AADO supports the effort to develop an Artspace facility in downtown Olympia. Our city has received numerous national recognitions for best places to live. A key criteria to earn such recognition is the presence and vitality of diverse arts and cultural resources for the community. The greater Olympia area shines in that regard especially when considering our theatre district with four full time subscriber based venues. This cultural treasure, built over decades with community, business and municipal support, is very unique and special for a community our size.

Now it is time to keep the energy high and look at the next level of arts for our community. That is where Artspace enters into the picture. Artspace is a national not for profit organization with a mission to create, foster, and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations. Too many times artists have jump started a run down civic area only to find that after their success of making the area a lively, fun and desirable “place to be”, the rents rocket up and live/work spaces are no longer affordable. Artspace works to remedy this situation and has established a number of live/work spaces for artists across the country including two properties in Seattle and a new property in Everett. Artspace is a natural progression for our local arts and cultural resources.

This initiative to have an Artspace property in Olympia has passed an initial proof of concept stage. In the fall of 2009, an evaluation team from Artspace came to our community to assess all the components needed to be considered for a successful project. In summary we passed the test by showing among other criteria a solid show of support from the community to start working on this project.

The project itself can take 5 to 8 years of fund raising, planning, land acquisition, design, construction, etc. Artspace is able to assist the community raise the funds through a broad array of resources including local, state and federal grants and private contributions. As a start to make this happen, a local group of citizens is in the process of forming a not for profit foundation to take the lead on this initiative and once completed implement the property management program.

AADO has taken the position that this initiative is good for the downtown area economic, social and cultural environment and should be pursued. Generally speaking, Artspace indicates that their formula calls for local government provide about 10% of the funding. For illustration purposes that could mean $1 million for a $10 million total project (our research and planning will determine actual scope and cost of the project). It is known that local governments are facing very difficult budget issues and funding for such a project may not be currently available. However, our position is that if we take this project in manageable phases over a reasonable time frame we can bring a very valuable resource to the downtown core. It means having a definitive plan in place and being ready to move quickly to the next phase when opportunities present themselves. (Note that when an opportunity for funding a regional attraction became available to Olympia several years ago, it seemed the city was caught flat footed and had to scramble to come up with an idea because there was no definitive plan or vision for a city regional attraction).

Currently there does not seem to be any other program in the local vision like Artspace whereby a public/private partnership can establish affordable live/work space at such a cost/benefit ratio. And yes, there are detractors to such an initiative as in why is the live/work space only for artists. There are a number of housing programs, subsidies, grants and tax rebates available to much of the general public. This one focuses on the arts and it is a common fact that when artists move into downtrodden urban areas these areas witness a rebirth and a very positive improvement to the area follows.

For these reasons, AADO strongly supports the Artspace initiative and will be assisting the leadership group in this worthy endeavor.

For more information on Artspace, please visit the national web site: www.artspace.org