Economic times are tight in Virginia. And when axes start falling on State budgets, funding for the arts is often the first to be slashed. The Charlottesville-based Piedmont Council of the Arts hopes to dodge the blow by proving that, in Director Nancy Brockman’s words, “The arts are a producing segment of the economy.” That is, the arts drive tourism, provide jobs and generate revenue at other businesses.
Two years ago, an economic impact study commissioned by Virginians for the Arts found that Virginia’s arts and culture are, in fact, a $1 billion industry. That impressive figure makes sense if you consider that it includes such tourist magnets as Colonial Williamsburg. Fully three-quarters of the $342 million spent by out-of-state visitors in 1999, for example, landed in the Hampton Roads area, which includes Williamsburg.
The Piedmont Council is now at work on a similar study, this one focused on central Virginia. It too will include landmarks that aren’t specifically arts-related: Think Monticello. If the new study looks anything like the old one, it will show “arts organizations” as a poor cousin to “museums”: 3,600 arts jobs in Virginia overshadowed by 8,900 positions in museums, for example. (Which category an “art museum” falls into isn’t clear, but more than half the total jobs are in Hampton Roads.)
In some ways, arts organizations (McGuffey Art Center, say) and cultural organizations (Michie Tavern) have about as much in common as football and hunting. They’re related, but do they belong in one big category? Jill Hartz, director of the University of Virginia Art Museum, says that functionally, arts and culture are intertwined. She points out that, in a January 12 New York Times piece about Monticello’s Lewis and Clark Bicentennial celebration, the UVA museum garnered a mention for its related exhibit of Native American art. “By having over half-a-million visitors every year at Monticello, we hope that they come to the University and find us,” she says.
Additionally, Brockman points out, there’s overlap in the content of arts and culture. “When you go to Colonial Williamsburg, what are you learning?” she says. “Architecture, artifacts inside the houses—those are designed articles, the work of someone’s artistry.”
Though there are plenty of aspects of Williamsburg that are more strictly historical, she adds, “I don’t know how you would sort that out—how when you buy a ticket you would say a portion of this is arts related and a portion is not.”
Fair enough. But is economic impact the right yardstick for the arts in the first place? According to Hartz, “You can’t look at the arts as a business. They’re not self-supporting. They depend on the patronage of people throughout our society.”
John Gibson, artistic director of Live Arts, says his organization “measures our impact in the number of children we educate every year, the number of people who participate in our productions as performers or audience members, the impact we make on the quality of life.”
Brockman says a discussion of economics doesn’t disparage these intangible rewards. Indeed, it paves the way for budget-minded bureaucrats to lay down the dough.
“We all know that art for art’s sake is very wonderful, and that should be enough,” she says. “But it’s not an ideal world, and there are many choices that have to be made.”
With Monticello raking in the tourists and making funding seem worthwhile, she says, less glamorous educational and therapeutic arts programs can continue to do their good work. “A rising tide raises all ships,” she says.
Gibson is keeping his eyes on the aesthetic prize. “While I welcome any good news about the arts and our impact on a community,” he says, “I don’t wait for the news to witness that positive impact.”—Erika Howsare
Look, it’s Snook
The City Democratic machine keeps its driver
As an evening snow flurry began on Thursday, January 16, City Democrats filed into the auditorium at Buford Middle School for a bi-annual meeting to elect new party officers. Donna Goings greeted people at the door, handing out blank slips of paper stamped with a donkey emblem.
“It’s my party platform,” she explained to the confused Dems, who turned the sheet of paper over in their hands, or tried in vain to open it. When they looked at her helplessly, she said, “Think about it.”
Goings hoped the last-minute stunt would give her the votes she needed to defeat Lloyd Snook in the evening’s featured contest, the election of a new Democratic party chair.
“It should be interesting tonight,” said Josh Chernilla, a young Dem who worked the crowd for support in his bid for the party’s vice-chairman seat.
Chernilla and other Democrats were abuzz because the January 16 meeting featured an actual contest for party chair––the lucky winner would be responsible for fundraising, organizing meetings, spearheading election campaigns and possibly accepting the blame for Democratic losses.
An effective chair, Dems say, has two qualities: the skills and the desire to do a good job. In the past, they say, it’s been rare that more than one person at a time possessed both qualities.
“Some people called me and asked me to run for chair,” said Goings. “I don’t think many people actually want to do it.”
Two years ago, Russ Perry and Lloyd Snook sought the office, but instead of running against each other they decided to serve as co-chairs. After Republican Rob Schilling defeated Alexandria Searls to win a seat on City Council last May, many Democrats blamed Snook and Perry for taking the election for granted and bungling her campaign. The Daily Progress quoted Mayor Maurice Cox as all but calling for Snook’s ouster, and the paper quoted Snook himself saying that anyone who wanted “the headaches” of the party leadership could have them.
“I was frustrated when I made that statement,” Snook said during the meeting. “I was depressed over the way the party was in schism.”
Although Perry declined to seek re-election, Snook says after taking “a longer view and a deeper breath,” he changed his mind about giving up control of the party.
Party leaders are chosen by 100 members of the Democratic City committee, which comprises party faithful from each of the eight voting districts in Charlottesville, plus ex officio committee members, such as former mayors.
Critics often call the local Democratic party a machine run by a few elders, while Dems counter that the party is actually controlled by “whoever is in the room” when decisions are made. Both descriptions fit Thursday’s election. The aging Boomer set dominates the Dem City committee (except for a few up-and-comers like Chernilla, who took the vice-chair seat uncontested), and this cast of characters is almost always “in the room” for most Democratic functions.
Before the final vote, both Goings and Snook addressed the committee. Goings spoke of her love for grassroots campaign legwork and distaste for George Bush. She explained the blank sheets she handed out by saying, “I want you to shape the vision for the party. I’ll be here to listen.”
Snook criticized the party for its recent laziness, apologizing to Searls for disorganization.
“In the 2002 election, we didn’t have the records from 2000,” Snook said. “We didn’t know that 250 yard signs wouldn’t be enough.”
Apparently, the committee accepted Snook’s apology. He was re-elected to chair the Dems for another two years.––John Borgmeyer
An excise exercise
Tax autonomy is on Albemarle’s agenda
Anyone walking into Room 241 of the County Office Building on January 15 would have been forgiven for thinking she was in the wrong place. After all, not only was the regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of County Supervisors whipping along at a breakneck pace (it was completed inside a half-hour), but the subject under discussion was how to raise more taxes. Yes, you read that right. How to raise more taxes.
During the uncharacteristically brisk meeting, the six-member Board unanimously passed a resolution to support a tax-change bill now under consideration in the General Assembly. If approved in Richmond, the bill will allow counties in the Commonwealth to levy taxes on cigarettes, meals and admissions without first gaining the Assembly’s permission or winning approval through a voter referendum. Such a move could help put Albemarle on a par with Charlottesville.
Currently State law favors cities when it comes to raising revenues. Charlottesville City Council, for instance, can raise taxes without Richmond’s approval—a holdover urban privilege from the time when counties, practically by definition, were rural and therefore offered fewer services to their residents. Coping with that outdated system, Albemarle, which in these days of “urban ring” development is hardly “rural” anymore, has long struggled to find additional revenue. The County’s budget for 2002 was $208,618,535. Most of that was derived from real estate taxes. Unwilling to increase that levy, the County wants the Assembly to give it power to dip into other purses.
“Owning property in the County does not go hand-in-hand with the ability to pay the actual property tax,” says Supervisor Dennis Rooker, who represents the Jack Jouett District. “Unfortunately, when the County needs money, it’s forced to look to real estate taxes.
“This bill is a way for us to present alternatives,” says Rooker.
Supes Chairman Lindsay Dorrier from the Scottsville District concurs: “We need to reduce our reliance on property taxes,” he says. “We need this option.”
Rooker says that Albemarle County, which is practically a textbook example of sprawl, simply cannot be categorized as “rural” anymore.
“Our counties are much more urban,” he says. “They require the services people in cities have.” Those include sidewalks and other amenities that make so-called mixed-use development possible. These days, the Supes are stressing that kind of urban-style development model over the rolling subdivisions of a previous era.
But despite the Supes’ high hopes for levy changes in the County, not everyone is willing to even give this bill a second thought. Larry J. Sabato, director of the UVA Center for Politics, says the chances of this bill passing are comparable to swearing in an all-Republican City Council—real slim.
“You have to understand that this bill is seen as a hidden tax increase by all the people who don’t want their taxes increased,” says Sabato.
“Although this bill has many advocates in Richmond from the more urban areas, it is an extremely tough road to get it passed,” he further says. “I would be shocked if it did.”
While the mere mention of “raising taxes” might make County dwellers uneasy, the Supes insist that no one wants to raise taxes. “This is simply a way for us to look at other areas,” says Dorrier, although it’s unclear why Albemarle leaders would push for the change in law if they were not interested in applying it.
For now, until the bill is approved in Richmond and the new fiscal year begins in July, Albemarle remains highly dependent on the real estate tax, which this year is 76 cents per every $100 of assessed value.
“This is not something we’ll be acting on this year,” says Rooker, “but there may be a time in the future.” —Kathryn E. Goodson