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EDITORIAL: Rethinking the Arts: Panel to Answer Tough Questions About City's Support of Arts Groups

Posted on: Sunday, 7 May 2006, 15:05 CDT

By The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

May 7--Columbus residents may be unaware of their city's reputation as an arts capital, but arts lovers around the country know all about it. For the June issue of AmericanStyle magazine, readers voted to make Columbus ninth among the nation's big cities as an arts destination. New York and Chicago came in first and second, followed by Washington, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Columbus is ninth, and 10 th is Portland, Ore. Indianapolis, by comparison, was 21 st.

Columbus has earned the distinction. Just look at the Columbus Arts Festival, which draws more than 1,000 U.S. artists and about 500,000 visitors annually. Consider the Gallery Hop, where hundreds of people wander down High Street in the Short North on the first Saturday of every month, ducking into galleries and bars.

The city not only has the renowned Columbus College of Art and Design, but also Ohio State University and all the other private and state colleges nearby, where people are developing arts-related skills.

The arts contribute to the public image of a city. They add to the economy by creating jobs and stimulating tourism and entertainment spending. Cultural opportunities can be a deciding factor for someone considering going to college here or relocating for any reason.

Columbus needs to find a way to keep those benefits and even improve upon them. The quality of arts leadership will be a deciding factor.

So the city wisely has formed a panel of 13 community and arts leaders, led by former Ohio Arts Council Executive Director Wayne P. Lawson, to review the city's arts policies. Some haven't been revisited since the Greater Columbus Arts Council was formed in 1978.

This group faces some critical tasks: First, a thorough review of the GCAC's setup is needed, including the way the board is appointed and how it doles out the hotel-motel tax the City Council gives it.

How much should be spent on GCAC administrative costs? How open should its finances be? Do its funding policies motivate arts organizations to run more efficiently? Or does the GCAC's current practice of withholding funds until organizations are back in the black illogically punish them when they most need help?

Best practices for managing an arts group in the 21 st century undoubtedly have evolved from the 1970s. And what should the city reasonably expect from groups it subsidizes in the way of accountability and sustainability ? The panel will have to look to examples nationwide and set new standards.

Obviously, the city has been doing something right to achieve the arts standing it enjoys. But if this panel can suggest even better ways to nourish and promote the arts, Columbus might move up on that top-10 list.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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