n PUBLIC FUNDING
T
he room darkens. Suddenly there’s music — a piano, a ing cops or firefighters. Why should tax dollars go to things like
woman’s voice. Nine dancers, clad in white, begin to interactive LED walls?
move and twirl and glide across the stage. Behind them
The counter is simple: Culture makes a city more desir-
is a glowing wall that changes from blue to purple to able, and this spurs the economy. “Art gives a city character,
pink, bathing the dancers in color. A woman presses her something that showcases who we are and what we’re about as
hands against the wall and draws on it, changing the colors.
a community,” says Mike Testa, CEO of Visit Sacramento and
This performance art exhibit, called “Living Colors,” was a member of the Creative Edge Steering Committee. “From a
not held at the opera, theater or Crocker Art Museum. The glow- tourism standpoint, it’s important to invest in business and
ing wall and the dancers came to the headquarters of SMUD, infrastructure, but it’s also vital that we prioritize the projects
Sacramento’s publicly owned electric-utility provider. “Sacra- and the people who make our city what it is — diverse, vibrant,
mento is living colors,” said artist Vincent Damyanovich when evolving and unique.” Testa points to the Warehouse Artist
introducing his exhibit in late February. “We are considered Lofts (reduced rents for creatives), the annual Wide Open Walls
one of the most diverse cities of the United States. I see Sacra- mural festival and the “converging of artists on the R Street
mento as being a growing leader, modeling forward-thinking corridor” as examples of art making the city more desirable.
progress in the 21st century.” He created “Living Colors” to
Jody Ulich, the director of the city’s Convention and Cul-
embody that spirit and diversi-
tural Services Department and
ty. The dancers might have left
now the head of Creative Edge,
after the one-time performance,
offers a cautionary tale about ig-
but the interactive wall now re-
noring art. In 2001, Boeing wanted
sides in SMUD’s customer ser-
to relocate its corporate headquar-
vice lobby, freely accessible to
ters from Seattle and scoured the
anyone who’s there to contest an
country for a new home. Boeing
electric bill.
seemed on the verge of picking
“Living Colors” is one tiny
Dallas — lots of land, cheap hous-
piece of a citywide puzzle called
ing, no income tax. “Dallas-Fort
Creative Edge: Sacramento’s Art,
Worth thought they had it in the
Culture, and Creative Economy
bag,” Ulich says. “And then Boe-
Plan, a sprawling mix of goals,
ing said, ‘You are a cultural waste-
grants, budgets, audits, exter-
land. We don’t want our employees
nal benchmarking and commu-
coming to a place where there are
nity outreach approved by the
no arts.’” Boeing chose Chicago
city council in July 2018. Mayor
instead, citing “quality of life” as
— Mike Testa, CEO, Visit Sacramento
Darrell Steinberg lists Creating
one factor.
and Creative Edge Steering Committee member
an Art Capital as a key initiative
It’s tough to prove that for every
on the city’s website, alongside
dollar spent on arts, one dollar plus
better-known goals like Strengthening Our Economy and Ad- X flows into the economy, but a 2015 study from Americans for
dressing Homelessness. “Great cultural cities are measured by the Arts found that, nationally, the arts support 4.6 million jobs
arts and culture, sports, dining and affordable living options. and generate $166.3 billion in economic activity.
Sacramento is primed to lead on all of these,” the mayor writes
Then there are the intangibles. “The arts are part of the
on the site. “In order to do so however, we must make a real soul of the community,” says Dennis Mangers, an unpaid
commitment to the arts.”
adviser to Steinberg on arts and culture who has been in-
So is the city backing up its words? Or is Creative Edge just volved in the budgeting for Creative Edge. A former elemen-
a token nod? The plan is complete. Early grants have been tary school principal, Mangers cites the example of 916 Ink,
awarded, such as $25,000 for “Living Colors.” Yet, where the the children’s creative writing nonprofit based in Sacramento.
ongoing funding will come from — the project costs $6 million “Kids are encouraged to write poetry, and their thoughts are
to $9 million per year, and it’s a seven-year plan — is still very valued enough to be published into books with their own illus-
much an open question.
tration,” Mangers says. “Before they arrive in school, children
of all stripes believe that they can sing and dance and act. And
WHY INVEST IN THE ARTS?
they want to. But when they’re not given exposure, or instruc-
When it comes to tax dollars and budgeting, art is often dis- tion, they stop believing they can.”
missed as “nice to have,” a tougher pill to swallow than fund-
“Art gives a city character,
something that showcases who
we are and what we’re about as a
community. ... It’s ... vital that we
prioritize the projects and the
people who make our city what it
is — diverse, vibrant, evolving
and unique.”
58
comstocksmag.com | May 2019