Our Man in Arlington

On Monday evening more than one hundred Arlingtonians came together to become founding members of Arlington Citizens for the Arts.

Their mission: to form a strong group of advocates willing to work hard to ensure the continued growth and viability of the arts in Arlington. Their strategy: to monitor government activities and watch closely events affecting the arts by giving support and critiques (as needed) through lobbying, networking, public forums, distribution of information to citizens, and other means when deemed appropriate and necessary.

In other words, the organization is being formed to become noisy people with clout in the arts area, according to one attendee of the meeting.

One of the principal organizers of the new citizens organization is Steve Barto, current Chairman of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. Barto told the story that when he became chairman of the Chamber of Commerce he announced that he wanted to concentrate on strengthening the position of the arts in the county. A woman he didn’t even know threw her arms around him and gave him a big kiss. That woman was Margaret Lampe, a major civic activist and leader in the arts community.

The Arlington Chamber of Commerce, as estimable and civic-conscious an organization as it is, does not leap immediately to mind as a hotbed of activism for the arts. Its interests would appear to run towards more practical programs to promote a healthy climate for business.

And that is precisely Barto’s point. An aggressive, proactive countywide program for the arts in any of their forms is, among many other things, very good for business. He cited a major study of the economic impact of a good arts program on business – restaurants and hotels, to name just a few. Putting arts on the Arlington map is good for business as well as the community at large. Using the arts community as another way to sell Arlington as a terrific place to live, work, and do business should be a part of the county’s outreach to prospective businesses.

Arlington County already does a good bit for the arts. Through the Arlington Commission for the Arts, a County Board appointed group, some $200,000 in grants a year are funneled to dozens of theater groups, art centers and studios, and music and dance organizations, as well as individual artists. The county maintains or contributes to several facilities for the arts throughout the county.

For a comprehensive look at what the county provides for the arts, go to the Arlington Cultural Affairs Division website at www.arlingtonarts.org for an eye opener as to what is happening in Arlington art-wise, as the hip would say.

All is not rosy, however, and here is where the new Arlington Citizens for the Arts comes in. The organizers believe that the county’s current programs for the arts are all well and good, but that the county lacks an overall, unified vision, and – more important – that county leaders are not committed to anything more than a relatively minor, piecemeal program for arts. The group’s leaders feel that much more is needed and is committed to providing the citizen leadership and, if I may say it out loud, the political clout to bring it all about. What they want is nothing more than a complete attitude change of the members of the County Board to commit themselves to the creation of a world-class program for the arts in Arlington.

The failure of the county to build a major cultural center, which has been studied and discussed for years, is reflective of a weak commitment to the arts according to the organizers. And this is just one of the problems they see. Overall they believe that the county will benefit with a much more aggressive pro-arts posture. They are right! And they intend to do something about it.