URP584 Economic Development Planning (Prof. Campbell, University of Michigan)
Arts, Culture and Economic Development
To engage and illustrate our discussion of Arts and Economic Development, please post examples of cultural districts, local arts efforts, arts clusters, arts subsidies, and debates about local arts and economic development -- a wide variety of examples encouraged. Themes might include: efforts to use arts to trigger neighborhood revitalization; arts and gentrification battles; the displacement of the arts by more remunerable economic activities; arts and placemaking; arts and city marketing; arts linked to TIFs, BIDs, DDAs; studies on the economic impact of local arts subsidies, etc.; arts and workforce development; arts districts and historical preservation; arts and youth development programs; etc. Think about the role of fine arts vs. performing arts vs. street art; of production vs. consumption of art; of "high" art and "low" art; of formal arts institutions and districts vs. informal spaces.
Instructions for students: everyone registered in URP584 has editing access to this document; be sure to sign in (using your UM account if you are not already signed in). Click "Publish" when done. Format: be sure to give your entry a simple title, a comment (where appropriate), and your name.
Brief entries are fine, such as an image, an article link or a quote; please list all sources. I have also included examples from past years. See also here. Thanks! Scott Campbell
(Note: image at top of page: Rooms (band) @ Threads Festival @ Yellow Barn, Ann Arbor (April 2016). Photo: S Campbell)
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Tel Aviv, Israel
The city of Tel Aviv, one of Israel's cultural and economic hubs, was established only in 1909. Nevertheless, it has been recognized as one of the most important centers of art and culture in the Mediterranean basin. It is home to the biggest theaters in Israel, including HaBima, the national theater (pictured above). Tel Aviv is also home to the Israeli music industry. The presence of these art scenes have caused people seeking to enter the arts profession to move to the city from all over Israel.
The result is that Tel Aviv has also become one of the most expensive cities in the country. Protests in 2011 brought considerable attention to this issue. However, because of the high demand, the lack of available space to build new apartments and the centralization of Israeli planning practices, affordability has remained an important issue to the survival of the creative art scene. To help mitigate this issue, the Israeli government has encouraged the establishment of theaters outside of Tel Aviv (in the "periphery" of the country).
-Isaac Wolf
Photo source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habima_Theatre)
Sources: http://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/tel-aviv-yafo
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4632183,00.html
http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Arts/Dimona-to-get-a-new-theater
Lincoln Street Art Park, Detroit (Haley)
The constant touch of human interaction upon the built environment translates into a dynamic setting of mystery, exploration and delight that transcends generations. The result is a sustainable model of economic growth, as new generations are attracted to the opportunities to explore and to learn from their predecessors, to build upon those experiences, and to create new ones. The pocket park inherently offers a refuge space amidst a changing urban landscape during Detroit’s historic land use changes. The sculpture park seeks to compliment and add value to the experience of bicycle culture and good urban design by offering the touches of human intervention upon the urban landscape through art and culture.
Hamilton, Ontario (Gidon)
The post-industrial city of Hamilton is 45 minutes by car from Toronto. As opposed to Hog Town, Hamilton remained very much dependent on industrial-based economy that similarly to the Rust-belt suffered from job losses and a depleting economy (as opposed to the post-industrial cities in the US Hamilton's population increased - partially due to annexation). The city's attempts to reignite downtown development and attract the "creative class" from places like Toronto included an investment in the art scene. Hamilton offers the arts and culture experience, with lower living costs, and still only a short distance from other attractions [1]. Hamilton has become home to an Art Crawl that attracts people from the region on a monthly basis and also houses a Supercrawl seen in the background. [2]
"It reads like the pitch for a Hollywood feel-good film, as directed by Richard Florida: Down-on-its-luck Steeltown finds its feet, rescued from the brink by — you guessed it — the arts. While no one’s ready to proclaim Hamilton — yes, that Hamilton — an international cultural hub just yet, signs of life along its main artery, James Street North, have been present, and growing, for years.[3]"
[1] http://www.metronews.ca/news/hamilton/2012/09/10/hamilton-celebrates-thriving-art-scene.html
[2] http://www.thespec.com/whatson-story/5457534-art-crawl-documentary-examines-the-hamilton-phenomenon/
https://www.facebook.com/jamesnorthartcrawl/
Xiaozhou Village, Guangzhou, China
On the southern outskirts of Guangzhou lies a centuries-old village called Xiaozhou, near the island houses Guangzhou's University Mega-center where the campuses of a dozen high education institution located in. Xiaozhou is dubbed the "Art Village".
Xiaozhou Village features classical Cantonese community landscape by water, including canals, well-kept ancient buildings, bridges and local folkways. Today it's a magnet for arts and culture in Guangzhou. More and more artists, writers, photographers and college students live, work and visit the scenic village. Between the art studios, creative supply stores for ink, paper, brushes, etc., cafes, bars and restaurants, there are a lot of shrines, temples and ancestor halls where the local people come, worship and burn incense in giant tripods. Art and the daily lives of local people merge in this suburban Cantonese village.
-Lu Tian
Sources:
http://www.afar.com/places/xiaozhou-village-guangzhou
http://sarajaaksola.com/getting-to-know-guangzhou-xiaozhou-village/
https://travelcathay.com/2015/10/15/xiaozhou-vs-redtory-guangzhou/
Wynwood, Miami
Wynwood, Miami is a privately owned artist district/neighborhood outside of Miami, Florida. There are over 70 galleries and museums featuring local, national and international artists. It is most famous of its outdoor graffiti installation, and is the largest street installation in the world. The Wynwood Walls were conceived to generate more foot traffic into the area. What makes Wynwood special is that it does not generate from an organic cluster of artists but from affluent art dealers and real estate moguls in the area. They fabricate street art with restrictions on artists and hours of operation. Also there is limited housing in Wynwood; it is predominately used as sightseeing/tourism venue. The social scene that generated around Wynwood came after the site was fully established, which is a reverse type of development considering other art districts and communities.
source: http://www.wynwoodmiami.com/about.php
-Ujijji Davis
Theaster Gates + Chicago, Il.
Theaster Gates is an artist from Chicago who uses art as a catalyst for culturally-driven, “mindful urban transformation.” His redevelopment initiatives began with the Dorchester Projects, when he purchased some abandoned buildings in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago around 2009. He renovated the buildings and turned them into cultural institutions featuring art and culture from the South Side: the Listening House inherited 8,000 records from a local record store that closed down (Dr. Wax); the Black Cinema House hosted screenings and discussions of films made by black filmmakers; and the Archive House featured 14,000 architecture books from a closed bookstore. He ran cultural programming and events out of the Dorchester Projects, ranging from listening parties to community dinners. Gates wanted to use locally-focused art and culture to reactivate abandoned spaces, create opportunities to draw the community together, and to attract visitors to an overlooked area of Chicago.
Theaster’s projects have grown and expanded since then. He formed the Rebuild Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on arts-driven redevelopment and affordable housing. The Rebuild Foundation recently partnered with developers to build 32 units of mixed-use affordable housing aimed at artists in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood (The Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative). He also runs Place Lab, which researches and designs “urban ethical redevelopment strategies” in Chicago, Gary, Akron, and Detroit with funding from the Knight Foundation. In 2015, Gates opened the Stony Island Arts Bank, an empty bank he purchased for $1. The Arts Bank is a gallery, library, and community space. It holds the library of the Johnson Publishing company, which published Ebony and Jet, the vinyl collection of Frankie Knuckles, and the Edward J. Williams Collection, which includes 4,000 mass cultural objects and artifacts depicting stereotypical images of people of color. The Arts Bank hosts community archival classes, film screenings, and study sessions for young students in the area. Theaster's work emphasizes the role of locally-focused artists and culture to reignite previously ignored spaces.
-Morgan Fett
Sources: https://rebuild-foundation.org/; http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-dorchester-collaborative-met-20141111-story.html; https://placelab.uchicago.edu/
Tanglewood - Berkshire County, Massachusetts (Dahlia)
Tanglewood serves as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a popular performance venue and a musical education institute. A recent study published by Williams College (also located in Western, Mass.), found that Tanglewood contributes over $100 million to the Berkshires economy each year, a 70 percent increase from an earlier 2008 study. Economic benefits are even expected to grow as Tanglewood expands in the coming years. One contributing factor to the area's economic fortunes is rising property taxes and increased spending from Tanglewood enthusiastic purchasing second homes to be closer to the institution. The Tanglewood model shows that while arts and culture economic development can start as a tourist venture, it also has the ability to expand the local, residential economy.
Artistic Graffiti in Los Angeles, CA (Nurie K.)
Los Angeles has certainly succeeded in attracting many visitors as well as locals seeking out creative backdrops to showcase on their social media feed. When I looked up "wall art los angeles," out of the first five links, three of them used the terms "Instagrammable Walls" or "Instagram-Worthy Walls." In fact, the "pinkwall," "madeinlawall" and many murals have become iconic symbols in LA. However, not all walls are there just to boost the social media game--some murals such as "Made in LA," and "You Are a Goddess Living in a City of Angels" allow locals to show their hometown pride, and some murals such as the angel wings are part of artist Colette Miller's Global Angel Wings Project in hopes to "remind humanity that we are angels of the earth."
It is interesting that a lot of these murals are not in the city center or "tourist-y" places. Some that I saw was at a random parking lot, or a small wall behind a cafe. I think the accessibility of these artworks encourages people to go to lesser known areas of LA, and it provides a good platform for artists to showcase their talents and send a message to their audience.
Sources: Instagram (#lamurals, #madeinlawall, #pinkwall); California Dreaming mural: me; Colette Miller: https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/blog/discover-global-angel-wings-project-los-angeles;
San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua
Brianne
San Juan de Oriente is located in the department of Masaya in Nicaragua. The economy in San Juan de Oriente is based mostly on artisans. The homes are all located on beds of clay-- many artists take the clay their homes are located upon to use for their artwork.
Links:
Baltimore, Maryland
Karina
MICA, Maryland Institute College of Art, has been a highly ranked art school for years so it's not surprising that Baltimore would attract many artists. Baltimore's art scene has been known as the "authentic" underground scene that artists want to join. That combined with low rent prices and a reputation for vibrant live/work spaces in old warehouses would attract any young artist for either art school or a more DIY lifestyle.
More recently, there seems to be a fear of Baltimore losing its underground (literally) art scene to a "white wall" art gallery scene. An article from 2017 discusses some of this fear due to landlords and zoning officials enforcing stricter codes on run down warehouses that artists tend to use as live/work studio spaces (often illegal to live in). The article claims that the stricter enforcement is due to the deadly warehouse fire at GhostShip in Oakland, which prompted a warehouse in Baltimore, the Bell Foundry, to be shut down days after the fire.
Maryland also has 22 arts districts now, with the first being Station North in the center of Baltimore, officially an Arts and Entertainment District since 2002. The City's efforts for revitalizing Baltimore have taken effect through the development of art districts, but it would be interesting to further analyze if the districts have taken away from the underground art scene or supported it.
Sources: http://www.stationnorth.org/about/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43ad5g/is-baltimores-diy-art-scene-being-killed-off
Santurce Neighborhood
San Juan, Puerto Rico
There are many places dedicated to exhibiting art of all kinds, as well as venues for hosting local bands. Many up and coming artist are being discovered through this hub.
An art festival called Santurce es Ley held yearly in August is "an example of what the event organizer and gallery owner Alexis Busquet calls 'proliferation through art' - the transformation of a neighborhood through artwork and positive community action"
-Alex Wilk
https://matadornetwork.com/trips/10-most-artistic-towns-in-the-us/https://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/in-a-san-juan-neighborhood-an-international-arts-festival/?_r=0https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0geKaPZyAti9hwAqgxXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZANMT0NVSTAxOF8xBHNlYwNwaXZz?p=santurce+san+juan+art&fr2=piv-web&type=E211US714G0&fr=mcafee