Constitution for the Arts

AMENDMENT THREE: "NO NET LOSS OF ART SPACE

Problem.
The value that artists bring to a neighborhood leads to their eviction. Rents skyrocket. Wealth, attracted by the edge, moves in. Belltown now. Greenwich village in the Fifties. No one has found a way  to stop it yet-but isn't this the late Nineties and isn't innovation Seattle's middle name?

Solutions.
Any developer who demolishes or alters exhibit or performance space must replace it with comparable space. In addition, the city must adopt "No Net Loss of Art Space" as a city-wide goal and quantify these spaces by neighborhood, giving us a total in square feet. It should publish an annual inventory so that we may track exactly how things have changed each year and decide whether remedial action is needed

Encourage some neighborhoods, such as Capitol Hill, Near North Canal, Regrade, to become arts districts. Art resources will be concentrated there, so long as the districts also do their part. Examples: All-ages music venues, with liquor able to be sold to legal-age patrons, will be permitted here. Postering of phone poles allowed. 1% of all private development over $1 million goes to neighborhood arts fund to help with artist housing, construction of facilities, parking, etc. No net loss  of artist space enforced, with neighborhood arts fund used to make up shortfalls. Use of live/work space to develop rundown areas, seeding them with renovations, galleries, performance spaces.

Residents of these districts receive discounts for events in the district (as in London), so long as they also tax themselves to support the arts. An advantage of this approach is that you do not need to spread arts funding all over the city, sometimes into areas that are not receptive and resist the impacts or taxes.


AMENDMENT FOUR: "SAVE THE MIDDLE"

AMENDMENT FIVE: "CALL ARTS MEDIC ONE"

AMENDMENT SIX: "ART TO THE EDGES"

AMENDMENT SEVEN: "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL"

AMENDMENT EIGHT: "OPEN ARTGATES"

• Back to the main Constitution for the Arts page


Allied Arts Seattle. All rights reserved. . Site design by t.aidlin

Constitution for the Arts
About Allied ArtsConstitution for the ArtsMembership InformationBoard of DirectorsResources & Links