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Hatching Art: Creating a Vital Arts Presence in Your Community

<P>It is a common problem: How can a community continue the 20th century's legacy of support for the arts and establish a vital arts presence - with limited public funding?</P>
<P>Arlington County, Va., has successfully developed a new way of working in this changing climate: the arts incubator. This new model of support is infinitely adaptable and transferable to any community interested in expanding its arts presence despite limited resources.</P>
<P>The arts incubator model is a departure from the traditional business-based incubator (examined in the March 1995 issue of Monographs) or other public funding paradigms. In brief, the model does five things: mobilizes untapped resources, removes impediments to growth, courts artists strategically, connects artists to the community and creates win-win partnerships.</P>
<P>The Arts Incubator Program provides an effective way to strengthen the arts without significantly increased funding. Through an innovative restructuring of the traditional relationship between government and the arts, Arlington helps artists and arts organizations become self-sufficient, vital resources. The program takes existing underutilized facilities (school classrooms, auditoriums , retail and office spaces), pairs them with costume, set, lighting, exhibition and other administrative/technical services, and packages them as incentives for artists to invest in Arlington. The County has transformed itself into an arts enterprise zone by providing free or low cost rehearsal and studio spaces, galleries, theatres and professional staff as its main currency. The Arts Incubator Program includes a strategic campaign that develops new organizations and persuades artists to relocate to Arlington. The approach is deliberate and opportunistic, guided by three desired outcomes: quality, accessibility and responsiveness to the diversity of interests in the community.</P>
<P>In an era when governments and artists often eye each other with suspicion, Arlington County is creatively using its status as a government body to secure resources for the arts. The County has demonstrated that the two can work together, and has transformed its own cultural landscape in the process. (p. 1, 2)</P>
<P>CONTENTS<BR>An award-winning arts incubator model. <BR>Arlington's arts incubator story. <BR>Principals for replication. <BR>Generate support for the arts. <BR>Seek out untapped resources. <BR>Connect arts support to community benefit. <BR>Maximize resources through creative sharing. <BR>Success story: signature theatre. <BR>Adopt a flexible approach to arts support. <BR>Enable artistic risk-taking. <BR>What obstacles should new incubators anticipate? <BR>How do I know if an arts incubator will work in my community? <BR>Growth. <BR>Recognition. <BR>Self-sufficiency. <BR>Conclusion.</P>

Arlington County, Va., has successfully developed a new way of working in this changing climate: the arts incubator. This new model of support is infinitely adaptable and transferable to any community interested in expanding its arts presence despite limited resources.

http://www.AmericansForTheArts.org
Approved
P
NA
RS
Jenny Chowning
This monograph was prepared by the Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division staff in conjunction with free-lance writer Nicole Arthur.
Periodical (article)
Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division and Arthur, Nicole
Americans for the Arts Monographs
Volume 1, Number 4
March, 1997
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File Title: 
Hatching Art
Publisher Reference: 
Americans for the Arts
Old URL: 
http://www.artsusa.org/NAPD/modules/resourceManager/publicsearch.aspx?id=8353
Resource File ID: 
276
State: 
Virginia
Research Abstract
Rank: 
7
Categories: 
Funding
Cultural Diversity
Creative Industries
Cultural Facilities
Cultural Planning
Creative Economies
Creative Workforce
Is this an Americans for the Arts Publications: 
Yes
Is CAC: 
No
Description: 
April 1997 Monograph