Eyes on the prize
As they consider housing, libraries and rising costs, can Jefferson School’s guardians stay on task?
After a year of meeting several times a month, the Jefferson School Task Force may have to go back to the drawing board. This month, the group is supposed to finish planning for the future of Jefferson School – the Fourth Street monument to Charlottesville’s segregationist past and the last vestige of the Vinegar Hill neighborhood. But the challenge of marrying preservation with commercial viability is proving to be tough, and the task force wants City Council to grant them three more months to finish their work.
Council formed the task force in August 2002, after people protested Council’s plans to sell the school site to developers. Especially incensed were former Jefferson students who had lived in Vinegar Hill, the black neighborhood bulldozed in the 1960s in the name of urban renewal ["Tombstone blues," February 12, 2002]. A year ago, there was much talk about how the task force would "heal the wounds" of history-erasing urban renewal. These days, expression of those hopes is muted as the task force confronts the challenge of making historic preservation pay for itself.
"It feels like some of the wind has gone out of our sails," says Sue Lewis, who represents the Chamber of Commerce on the 16-member committee. The task force is guided by professional facilitator Mary Means, who has a one-year, $89,323 contract with the City for her task force work, according to City Manager Linda Peacock.
While Lewis is careful to say she speaks only for herself and not the group, widespread frustration was in the air when the task force met on Tuesday, August 26. The group is considering three possible scenarios for the building, but none of them seem to engender enthusiasm from a majority of members. "There’s no slam dunk," is how architect Craig Barton put it. Barton is the City Planning Commission representative to the group.
One plan would use the Jefferson School as a learning center that may house programs delivered by the Monticello Area Community Action Agency, such as the early-childhood education program Head Start. Other ideas for a learning center include a culinary institute or Saturday academy for African-Americans.
Another option calls for a "one-stop employment and training center." The third scenario would move the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library’s central branch into the Jefferson School site. The library is outgrowing its current location at 201 E. Market St.
The task force agrees that any use of the building should emphasize cultural learning, and in any event the 100-year-old façade should be protected. The building also should be used to attract visitors and fit in with Council’s plan to redevelop W. Main Street between Downtown and UVA. Finally, the rehabbed Jefferson School should generate revenue to sustain its uses.
Relocating the library seems to be the most promising solution, since it meets all the criteria and library director John Halliday is actively looking for a new Downtown location.
"From a historical perspective, it would be kind of neat," says Halliday. In 1934, when the library was housed at the McIntire Building (currently home to the Historical Society) the library established its first branch – a "colored branch" – at Jefferson School.
At more than 70,000 square feet, the Jefferson School site would more than satisfy the library’s need for shelf space. Additionally, it has desirable on-site parking. Halliday says he and the library board of trustees are "very much interested" in moving to Jefferson, but many issues would have to be ironed out. Those include ensuring that Jefferson School could handle the weight of all those books (some 153,200), and that City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, which fund the library, could agree on how to split the cost of renovations.
At the recent meeting, task force member Peter McIntosh said he had been feeling pessimistic because all three options would require "significant effort" and it would take more than three years before a tenant could move into Jefferson School. Now, however, he believes it is unrealistic to expect any activity at Jefferson in less than three years. The main issue, he says, is figuring out how the new Jefferson School will pay for itself.
The question of money raises the specter of private ownership and development of the Jefferson site, which many on the task force might now consider. Last year, early in the Jefferson School saga, the City held a public meeting at the facility. At that time, several people said they didn’t want housing there, and for the past year most of the task force members have worked under the premise that no apartments should be included in their plans.
At the meeting, however, the task force reviewed rough estimates of how the various scenarios could be financed. The assessed market value of the Jefferson School site is $4.5 million. The task force estimates it will cost about $10 million to rehabilitate the building, although a combination of State and Federal tax credits would pay for 45 percent of the rehab costs. City Council has ordered the committee to come up with ideas that don’t require the City to spend much beyond the $1.7 million it has already set aside for capital improvements to Jefferson School.
Although the presentation included only rough cost estimates and vague development scenarios, two points were clear – there will be significant costs to developing Jefferson School, and housing is the most profitable use for the property. At present, it seems likely that any plan will include at least some housing – trendy condos, anyone? – whether it’s in the actual Jefferson School building or built new in the undeveloped acres on the site.
The task force will present the three scenarios to the public on Saturday, September 20, at 8:30am at the Carver Recreation Center, which adjoins Jefferson School. The group will make a presentation to Council in early October. If Council agrees to an extension, the task force will have until December 15 to finish its work.
Although the task force says much work still needs to be done to figure out how the three scenarios would be financed, McIntosh and Lewis say that simply beginning the economic conversation relieved some of their frustration. "I wish we’d have done this 10 months ago," says McIntosh.–John Borgmeyer
Rock star 101
The first rule of biz in show biz: Everything is negotiable
Jeri Goldstein spent 20 years as an agent and manager, working with performers including Robin and Linda Williams, and Garrison Keillor and the Hopeful Gospel Quartet. She recently published How to Be Your Own Booking Agent: A Performing Artist’s Guide to a Successful Touring Career and now conducts workshops throughout the country. This fall Goldstein brings her expertise to UVA’s Continuing Education program, offering a class to aspiring artists focusing on marketing your act – that is, working with the media, working with agents and managers, and targeting your niche audience. C-VILLE contributing writer Emily Smith recently interviewed Goldstein about her career and class. An edited transcript follows.
Emily Smith: What inspired you to write the book?
Jeri Goldstein: It got to be the 20th anniversary of my being a manager and agent and I was trying to figure out how to celebrate. I decided it was time to quit and do something else. I had this information, I had this experience and what I didn’t have I thought I could research. I thought it would be a useful thing.
In the business of performing arts, what area is most in need of attention?
Marketing. This hands down seems to be the place that most artists either don’t pay attention to, forget about, or don’t leave enough money to do anything. Knowing the audience is crucial…you may not be the next big star but you may have an audience that is broad-based and enthusiastic. You just have to find them.
How are the classes structured?
All of my workshops are fairly interactive so that I am imparting information but I am working from the group, so if I find that there are only musicians then I am going to concentrate on that so they can walk out of the class with a plan. I try to work with them on things that are real as opposed to theoretical.
There are things that can be done to make yourself a more strategic partner with agents and managers: What are the things to look for, what are the things that you should be asking so that you don’t get led astray?
The business is so often the last thing people think about. Most people are headed toward the creative. My goal is to help give some information that is much more of a step-by-step method of focusing. It is one thing to say "I want to be a musician," and then it is sort of another thing to say "Today I am going to make phone calls to venues."
Can you say more about the "art of negotiation"?
It is knowing how to place value on your work. There are a variety of techniques involved in establishing your value, knowing how to ask questions, how to present what you want and knowing that every thing is negotiable.
Any last comments?
Come to the class! One of the things that I always see are artists in the workshops forming cooperatives and pooling resources. I have felt that in Charlottesville the music community in particular, but also the performing arts, is so rich and so ripe for having a little more information on how to make the most out of this incredible talent.
"The Business of the Performing Arts" will be held at UVA on Mondays, September 15-October 13, 7-9pm. Call 982-5313.