Monday Matters — Look what the Arts Can Do for Communities

From the last Monday Matters posting, several people have asked for recent examples of places where the arts have been responsible for growing cultural capital .  I’ve chosen to highlight three such cities for which the arts or artists have served as catalysts to spawn economic development.

Durham, NC –  Magnetizing through planning and architectural design

When I was growing up in NC, my family did not often make a trip to nearby Durham.  We would usually go instead to Chapel Hill or Raleigh, two towns which sort of “bookend” Durham on either side.  On occasion, there would be some function at Duke which we would attend, but I don’t recall that we ever went to downtown Durham to eat or shop.  By the time I was in college, the downtown area had become a dangerous place and the the racially charged city was plagued with problems.

Recently, I visited my dear friend, Stephen Barefoot, a long time Durham resident.  Stephen was eager to take me on a tour of  “new” Durham.  We parked in a very nice parking deck and followed the breezeway to The American Tobacco Complex.  I could hardly believe my eyes.  The old tobacco factory has been completely re-purposed into an architectural wonder of cascading and winding waterfalls created from materials from some of the demolished factory buildings.  Both sides of the falls are lined with shops, businesses, restaurants and the sidewalks were teeming with diverse people of all ages.  The old water tower remains in place and serves as a lighting scaffold for an outdoor stage built underneath.  A few steps away on the ATC campus is the fine new Durham Bulls Stadium,  the Judicial Center and the magnificent Durham Performing Center (DPAC).

The other two tobacco companies are also being re-purposed.  One of the factories has been turned into a huge complex of artist studios, arts shops and galleries. Even the old bus station has been transformed into a “go to” destination.

Durham serves as a shining example of extraordinary architectural design and community cultural planning.   Ask Woody Holliman why he moved his graphics design firm, Firewheel, into downtown Durham, and the answer comes easily.”I heard about the other creative firms coming down here — architect firms, ad agencies — and this seemed like the place to be,” said Holliman.  Read more.

Detroit, MI – Oh, what a couple of artists can do!

It’s not very hard to remember what was happening in Detroit in 2009.  The auto industry had gone bust.  City leaders were embroiled in headline making corruption charges.  And,  in a place already plagued by years of poverty, the statistics on foreclosures were devastating.  For most, the confluence of dreadful circumstances created a hopeless scene.

Not so for local couple,  Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert, both artists, who decided to take a chance and buy a house for $1900.  The interior had been vandalized and gutted and rather than turn away, Mitch and Gina viewed this as an opportunity.  They were able to envision a “green” home optimized for solar living and along with another purchase of two adjacent lots, began to imagine a self-sustaining scenario.

Once they began recreating, they bought another house in the area for $500 and immediately sold it for $50 dollar profit to two other artist friends.  Four friends pooled $6000 and bought the abandoned Burton Theatre.  They turned it into an art house for independent and foreign films, and the city  responded by turning the street lights back on.  And then, there was another and another and soon an entire neighborhood of East Detroit was beginning to be transformed.  For artists, here existed a wide swath of affordable housing and business opportunities.  Each project was treated as a blank canvas upon which they could draw their dreams.  For a desperate city, this has become an inspiring example of artist ingenuity that directly engenders economic growth.  Look at five ideas from Detroit.

South Orange, NJ – Economic Bust or Boom?

The two towns of South Orange and Maplewood have long been a magnet for artists who consider New York to be their employment base.  Known for its diverse and erudite population, charming neighborhoods, an excellent shared school system and ease of commutation to the city,  “SOMA” is a beehive of cultural combustion.

Several years ago, plans were put in place to build a new performing art center adjacent to the train station in South Orange.  For many, this seemed like an ill-advised plan.  After all, South Orange is a mere 12 miles west of the cultural capital of the world.  If that weren’t enough, the glorious NJ Performing Arts Center had a few years earlier risen like a beacon to revitalize adjacent Newark.

In the years since it was built,  for the above and a variety of other reasons, SOPAC has never really experienced financial health.  But, in taking a closer look , has it been an economic failure?  Where for years, downtown South Orange was a “ho-hum” area with a few of decent restaurants, a popular pizza place and essential service shops—altogether convenient. Since the arrival of SOPAC, it has become a destination.  Almost as soon as it was built, the immediate surrounding storefronts were upgraded, renewed or found new management.  Great new entertainment-centric restaurants were built.  An outdated grocery store was replaced by a gourmet grocer and a new high-rise condominium.   The adjacent parking area offers easy accessibility to the whole downtown area.

For commuters, services are now steps away and at the end of the day, the family can meet and enjoy a variety of activities at any point around the train station.  Upgrades and expansion in the immediate area continue unabated.  So while the arts center itself may still be finding its legs, it has proven to be an enormous boost for the local economy.

Perhaps there is a savior on the horizon. One of the newest enterprises at SOPAC is created by artists, Charlie Pollock, Jeremy Dobrish and Sandy Rustin.  Because of the ever increasing number of local theatre folk, Mid-Town Direct Repertory Theatre offers an ensemble of Broadway craftspersons presenting new musicals.  Will South Orange be the new place of out-of-town try-outs?   The NY Times article on Mid-Town Direct Rep.