Red Ink Studios - I heard this story on Michigan Radio this morning about how a business investing in artists in the San Francisco area has expanded into Flint, Michigan. Flint. After the dotcom bubble burst, this business made use of its office space by allowing artists to use it for free. The artists would also show their work for sale, and this other business would get a piece of that action. Red Ink Studios believes in using art to help revitalize an area's economy. They chose Flint because of the problems that city has had with the auto industry scaling back there over the years.
"Since the recession forced them to downsize their Silicon Valley advertising agency, DMNA resolved to donate their suddenly unused office space to artists rather than have it sit vacant. Their business was bleeding red ink. So they said: "Let's mix some paint with that ink." hey took their extra offices and converted them into artist studios."
"Staying true to the spirit, they did not charge any rent, leaving artists more time to pursue creative challenges. After nearly a year in Palo Alto, Red Ink Studios was welcomed to San Jose. Then, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency invited Red Ink to The City where they now occupy three spaces downtown in the Mid-Market district."
"Today, Red Ink Studios has expanded its mission beyond inhabiting temporary spaces. Art has now become a force that revitalizes. The ink is running all the way to Flint, Michigan (Michael Moore's home turf). In areas where factories have been shut down and over 50,000 jobs have been lost, Red Ink Studios is in the process of converting unused square footage into community art centers."
On Michigan radio, a guy from DMNA talked about the Flint artists and how some are influenced by the city's manufacturing roots, using welding and carpentry in their artwork. On the radio show, a couple people discussed how people visiting these art areas also spend money at other nearby businesses.
From a comment a few weeks ago about the arts:
Category 2: Top 25 Mid-Sized Cities for the arts
(Populations of 100,000 to 499,000)
1. New Orleans, La.
2. Albuquerque, N.M.
3. Scottsdale, Ariz.
4. Las Vegas, Nev.
5. Honolulu, Hawaii
6. Atlanta, Ga.
7. Savannah, Ga.
8. Ann Arbor, Mich.
9. Miami, Fla.
10. Pittsburgh, Pa.
11. Tucson, Ariz.
12. Colorado Springs, Colo.
13. Cleveland, Ohio
14. Minneapolis, Minn.
15. Kansas City, Mo.
16. St. Louis, Mo.
17. St. Petersburg, Fla.
18. Providence, R.I.
19. Alexandria, Va.
20. Tampa, Fla.
21. Cincinnati, Ohio
22. Tacoma, Wash.
23. Buffalo, N.Y.
24. Athens, Ga.
25. Salem, Ore.
Obviously having a high quality art museum isn't enough to make Toledo a destination city for the arts.
The Sunday Blade contained a story titled "UT-art museum collaboration falls short of objectives."
It does seem odd that with a top-notch art museum nearby that UT's arts program isn't better than it is. Based upon the terse comments from art museum officials, it doesn't appear that the art museum is interested in cozying up with UT anymore than it already has. But then again, it also appears that UT hasn't placed much emphasis on improving its arts program. One part of this Blade story was titled "Missed opportunity."
But it's still more than an art museum and a university with a good arts program. They are all pieces to the puzzle. But Toledo needs artists, and the artists need places to work.
Last year, I heard that the Ford administration or some group in the city was planning to contact all the owners of vacant buildings along Monroe Street from downtown out toward the art museum to see if the building owners could make their vacant spaces available to artists for studios and galleries and possibly for more of UT's arts programs.
I wonder what's happened with this "project" if it can be called that? Ford mentioned the arts in his 2003, 2004, and 2005 state of the city speeches. Carty did not mention the arts in his state of the city speech last month. It's probably easy to guess where this "project" will go.
Dayton offers free Wi-Fi access in its downtown area, and Flint is expanding its arts with help from an outside business. Maybe Michael Moore had a hand in getting Red Ink Studios to invest in Flint. Or maybe these smaller cities are more nimble and can act on these types of projects quicker than a slug like Toledo.
If people on Toledo City Council need a project to work on, why not make a personal visit to Dayton and Flint and see if there's anything going on there that might work in Toledo.
We've got the manufacturing, the farming, and the outdoors stuff with Lake Erie and the Maumee River and the metroparks, so why not expand just a little the arts and technology in Toledo?
posted by jr to art at 12:59 P.M. EST
(5 Comments)
Comments ...
The Collingwood Arts Center and The Common Space offers studio for rent space (In Toledo), but I don't know of any others. Problem for a lot of artists is they have to be able to sell, to pay that studio rent, and most do their work at home. I agree Toledo could do more to promote local artists. The Museum Store had some local artists displayed for sale, but I don't know what the qualifications were to do so. (and then it closed). So much of that was ultra expensive though. Carty did well with the frogs (I did two). He got local people to put their work out there, to take chances. Toledo had a lot of traffic from out of town with the frogs. Also, the ICP concert (I don't personally call them 'art', or care for their music), brought in money, and vandalism. Toledo got tough and ICP took it's yearly gig to other parts.
posted by starling02 at 04:20 P.M. EST on Tue Feb 14, 2006 #
Part of the problem of the CAC is that they have largely gentrified it, which means rents which have climbed into the realm of the absurd. I've been in the CAC many times, and I can say with much assurance that it has been a symbolic football that's been kicked from one batch of lazy elites to another. It had gotten so bad that Kaptur (through an aide) had to come back and TAKE BACK some of the money that she had managed to obtain for it for roof repairs ... since the repairs were not being done and the money was just sitting there.
The CAC is probably still a hearty smack in the face of Toledo's art scene. Artists are cheap, nearly by definition. The stratospheric rents that were being charged as late as 18 months ago were simply beyond all rational definition of the average artist.
Take some advice from me, Jr, and wriggle yourself onto the CAC board if you can. It would make you weep to see to the low condition that they allowed such a beautiful collective site to fall to. The managers of the CAC have largely lacked people of character, who were hard-nosed about money, and who also understood the socio-economics of common art. I've watched that place fall time and time again into the hands of artists with no money sense; elites who only cared about having the CAC board on their resume; and gentrifiers who would make the entire site into a condo if they could.
posted by GuestZero at 03:57 P.M. EST on Thu Feb 16, 2006 #
"Ohio lawmakers are preparing to open the door to a dedicated tax exclusively to support regional and cultural arts districts, but so far the discussion is limited to the Cleveland area."
"A massive budget correction bill slated for a House vote next week would authorize only Cuyahoga County to ask voters to approve a 30-cent surcharge on top of the state's $1.25 tax on a pack of cigarettes to fund local museums, galleries, and other cultural assets."
As usual, go after the smokers. This is why government can't outlaw tobacco, and why the government doesn't want smokers to stop smoking. I wonder how many artists or fans of the arts support smoking bans and are opposed to tobacco usage but don't have any problem stealing money from smokers?
Rep. Jim Trakas (R., Independence) said:
"There's no question that communities need to invest in arts and culture. It defines us as a people and as a civilization. As patrons are less inclined to donate, or there are less patrons to donate, there's got be to some type of public support for the arts. It's an employment factor. A vibrant arts community helps add value to Ohio. We've got to do everything we can to help companies locate, grow, and stay here."
But not by placing the tax burden on an activity that the government is supposedly trying to end. More from the story:
"He said lawmakers are still in disagreement as to whether a local cigarette tax is the answer, but the local arts community believes it would be easier to sell that to voters. Cuyahoga County voters rejected a property tax levy for the arts in 2004."
Well, a property tax is more fair in that it affects a greater range of people. But the voters spoke. Maybe the arts people didn't do a good enough job of selling the property tax. They should try the property tax idea again, or go back to the drawing board and come up with a "fair" tax if such a thing exists.
But no. The arts people who like to sometimes preach to the rest of us about tolerance and inclusion are now planning to attack a minority group. This blatant targeting of a specific group of people like smokers, how come this isn't viewed as discrimination or even unconstitutional?
What would be the reaction if someone proposed a surcharge tax onto the cost of lottery tickets? The lottery is government-subsidised gambling, so you know the government wouldn't want a tax on their baby.
More from this story:
"William Orzechowski, a Virginia economist, told the House Finance Committee that a hike in the cigarette tax is the wrong way to go, particularly as a funding source for the arts."
"[The money] is going to go to a regional cultural and arts center, but it's going to come from smokers," he said. "Smokers are basically blue-collar folk. The median household income is about $25,000 [in Cuyahoga] compared to about $41,000 for the state. In Ohio, smoking rates for people with incomes below $40,000 are double the smoking rates for people above $40,000." "
Here's the hypocrisy that exists when it comes to taxing tobacco. Early last year, "A committee of state lawmakers has given the OK to charging parking fees at Ohio's state parks. The state plans on start selling 25 dollar annual passes for the 74 state parks."
But other lawmakers and normal citizens didn't like this 25 dollar per year parking fee because it would somehow hurt poor families.
"State Senator Eric Fingerhut (D) said in a recent letter the new fees will inadvertently hurt lower income families."
Do lower income families smoke? If so, why is it okay to tax them unfairly?
If you smoke one pack a day, a 30-cent tax means spending an additional 109 dollars per year on your habit or entertainment. But the arts people see no problem with this. Bastards.
Naturally, bastards like these arts people would say to smokers, "Stop smoking." If everyone quit smoking, where will the government get the funding it receives now from smokers? None of this makes sense.
Let's apply a tax to your habit or pleasure to fund my project, but I want you to stop your habit, which means money for my project dries up, which means I have to come up with another way to scam you to fund my project.
posted by jr at 02:17 P.M. EST on Thu Mar 16, 2006 #
I propose adding a $2 surcharge tax to tickets for arts-related events to help pay for road and bridge repair. May not be much collected, but every bit helps.
posted by jr at 02:31 P.M. EST on Thu Mar 16, 2006 #
Careful jr - there are people already saying that we should do just that to pay for convention centers and sports arenas!!!
posted by MaggieThurber at 06:24 P.M. EST on Thu Mar 16, 2006 #
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