Arts and culture and commercial district revitalization

The Boise Idaho Statesman has an article, "New Boise program gives temporary homes to artistic process," about an artist in residence program there, set up to use vacant commercial spaces. I am a big fan of such programs. The Storefront Artist Project in Pittsfield, Massachusetts is one of the earliest major examples of this kind of effort.

Paducah, Kentucky has extended this idea by providing relocation assistance to artists willing/interested in moving there (Paducah Artist Relocation Program). By directing people to a disinvested neighborhood adjacent to downtown they increase the number of occupied residences and entrepreneurs, and help strengthen the adjacent downtown as well. The key is targeting your investment and the resulting impact.

The Washington Business Journal has a good article, "Stage theaters breathe life into neighborhoods," about the economic impact of neighborhood theaters (not cinemas), based on data from the economic impact project of Americans for the Arts. According to the article:

A 2007 study by Americans For the Arts found that Washington-area residents who attend an arts performance contribute $22.91 to the economy beyond the ticket price. For nonresidents, the number soars to $82.08.

(Webpage for Arts & Economic Prosperity III: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences.)

As the experience of the Atlas Performing Arts Center and H Street Playhouse on H Street NE demonstrate, money won't be spent in the immediate neighborhood where a theater is located if there aren't quality retail and restaurant establishments able to meet the needs and demands of potential customers. It's different on H Street today, with the number of establishments seeded in large part by Joe Englert. (See "Plans to Set The Bar High On H Street NE" from the Washington Post.) When the H Street Playhouse first opened, there weren't quality restaurants on H Street--and Phish Tea was a massive disappointment, a decent idea and concept that was never satisfactorily executed.

The problem of course is that anchor institutions can't do it alone, and too frequently, there isn't simultaneous complementary planning and programs and incentives developed to ensure that the supporting businesses build up around the anchors in a timely fashion.

The Washington Convention Center is a perfect example of this. While more than $400 million was invested in the center, little money was invested in improving the built environment, streetscape, and business environment on 9th Street NE especially but also on 7th Street and nearby New York Avenue, where logically, associated supporting retail businesses could have located, recreating a business district around the Convention Center where convention-meeting goers could have then spent additional time and money on local activities.

Years later, 9th Street still looks bombed out, many of the retail businesses located in the Convention Center have had a difficult time, and the kind of impact that the Convention Center could have brought to the immediate area has been minimal, even as the Convention Center has meetings which generate some (but not enough) rooming nights at hotels Downtown, in Georgetown, and Dupont Circle.

In general, this is a major problem with revitalization efforts, that people expect anchors to do all the revitalization without the existence of allied businesses and services. A commercial district is an ecosystem, and a system requires many actors and components in order to function as a whole.