Discovering Our Arts Identity

As promised, here are some of the many responses to the articles that ran in Sunday's Enquirer. If you missed the stories:

Discovering our Arts Identity

Denver gets it right

Downtown has soul; lacks heart

Enquirer round-table

Here's one from Mike Hasselbeck of downtown:

"I just read your article about our downtown and I couldn't agree with
you more. I'm a 25 year old college grad from the Columbus College of
Art & Design up in Columbus. It's been 6 months since moving above
Tina's down on 4th and Central and I'm not sure how I feel about the
experience. First off, other than Tina's and handful of other bars,
there's nothing to do. The streets are dead after 6. There's no grocery
store, not even a little corner shop where I can pick up a 6 pack or
something to snack on. I have no guaranteed place to park my car which
wouldn't be an issue if we had better public transportation. Granted, I
knew that part going into this. I spend more time in other
neighborhoods like Oakley, Hyde Park and parts of the west side than I
do in my own neighborhood. Which is supposed to be the center city.
Cincinnati is no doubt a beautiful city. I've brought friends from
college that are from other parts of Ohio down here and they're
impressed like I was when I decided to move home. I'm a young
professional looking for somewhere to spend my money a few days during
the week and on the weekends in my neighborhood. I'd rather stay
downtown but it's more of a hassle than it is convenient. Mt Lookout is
starting to look good."

"Yes!" says Lauren Young:

"A huge note of thanks for your reporting on Cincinnati and its wonderful (and sorely under played) arts community. We are fairly new to the city (just over a year) and after living in Boston, I must say I am SO impressed with all that is offered here. Yes, the galleries and open studios must get more support (and PR), but the quality of work is very high. The history of the arts in this city is so impressive, as is the philanthropic generosity.

"I would like to see city hall make its goal to have Cincinnati be the arts capitol of this area of the midwest -- Indy has the amateur sports capitol all wrapped up, and Chicago will always be, well, Chicago. So let's all shake off the dust of insecurity and make Cincinnati the world class city that it is/can be.

"Thanks for the focus. Let's hope the "Enquirer" will also follow up with a "call to action" for all citizens to support downtown and the arts."

I love this one from Carol Schweitzer of California, KY:

"Janelle, you have hit the nail square on the head. I am a northern Kentucky native who grew up crossing the river for everything that was fun and exciting. Slowly, over the years I have watched so many old landmarks being torn down to make way for somebody's idea of progress. In the process, I (and I'm sure I speak for many) lost all reason and desire to travel downtown. They have homogenized the shopping with the suburbs so well that why should anyone fight traffic and parking when they can easily find a nearby mall with all the same stores.

"I feel like I cut my teeth shopping at the large department stores like Shillito's, Pogue's, Mabley's, and McAlpin's. Date nights were always to the special movie theaters like the Albee, the Keith, the Palace and the Capitol. Until the Aronoff was built, there was not a decent theatre stage since the Shubert was razed. Everyone I talk to says the same thing, "they tore down all the good things."

"I have traveled to many big cities and have concluded that Cincinnati's city fathers have not been men of vision in the last several decades. I love the arts and continue to support them, but little else can induce me to risk the traffic, crime and parking problems associated with downtown."

Here's another good one from Robert Baylor of Wilmington, Ohio:

"Cincinnati lacks a single, integrating strategy that would make all of these
independent initiatives part of a successful plan. For example, the museums
at Union Terminal are a great idea executed in a vacuum. The areas
immediate adjacent to Union Terminal are some of the most decrepit in the
city. Why aren’t planners looking at removing some of these old, abandoned
industrial buildings and creating something new and exciting? Perhaps
create a community of small galleries and artisan shops, the same could be
attempted in and around Music Hall.

"Cincinnati has flirted with downtown living before with One Lytle Place and
other downtown apartments attempting to revitalize urban living in the late
'70s and early '80s. They failed for the same reason these new efforts will
fail, there is no overarching strategy to place the necessary infrastructure
to support urban living in downtown Cincinnati. There are no large or small
grocery stores to support these urban dwellers. No quick and efficient
public transit system exists (think more along the lines of the Washington
DC metro lines which are quick, efficient and safe). Our own Metro buses
are dirty and inefficient.

"What is desperately needed is one overarching strategy against which all
other initiatives can be coordinated against. If the initiative is in
concert with the strategy, the initiative should be supported. If it
doesn't meet the strategic goals, then it needs to be reshaped into one that
does."

Here's some Cincy history from Jim Sicking of the Cincinnati Transit Historical Association:

"In your Sunday Article about Downtown Denver you mentioned that there was a grass roots group trying to get a project started once again on a light rail streetcar for downtown. As a member and an archivist for the Cincinnati Transit Historical Association. I would be interested in contacting these people, because we have the archival information and drawings of the Cincinnati Street Railway Co going back to the early 20th Century. (Later it was called Cincinnati Transit and the predecessor to Metro). In the past some of our members were involved in promoting a similar concept without any luck. I don't know if any of the "grass roots" group you referred to contains some of the same people or if they are aware of previous efforts. I'm sure our archives would be of help since much of the old track still buried under the asphalt of Cincinnati streets and our drawings have some of the detail."

Here's one from educator Alan Coleman:

"Cincinnati will never find its arts identity if it continues to ignore many prospective 'customers.' Far too many of our public school children have little or no contact with the arts. Creativity in the arts starts at an early age. Our schools have made a concerted effort to insure that this generation of students is artistically illiterate, by denying hands on experiences in the arts except for a select few. Today's student knows Music Hall only as a venue for rap concerts or high school graduation. This city has a rich heritage in the arts, but unless a sincere effort is made to educate students in the arts, we will continue to see a demise of our local culture."

Alan also mentions that the Western Hills High marching band is making a comeback, thanks to the Western Hills Foundation. But: The kids have no instruments!!

"The hunt is on for musical instruments for these students to play. When the band was dissolved, the instruments found homes in other schools. They will have to beg or borrow just to have instruments. The director of the band however is optimistic that he can have them playing a holiday concert later this year. The choir continues to struggle, too."

Help anyone??

Bruce Olson, who is planning a sculptor exhibit at the foot of the Purple People bridge in Newport, says: "Bravo! Thank you for pointing out, to those who might care to read it, that Cincinnati is losing ground to other cities large and small that are paying greater attention to the marketability of the arts. The problem is not just "DISCOVERING OUR ARTS IDENTITY" but "CREATYING AN ARTS IDENTITY". The fact that we have a good opera, ballet and symphony as well as a siginificant number of reputable museums is nice for people who happen to be visiting or live here. But Cincinnati lacks enticement. The Tall Stacks event draws many people from way beyond our regional borders. That's what we need. We need more events that are designed to draw people to our communities from outside our three state region."

Glenn A. Ray, Ed.D., of College Hill sent this letter:

"Janelle Gelfand's excellent article, "Discovering Our Arts Identity" (September 17, 2006) rightly promotes the arts as the prominent image for the City. Her quote from Jack Rouse, that "It's staggering that a city this size has institutions of this quality," aptly describes the world class arts venues we have in our community. However, an additional perspective should be considered in our efforts to "discover our arts identity."

"Where are those world class arts venues that speak to me and my culture, as an African-American? Why are there no viable African-American arts organizations that provide a variety of arts opportunitites with the same degree of consistency, quality and excellence that exists among those organizations that focus on European art and culture? During the five year period 2000-2005, the City of Cincinnati and Fine Arts Fund distributed over $50 million to artists and arts organizations. Not quite 3 percent of that amount (a little over $1 million) was distributed to African-American artists and arts organizations. We simply must do better than this and we can!"

This from Gene Sobczak, executive VP of the Colorado Symphony: "Thank you for your thoughtful and informative article on Denver. Our recent 'reinvention' through arts and culture, however, is not defined solely by the new architecture that informs our city streets and skyline. The work being created and exhibited in buildings old and new is routinely recognized for its artistic excellence and should underscore every story on Denver’s 'culture boom.' The Colorado Symphony Orchestra, for example, has received the ASCAP Award for Most Adventurous Programming in eight of the last nine years. Additionally, the CSO has grown ticket revenue in the last three years by 47 percent – a record-setting margin for mid- and large-sized symphony orchestras in America. We accomplished as much by remaining fiercely committed to our product – and our obligation to selling it."