And the Disneyfication of Charlotte.
Look, I don’t want to discourage anyone from contributing to the Uptown paper’s new ad hoc relief effort. There are obviously people in need who will be helped as a result.
But.
When it comes to Arts & Science Council money, especially as it relates to arts groups, the crisis is the result of path deliberating undertaken by the Uptown crowd. Four years ago it was clear that the official plan to transfer millions in performance space expenses to local arts groups was fraught with danger. At least to anyone with a lick of fiscal sense.
The official Uptown funding plan was this: Raise more money. Profit. Recall that this loopy math allowed the numbers to vaguely work for $150m. worth of new performance spaces Uptown. Many of same folks so troubled by the human condition today quite boldly had bricks-and-mortar as their highest priority from 2001 until a few weeks ago.
And that’s fine. It does not invalidate their present concerns. What it does suggest, however, is that Charlotte does a pretty horrible job of identifying long-term priorities as opposed to short-term fads and trends.
This tendency was on display again last week. Many local arts mavens were quietly aghast at a new ASC report on the supposed economic impact of non-profit arts spending. Money short? Chase money. It quite clearly pushed the notion that out-of-town arts patrons are more valuable than those in the community. In other words, a ticket sold to an out-of-towner is more valuable, generates more “return” than a local ticket.
If that is not a formula for shooting for the lowest-common denominator I do not what might be. Yet we’ve backed ourselves into this situation by: A) Pretending money grows on trees B) Making new performance spaces our top priority. One of those things we can fix, the other we are stuck with. Until the current crisis is past it probably impossible to craft a long-term arts funding plan for Charlotte.
But I think we all can agree that the top-down, centrally funding model is broken and that we do not want Charlotte to turn into Orlando North. From there everything needs to be on the table — including selling off publicly-owned spaces and property. Let’s see who is really ready for that mission possible.
