the city. The people with imagination attract the people with money. That’s how it’s always worked, from the beginning of time. Otherwise, we may as well all move to Bellevue, where everything sucks and people are stupid, because why?  Because no artists, that’s why, no soul.

A Smarter-Than-Average Stranger Genius Award Winner:

Secure, affordable space has long been a critical issue in the arts community. Arts are an economic development tool in our city and major attractor of young professionals moving to our area. Yet many of our small and medium sized arts organizations do not control their own space, and the last decade has seen too many lost leases, evictions and lost opportunities. Secure, affordable space has long been a critical issue in the arts community.  Build on the two years of work by cultural leaders who have fought to preserve affordable arts space.  As the economy begins to turn around, help organizations take advantage of current real estate opportunities, as well as prepare for long-term control of space.

An Influential Theatre Person in a Bad Mood:

Due to overwhelming demand from constituents, direct Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle City Light to immediately cut both water and electricity service to the Chihuly Boathouse.  The scourge of glass art cannot continue to sully our fine and beautiful city. How can we ever be known as a city of culture if we’re famous for Dale’s silly baubles? His work is only fit for a city bereft of thought, a burg of flash, glitz, and empty swagger.

A Major Public Artist:

Think [the Mayor] would be 'on message' if he stuck to this equation: (Imagination + Democracy) x (the Arts / Waste) = Sustainability²

more imaginary policy stuff...

• Working with projects/programs already initiated/embedded, enhance cultural connections in all departments: Neighborhoods, SDOT, City Light, SPU, DPD, etc. developing an 'imaginative infrastructure' approach to life in the city

• Establish a full-time, permanent artist-in-residence position (rotating 2-year terms) within each of those departments, establishing tangible, publicly-demonstrable goals for each biennial

• Understand that the arts can be a primary economic driver for this city as the realities of bankrupt financial sector, industrial decline, climate change & the search for a sustainable, meaningful life come to the forefront in the 21st century

• View existing arts programs as ecosystems requiring ongoing stewardship from all angles (public, private, large, small, etc.)...loss of one organization or group of artists can have ripple effects throughout arts community creating cultural deficits over time  

• Examine the concept of sustainability in all paradigms, building on things that are working (programs that directly engage citizens in proactive, constructive projects...DON matching funds in particular) while reducing or eliminating those that cause needless bureaucratic duplication or reactivity (compare supervisory staffing with other mid-size cities)

• Create an international cultural exchange program in partnership w OAC & Allen Foundation providing ten artists (all forms) with 4-8 week residencies in selected cities w follow-up outreach events

• Review Richard Florida's work on creative class, capital & cities

• Review and act on Amory Lovins' & Van Jones' recommendations (w/ CDBG & stimulus funding available)

• Envision a new waterfront without traffic...eliminate Alaska Way boulevard along waterfront for 8-10 blocks from Olympic Sculpture Park to Aquarium (think silence of Venice) while preserving the industrial transportation spine between Ballard & SOHO (lid it w/ green view park as extension of Victor Steinbrueck Park)

• Knit together Seawall & Viaduct projects into cohesive whole that links City & Sound into a pedestrian/environmentally-friendly green/blue place

• Follow through on Seattle Center Master Plan as originally envisioned, establishing central park green space, work on pedestrian/green connections with Westlake, Lake Union & Waterfront

• Follow through on neighborhood plans, implementing the smallest, greenest aspects of each

• Anything that encourages a civic culture of horizontally-organized mutual aid & responsibility

• Develop a local Green WPA focused on repair & reinvigoration of existing housing & infrastructure

• Explore linking public art to sustainability goals & fund commensurately (10 percent for imaginative green infrastructure)

• Work with Seattle Public Schools, DON & Sound Transit to develop 'cultural exchanges' between different corners of the city & help break down the north/south divide that stands in the way of resource & economic development  

• Develop links between culture & nature by reinforcing the Olmsted emerald necklace legacy (park-based events, bike trails, pocket parks, street ends, trails)

• More car-free Sunday events (partner w aLIVe, 4culture, Gregg's Greenlake, Wooden Boat Center, etc.)

• Reinforce links between land & water, taking advantage of our natural topography (free cycle/kayak programs, water buses & taxis, etc.)

• Develop links between culture & agriculture via citywide 'artist/farmer-in-residence' program, engaging children & youth in food production via urban farming, building on current artist-in-residence program within schools & pea patch projects (look at rust belt city models), look to partner with organizations like Seattle Tilth

• Tap into federal health care reform funding to promote existing community clinic accessibility for preventive care while linking to nutrition/exercise initiatives at same level 

• Continue repair of major arterials but explore possibility of repurposing ROWs on underutilized streets (narrowing, calming), creating 'meanders' that include pathways, rain gardens, bioswales, ornamental trees, buried utilities, ped lighting, viewpoints, etc.

• Encourage walkability via creative, eclectic zoning, allowing small businesses (cafes, general stores, produce markets, bakeries, etc.) to integrate into single-family neighborhoods

• Further encourage such development via Parks acquisition funds & small business loans for structures not just land

• Build on Stamper's 'community policing' concepts, blurring the lines between block watch/neighborhood parties/community activism

• While upgrading bus accessibility, establish urban core driving tax (ala London)

• Help revive the collective culture that thrived in Seattle from late 60s to early 80s via workshops, mentoring

• Develop partnerships w UW, community colleges, SPS & other community-based educational resources to educate/retrain workforce on issues of climate change, sustainability & green jobs 

• Expand community center access with longer, unstructured hours that encourages play, freedom & responsibility by users (perhaps via a membership system or 'clubhouse' concept)

• Expand access to new branch libraries via events, cafes & rental use for groups

• Simple things like more, better bus shelters (artist-designed & built, of course!), sidewalks, street trees, etc.

• Anything that encourages Slow & Small in terms of our relationship to food, work, neighborhoods, transit, water & energy use 

Continue to Part 3