How Patchwork Collective can save Richmond
Depending on how into the whole Performing Arts Center scene you are, you may know that the “Committee” recently presented their new report (link was weird for me) to the Mayor. It was received poorly by average joe types around town. You can read about the train wreck that is the Arts Center elsewhere. I want to talk about how Patchwork Collective can save Richmond. Full disclosure: the bros from Patchwork are friends of mine and my company did their website. I am speaking totally from my own perspective though and not as a mouthpiece for PC.
The thing that got me thinking was this quote in Snoopy’s second post:
The Landmark Theater, the only venue keeping Richmond from slipping into the dark ages performing arts wise, gets the shaft from the report. This is what angered me the most.
I think what angers me the most is (no disrespect to Snoopy) the commonly held belief that Richmond needs these large government sponsored venues and initiatives to avoid falling into a creative culture black hole. This is simply not true. The folks in charge of Richmond seem to be jonesing for Baltimore’s Inner Harbor — a Shangri-La of planning and foresight. But just look inward Richmond, inward. Inward to Carytown, Libbie and Grove, and Shockoe Bottom. All of these places are popular with the kids these days and have lots of foot traffic, the black gold of retail. All of them grew up out of local business owners working together not from some governmental decision handed down from on high.
We shouldn’t look up to Mayor Wilder in his throne among the clouds and expect him to materialize a true and vibrant scene for us mere mortals. Amazing things happen when people — not government — get involved. History bears this out.
Jazz, a music birthed from slavery and forged in communities that suffered during Reconstruction, knows something of the growing pains Richmond feels. This quintessential American music was created in a time — the early 1900’s — and a place — New Orleans — where the government despised, ignored, and tormented the founders of the Jazz scene. Blacks who had intermarried with French colonists whos skin was too dark were evicted from New Orleans high society. When these musically trained outcasts were forced to live and cooperate with the local slave population Jazz was born. The blossoming of the art form certainly didn’t stop there; Jazz continued to grow in popularity in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York despite a culture that did little to encourage black enterprise.
Creative scenes are born when creative people start doing creative things, not when Governments get involved.
This is how Patchwork Collective can save Richmond. Right here, in our city, is a group innovating, changing, and growing the local music scene. You don’t need a performance hall to hear stunning music in Richmond — it already exists and you are missing it. You don’t need to move to New York, or even go there, to see superior musicians preform live — it’s happening here. In the last year PC has hosted a famously talented clarinet soloist, a ten piece brass band, a twelve piece chamber orchestra, and a world renowned jazz musician. Exactly the type of things the Mayor’s Performing Arts Committee would love (and you would love too, I promise). The Committee’s suggestions will cost you $45 million while PC’s splendid offerings will cost you 5$. Your call though …
Richmond is in the midst of a nascent cultural explosion, and it’s going to happen regardless of what fills in the giant hole on Broad Street. Just like Carytown, Libbie and Grove, and the Bottom the best way to build on what we have now is for people to start working together and getting involved. Ground up people, ground up!
Postscript #1
Patchwork Collective isn’t the only group doing amazing things in Richmond. There are people involved in music, theatre, video, and belly dancing (no joke). I know this. I feel, that if you start with a rich and available music scene a lot of the other creative stuff will fall into place.
Postscript #2
The amount of money the City wants to spend on this project truly is ridiculous. $45 MILLION DOLLARS. I tell you what, give PC 500k$ and in ten years the cultural return on your investment will be a hundred fold of what you would get for $45M and a arts center now.
you are absolutely correct. Even I have noticed in the last 10 years or so the cultural explosion in Richmond. Tons of small galleries have opened, lots of musical venues have opened and groups like the Patchwork Collective have been working very hard to bring wonderful cultural experiences to our city. Generally when gov’t gets involved in our cultural development it takes on a false air. This happens because you can’t gauge what the soul of the constituency is going to want. Art is an ever changing passion. This year it may be jazz, next year, electronica, or street theatre v. stage. I understand that the performing arts center could be used for a variety of functions and that we could have lots of different types of performances there. But we already have the venues. We should be working to remodel our exisiting beautiful structures (Carpenter Center?). Transforming some of our old buildings in the city into small cultural venues should be a priority. Richmond is history and our future lies in our rich past.
— RVAkid | @
a few things:
1. let’s be careful to distinguish between the culture and the venue. $45million buys a big shell that could house culture, but the culture is not included.
2. i have no problem with a large venue. what if PC wanted a full symphony? that’s not happening in a little retail store that fronts as a “gallery” one night a month. limits on venues can put limits on culture. sure, the culture’s still there, but how it’s expressed is limited and how many people get to experience is limited.
3. big performances do not equal selling out to the man. i’m sure somebody disagrees, especially you punk kids, but if PC has a big show for 20,000 does that suddenly mean they are less creative? no, it means 100x more people get to be a part of their creativity.
4. i don’t think we need a $45million gold-plated rich-mans’ venue, which is what this would have been (primarily). buy an abandoned factory, put in a stage, bam!! concert hall (you get the point).
5. i think there’s a clash between the culture that most haduken users want (closer to counter-culture), and the culture that the wealthy decision makers want. it’s gwar takes on kenny g. or whatever.
— Wolf | @
Let me throw in a word for the larger arts organizations, namely, the Richmond Symphony. With the Carpenter Center closed the Symphony is having to perform in local churches in the greater Richmond area. In some ways this is actually good because it’s attracting new patrons who might not want to go downtown for a concert, but who would love to stay in Bon Air or the West End and have the music come to them. On the other hand, it is very difficult logistically for the Symphony to be so nomadic. And as for acustic quality, carpeted sanctuaries are not as good as legit performance halls, whether new or simply remodelled.
I understand the significance of smaller, grassroots arts organizations in Richmond, and I agree they can do amazing things for this city. I just don’t think we should forget some of the larger, more traditional groups that really do play a large role in Richmond’s cultural scene. Maybe a $45 million dollar venue isn’t necessary (some people are hoping for $60 million actually…), but we can’t leave these organizations out in the cold.
— Andi | @
i’d like to see a study about who attends richmond symphony events slash who cares to sponser it. i’d be surprised if city of richmond residents would want their tax $ to go to that. i’d guess that it’s mostly west end people, etc. why not put some fancy $60million venue in the west end and have them pay for most of it?
for clarity, i have no beef with the RS, in fact i support it in my mind. i just question who should pay for a good venue for them. i do have beef with richmond paying for a bunch of stuff (stadium included) that is primarily used by the surrounding counties. sure, locate it centrally in richmond, but those that use it should pay for it.
— Wolf | @
Okay okay okay. I know I’m dumb in asking this question, but can someone explain to me why the Carpenter Center is closed at this very second? I mean, I haven’t biked by there in a while. But I recall the following facts:
1) The carpenter center was awesome. Maybe old, but definitely awesome.
2) There is a hole in the ground next to it where nothing is happening except air getting older.
3) . . . . That’s all.
So, it’s May 2006 right now. Can we maybe get the carpenter center into some kind of shape by October? Can’t we just give up on the hole part for a while, clean up the rest with maybe a broom or something, and put a big “excuse our mess” sign hanging kind of crookedly on the side of the building and have some shows?
— RMSzero | @
RMS: Actually the Carpenter’s Center will be closed for 3 1/2 more years.
Wolf/Andi: I agree. The RS is great, but I would also like to see their attendance numbers and demographics. Although I hear they are putting on casual events at places like the Science Museum. So that is a cool change to their business model. I just don’t see anything awesome coming out of the Richmond Symphony. While it is important (I guess?) for the Symphony and Ballet to exist, I would much rather have a thriving local art and music scene that made people want to move to Richmond. I don’t see that Symphony doing that.
Wolf: I think I agree with 1-5? I would even say that the culture/creativity that rich people with money want is not stuff that will bring prosperity to Richmond. Just my opinion though.
— MaxPower | @
MaxPower, i feel you and i have reversed typical roles- you seem so abrasive. honestly, how much money has PC made? how much “prosperity” have they brought to richmond? relatively 0. even in terms of creative prosperity, negligible compared to the RS.
i think we need a balanced attack. small-time “local” gigs isn’t the only answer. and we’re only talking music here. there’s so much more to creativity than music. again, if creativity is present in a place, it will thrust forward in some expression or another, regardless of venue.
perhaps this is a challenge to the RS. if you are important and relavent, evolve and progress, or die.
— Wolf | @
as far as venues go, the venues need to be fluid, much like culture. we don’t need another proscenium style venue on which to have performances. The Carpenter Center is a wonderful venue (or will be again) as is the Landmark Theatre. I was thinking, as was Wolf, obviously, that we could use some of the run down buildings in the city already to make a performing arts center. What I think this center is going to lack is versatility. One thing to improve versatility… a theatre in the round, a 360 degree stage with seating all around. All kinds of performances can be held in such a venue and the experience is wonderful. This type of venue also lends itself very well to interactive performances, which always draw good crowds.
I would agree with Wolf on some other things as well. We do need to find a balance. Regardless of how big or new or shiny a venue, there will always be the smaller venues that will house those that wish to perform. I also think that a venue to shiny will probably be out of the price range for average citizens to attend. Joe and Suzy home owner may really like to go to plays and jazz concerts, but can’t afford the $50 and up cover charge to get in (except on rare “special” occasions). Personally I love the theatre, as I’m sure many haduken readers do, but tickets are way out of my price range for regular attendance. Most of the consituents here, correct me if I’m wrong, are 20’s to early 30’s just starting to make their way in life and can’t afford to drop $70 bucks for one night’s entertainment for two but so often.
And the tax base is another great arguement. Most of the tax base in Richmond is lower to middle class folks who probably have been to see one of these cultural shows a very few times in their life and will be angry that $45M is being spent to bring in cultural bucks, but their kids go to schools with leaky roofs and textbooks that are so far out of date “duck and cover” is still a viable option. Not to mention the crime problem, and the city is proposing to cut the police budget for next year. How do you expect to sell this to a single mother of 4 making $300 a week, living in gov’t housing, who sees this as a waste of her tax money?
Maybe the West End is a great location for a RS performing arts center.
— RVAkid | @
Why is the Carpenter closed? The Virginia Performing Arts Foundation bankrupted it, that’s why. That is why so many people are upset and shocked that the Foundation are in the game, and poised to be a major keyholder of the downtown arts scene (read the performing arts committee’s report and find out) for years to come.
The VAPAF were given a $3 million dollar endowment and control of the CC several years ago and, through waste and pricey consultants (those things always help art, don’t they?), managed to blow it all along with millions in Richmond tax money. Oh, and they didn’t build an arts center - they tore down a building before they could construct anything in its place, leaving the hole we see today. They completely ignored their own printed material about renovating the Landmark (that is where most of the children’s arts education stuff stems from - sorry kids!). Worse of all, they claimed to have raised millions and millions in private money. Turned out that they had less than $1 million in private money in the bank.
In other words, these folks wanted to build an arts center on Richmond’s consumption taxes — guess who that mainly targets? — and weren’t willing or able to pony up any private money (there is also evidence that the Foundation was as lousy at fundraising as they were terrific at convincing politicans to raise taxes). What the VAPAF produced from all of this is what you see: A big hole in the ground, a boarded-up Carpenter and a forsaken Landmark. Did I mention that the Foundation fired the one and only guy they had with entertainment presentation experience — Joel Katz. The 10-year exec director of the Carpenter Center was fired because… ta da! … he dared to point out that the VAPAF’s plan was tanking and that the Carpenter was in danger of being closed.
It’s all well and good to talk “art” but this is the biggest boondoggle that Richmond’s downwtown has ever seen. And it has made the city’s performing artists victims of ANOTHER failed downtown revitalization scheme — the Sixth Street Marketplace of the arts — and the pawns of people who don’t know what they are doing; people too powerful to have anyone in charge (even Wilder, apparantly) remove them from the situation. Don’t know about you, but that’s not supporting the future of Richmond’s arts scene to me.
It’s all at saverichmond.com - the financial statements, the press accounts, the quotes, how city council has basically let all of this happen. Think I’m joking? An independent auditor found hundreds of thousands of dollars of wasted and inappropriately billed money from the VAPAF accounts, found that the VAPAF had been counting their pledges inaccurately - and also found that the city council didn’t institute any oversight over the VAPAF’s bills at all. Here’s the best part: Look at their board of directors (www.vapaf.com) AND COUNT THE ARTISTS, ARTS EDUCATIORS and ARTS PROMOTORS in relation to the Lawyers, newspaper publishers, politicans, retired energy execs and venture capitalists. Look at the performing arts committee’s makeup and count same.
This is not a great moment in Downtown Richmond history and it could have been completely avoided. The madness continues with the mayor’s performing arts committee - which continues to keep the Foundation’s fantasyland in play. Don’t buy into the “if you hate this, you hate art” argument. It’s a crock. Know the history.
— Don | @
this is a bump, due to comments being stuck in the spam queue.
cheers.
— midas | @