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Sunday, October 27, 2002

Arts Transplant N.M.'s Cultural Affinity to Urban Revival

By Anthony DellaFlora
Of the Journal
    Editor's Note: Many believe Albuquerque is moving toward author Richard Florida's vision with a growing arts scene and more options for a "third place."
    The importance of arts and culture to the New Mexico economy is undeniable. The tourists who flock here every year to see galleries, museums, film festivals, the Spanish and Indian markets, poetry festivals and screenwriting conferences are proof of that.
    And state residents who attend arts and cultural events in New Mexico are more than double those who attend sporting events, for example, according to a 1995 study commissioned by the Office of Cultural Affairs.
    The same study determined that the economic impact of arts and culture on the New Mexico economy was $1.6 billion.
    Yet, financial support of arts and culture is often seen as a luxury. While numerous national studies have shown that children with a strong arts education do better academically on average than students without one, arts are typically the first thing cut from school curriculums.
    Author Richard Florida hopes to change preconceptions with his new book "The Rise of the Creative Class."
    He maintains that any community that wants to flourish economically must attract and retain artists, musicians and writers, along with scientists, software designers and entrepreneurs, and a key component of that is promoting a vibrant local arts scene.
    In Albuquerque, efforts to cultivate the arts and entertainment scenes are ongoing, especially Downtown.
    "I like when he talks about the quality of place, the 'what's there?' 'who's there?' 'what's going on?' — the vibrancy of street life, culture, arts, music, outdoor activities," said Don Michaelis, who chairs the board of Magnífico, the city of Albuquerque's designated arts organization.
    "The final ingredient that's missing is 'scene,' or as he likes to put it, 'scene of scenes.' (We need) to rev up our efforts to make sure that there are areas in Albuquerque where the creative class is going to feel really great."
    Michaelis is one of many involved in creating a Downtown arts district.
    He referred to Florida's concept of the "third place" — not home and not work — but where the creative community goes for stimulation.
    "Again, it's the kind of scene-based thing, whether it's the downtown scene or being able to get on your bike and get out into the countryside, or climb the mountains," Michaelis said. "I like the 'third place' concept and I think that's in essence what we're trying to do with the arts district, is create a 'third place.' ''
    Those interviewed for this story maintain that Florida's research validates art and artists in a new way.
    "The previous studies that have been done in most of the models I'm familiar with look at how much money is spent in relation to arts and culture and the turnover that it has in the economy," said Michaelis.
    "This says an entirely different thing about what a critical ingredient they (creative-class people) are in the quality of place," he said.
    Rob Dickson, managing owner of the Lofts at Albuquerque High and an Austin transplant, said the continued revitalization of Downtown is key.
    "Downtown, that's the heart and soul of the community. It's the city's living room," Dickson said.
    "If I were mayor of Albuquerque, I would focus on incentivizing Downtown residential, and those incentives don't necessarily have to be financial," Dickson said. "It's just a matter of making it a priority... bringing all the parties together necessary to make it happen."
    Multiuse areas can happen anywhere in the city, not just Downtown, said Luisa Lindsey, president of the Downtown Action Team.
    She mentioned a proposed mixed-use development in Uptown, along with Nob Hill and Old Town as other places that can or do contribute to quality of life.
    "The way we see it is that the (more) you create these centers throughout the city, the stronger your city is as a whole," Lindsey said.
    Chris Leinberger, a veteran of downtown revitalization efforts elsewhere and a founder of the Historic District Improvement Company, which is behind the revitalization of Downtown Albuquerque, noted that many creative class workers prefer the urban life and the stimulation it provides.
    He said a survey done in several cities, including Albuquerque, showed that about a third of respondents wanted to live in an urban, pedestrian-oriented environment. But Downtown housing is a small percentage of the housing market here.
    "If you don't have that hip downtown, you're saying that a third to a half of the kind of workers that I need for my high-tech plant and operation, I can't attract. You put yourself at a competitive disadvantage."
    The point is to offer many options for people.
    "It's not the tax breaks, stupid. It's the quality of life. It's the education system. It's the parks, it's the culture and it's having a diversity of... household options," Leinberger noted.
    Pat Bryan, another Downtown booster, said the city needs to up the ante in terms of quality-of-life issues.
    Bryan helped push through a quality-of-life tax more than a decade ago, and the underlying premise was that Albuquerque could not compete with other cities in terms of tax incentives and industrial revenue bonds.
    "But we can compete on quality of life, so let's put our money there," Bryan said.
    Investment in the city's arts, culture and entertainment scene is also paramount.
    "If you ask any politician, they'll say it's vital and culture is a mainstay. But in terms of people seeing it as an economic driver, they don't do the things that suggest that it's important," Bryan said.
    "We're working really hard to get an arts district Downtown," he said. "We've asked the city to put part of their share of revitalization monies into that effort. I just don't think people connect the economic impact to the (arts)."
    Gordon Church, coordinator of the city's Public Art Program, said it's time for economic development discussions to include the arts.
    "Traditionally, the arts are not involved in the formal economic development discussions," Church said.
    "I think the most important thing is just to try and encourage our city leaders to rethink the bases on which our economic development strategies are founded... We need to bring this strategy to actually what are assets are. Obviously we're not identifying those and valuing them as much as this book suggests."
    Part of that is rethinking how arts and entertainment are presented in Albuquerque.
    "We're talking about something where the person on the street sort of has options to put their evening together in a variety of different ways," Church said.
    That involves packaging experiences in smaller bites.
    Florida notes in his book that Generation Xers and Yers may not want to commit an entire evening to traditional art offerings like the symphony, the opera or the ballet.
    "Maybe a dance performance has two intermissions. What if it were sold so that you could either get all three (sections), or you could buy one at a time, so that a person who's got to get home for the baby sitter can go early. Somebody who's been working late in the office can go to the middle one and the last one if they want," Church said.