Pointe of Art
Detroit Rx - 7/04
by Robert Maniscalco
People are finally waking up to the fact that arts
and culture are a major part of economic development.
The question of the hour, "how can we make Detroit
a Cool City," is beginning to resonate with policy
makers. The opportunity for revolutionary change is
ripe. People are getting together, paradigms are shifting
and we are daring to dream of a revitalized urban
center. My experience, participating in numerous brainstorming
sessions, studies and development meetings has been
a combination of excitement and frustration. The arts
community is invigorated by the shift in attitude
but anxious for actionable results. After all, we've
known for years that a community with a strong cultural
base generates strong economic development.
A persistent obstacle remains: those who set policy,
who actually have the authority to make things happen,
need to be brought into the conversation. Traditionally,
regional planning boards and commissions have always
appreciated the indirect impact of culture on the
economy but have tended not to directly engage the
arts community in shaping economic strategies. Certainly,
our Governor recognizes the potential impact of arts
and culture in shaping this new economy; she has dipped
a sizable amount of funding into the Cool waters,
allocating $2,000,000 in seed money to develop ideas
on the grass roots level. Her leadership in this area
is a call to action directed at all levels of government
and the communities they serve.
So where are the policy-makers, the city planners?
The jury's still out on the Kilpatrick administration's
commitment to working directly with the arts community.
Wayne County is moving in the right direction, with
a Cultural Plan in the works, being developed in conjunction
with the Wayne County Council for Arts, History and
Humanities.
The specific challenge before us is to develop a plan
which integrates arts and culture into an economic
plan for the new economy. Mark D. Waterhouse, in his
article, Building Viable Communities - The Essence
of Economic Development, defines Economic Development
simply as "anything that creates new employment
opportunities or broadens the tax base."
With that definition in mind and based on the collective
priorities gathered last March at the "Create
Detroit" event at Orchestra Hall, as well as
the subsequent work sessions in which I've participated,
I have sketched out a long-term plan for Detroit;
it is intended as a springboard for thought, not as
a comprehensive proposal.
Part of the challenge is defining what we mean by
"cool." Everyone knows the moment you call
something "cool" it stops being cool. Rightly
then, no plan should define or limit the nature of
a "cool" activity. According to Richard
Florida, a cool city is rich in talent, technology,
tolerance and territory assets. It is also clear that
any plan must actually produce real economic development.
To do this it must be market driven yet guided by
careful, coordinated planning, involving representatives
from the entire community at every level of policy-making.
This is the best prescription for success. That's
why I call it, Detroit Rx , a vision for Rebirth.
Walkability. The cornerstone of the new urbanism
is walkability. Eventually, we must agree to designate
and develop vibrant, uniquely identifiable, walkable
retail/cultural districts within Detroit and push
for a light rail system to connect them. The People
Mover was the result of a compromise and stopped short
of realizing the essential transit requirements that
could make Detroit more competitive with other urban
centers. The People Mover takes passengers in a nice
circle around the downtown district but doesn't actually
connect them to other places. There is tremendous
inertia against the development of a true mass transit
system. One economically viable solution is to connect
the existing People Mover to other districts, which
will serve to actually move people throughout Detroit,
enabling them to park a car and walk to a variety
of interesting destinations, i.e. Eastern Market,
New Center, Midtown, Mexican Town, to name just a
few possibilities. Each terminal will have information
about the history and attractions in the immediate
area and will include public art, similar to the existing
People Mover. These district/destinations will naturally
develop into attractive centers for retail and diverse
cultural activity. This will provide incentive for
rail connections to the surrounding suburbs and metropolitan
centers. Imagine being able to leave your car and
experience the health, cultural, environmental and
social benefits of a truly walkable urban center.
If you don't build it, they won't come. Suburban sprawl
is definitely not "cool."
Entrepreneurship. Where will these high-density
districts come from? The City of Detroit and Wayne
County need to make publicly owned buildings available
for investment and development by entrepreneurs and
the estimated 850 arts/cultural organizations known
to be operating in Wayne County. There are numerous
historically significant, architecturally sound buildings
that could be turned into centers for retail and cultural
activity in each of these neighborhood districts.
This formula will provide a healthy mix of both renewal
and historical preservation. There are literally hundreds
of buildings, currently vacant or in decay, waiting
to be reborn. There needs to be an accessible, central
source for information about properties and a real
commitment by the City and County to make them available
to those eager to invest in their community. Other
incentives for entrepreneurs must include tax breaks
and development grants for small businesses and non-profit
organizations. Entrepreneurs don't need hand-outs
but we don't need unnecessary obstacles either. Remember,
this isn't about building character; it's about rebuilding
a city.
Livability. As our mayor said recently, "we
need to see more rooftops in the city." If you
haven't been to Midtown or the many other booming
neighborhoods in Detroit lately, you may not have
noticed how much new residential housing is being
built. Those overgrown, vacant lots we've associated
with Detroit for many years are beginning to disappear.
One way to encourage even more residential development
is to provide an incentive to move into the city,
in the form of retail and cultural attractions and
readily available mass transportation (see above).
Partnerships. The other major obstacle is connectivity.
Like-minded individuals and organizations need access
to vetted information about what others are doing
in order to reduce redundancy and generate collaborations.
Partnerships between arts organizations, health and
human service agencies, parks and recreation departments,
education, public safety, need to be created. How?
The obvious solution is to create a heavily promoted
central website database, which is searchable by mission,
activity, location, needs/wants, etc.; this will make
it possible for more systematic and comprehensive
networking to occur. This data-base could potentially
match venues with funders and other resources. The
data-base could be extended to generate collaborations
between arts and human service organizations, who
may want to develop arts mentoring for the homeless,
for one example. A project of this magnitude will
require extraordinary cooperation between major agencies
like Artserve, MACAA, MCACA and many others. The challenge
is that many grass roots community assets are operating
below the radar. We need to bring the underground
out into the open, without fear of somehow "spoiling"
it. Are we really afraid "art for arts sake"
initiatives will die at the first light of day? I
don't think so. While it's true, consolidation of
services might result in a reduction of the shear
number of organizational entities, it is also true
that grass roots culture is an untapped opportunity
for community transformation. Perhaps fewer, better
managed organizations might be more effective in bringing
arts and culture into the communities they are intended
to serve. After all, isn't that what we're really
trying to achieve? Frankly, I think the result of
collaborations and combined assets will more likely
result in more vigorous grass roots activity.
These ideas, some more radical than others, have the
potential to make Detroit a "cool" place
to live and work. Any plan will require monumental
cooperation driven by a deep commitment for change.
One thing's certain, we must seize this window of
opportunity; it may not come again for quite some
time. We're moving in the right direction but we mustn't
drop the momentum.
I challenge my readers to jump into the fray, as it
were, and participate in your city's future--and make
no mistake about it, southeast Michigan will live
or die based on what happens in Detroit. That's where
our investment in cool needs to happen first.
Here are some important website resources:
Richard Florida - "Rise of the Creative Class"
- www.coolcities.com
Michigan Association of Community Arts Agencies -
www.macaa.com
Artserve Michigan - www.artservemichigan.org
Partners for Livable Communities - www.livable.com
Wayne County Council for Arts, History and Humanities
- www.waynearts.org
Americans for the Arts - www.artsusa.org
Create Detroit - www.createdetroit.com
Center for Arts and Public Policy - www.capp-wsu.org
Council on Michigan Foundations - www.foundationcetner.org
List
of Essays
