Return to Virginia Business - March 2002

Related story:
- The challenge of Broad Street

by April Rubino

During the late 1990s, Katharine Lee Reid was serving happily as director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The Ohio native enjoyed her job and loved Richmond. Besides her institution, the city boasts of unique historical museums, theater, dance and lots of music. "The ballet is an extraordinary thing, and to have an orchestra in a city the size of Richmond is quite a coup," she says. Even so, in 1999, she couldn't turn down a better offer - art director of the larger and more prestigious Cleveland Museum of Art. She still thinks of Richmond. "I miss Virginia every day," she says.

Reid's pleasant memories illustrate a subtle but significant point. The former Capital of the Confederacy may be known more for its history and architecture, but it has a thriving arts community that rivals many a larger town. Bright artistic talents live in the area, attracted by the Victorian townhouses of the city's fashionable Fan District, white water vistas on the James River and affordable suburbs. Many stay put because of the strong creative energy, generated in large part by arts-rich Virginia Commonwealth University, that sustains Richmond's cultural community. Others, such as Reid, find that having worked in Richmond is a major asset when they move on to larger pastures in the cultural world.

Richmond has the depth, breadth, and quality of performing and fine arts that is certainly better than or comparable to larger cities. Among all cities, CNN/Money magazine ranks Richmond 46th out of the top 100 for culture, beating out St. Louis, Atlanta and Indianapolis. For mid-sized cities, Richmond scores even better - 14th out of 62, trumping Raleigh and Charlotte. And Richmond's arts scene stands to benefit if a new performing arts center is built as part of a renewal project on East Broad Street (See story).

Ironically, though, Richmond's arts thrive despite a lower level of support than is found in many other states. The $26 million given by corporate donors in 2000 to state-funded arts agencies and the $4.9 million spent this year by Virginian's Commission for the Arts pale in comparison to arts spending elsewhere - a drawback that hasn't stopped Richmond from becoming a cultural gem. The city offers symphony concerts along with several dance companies and theater groups. Small ensembles that graduated to professional status, such as Starr Foster Dance Project and The Firehouse Theatre Group, add a creative edge to the arts scene. The area's universities contribute as well, incubating young artists and bringing in nationally acclaimed talent each year. The Modlin Center at the University of Richmond, for instance, presented famed English chamber ensemble, The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and its Jepson Theatre brought Pilobilus Dance Theatre. VCU's Mary Anne Reynolds series presented the Juilliard String Quartet.

Among aficionados, Richmond's state-owned arts museum is widely considered to be top-notch, pulling in such highly acclaimed exhibits as the Monet/Renoir Impressionist Land-scapes and splendors from ancient Egypt, including artifacts from King Tut's tomb, which generated crowds and plenty of buzz. In addition, the city's largest professional arts companies have earned a national reputation for excellence among their peers. Robin Miller, artistic director of both Theatre IV and the Barksdale Theatre, says, "The ranking of our symphony in the nation is up there. Ballet is up there. The Virginia Opera … I hear very positive things at national conferences about it."
But the thriving arts scene belies a surprising fact: Virginia ranks in the lower half of the country in the level of state funding for the arts. Says Miller: "We're way at the bottom of the barrel in terms of state-per-capita investment in the arts, and the corporate community funds the arts less than in many comparable cities." At present, the Virginia Commission for the Arts - the agency that distributes state funds to artists - ranks 36th among the 50 states for per-capita funding, says Peggy Baggett, the commission's executive director. (The $4.9 million spent annually by the commission doesn't include state monies for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts or funds to arts programs at state college and universities.) Baggett terms Virginia businesses "generous" in their giving, but points out that the heaviest giving from corporations generally comes from firms whose headquarters are located in a state. Richmond has lost many headquarters in recent years, particularly in the banking and manufacturing sectors. "We've seen a drop in funding from those segments of the community," Baggett says.

The good news, notes Alan Albert, a lobbyist with Virginians for the Arts, is that per capita spending for the arts has been inching up for the last several years after being decimated during budget cutbacks in the early '90s by then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. It has crept back up to a level of under $1 per person, compared to a national average of about $1.67.

Still, says Albert, all the states around Virginia give more. West Virginia, for example, has a state-sponsored orchestra. Charlotte, well funded by generous corporate sponsors, has the second largest arts fund in the country, with corporate and individual donations totaling $10 million in 2001 just for the arts in that city.

The low level of support for the arts in Richmond is holding it back, according to Miller. "The reality is, the quality of your area is going to be determined by the amount of support." And strong support reaps strong returns. For instance, Miller points out that businesses competing for new talent need a high quality of life in their town to attract the best and brightest. A busy arts scene helps.

Moreover, performing arts and cultural opportunities boost tourism. The numbers are hardly insignificant: One study claims that arts and culture in Virginia is a $1 billion industry, creating $849 million in revenues for businesses and funneling $342 million from out-of-state visitors into tourism companies. Moreover, cultural organizations employ about 18,850 residents, to whom they pay $307 million in annual compensation.

Up until now, however, business leaders and legislators seemed largely unaware of these tangible benefits. That may be changing. When they see how the arts helped revitalize other cities, culture takes on a whole new light. One immediate benefit: The city has acknowledged that its performance halls are inadequate and it wants to make that right. James E. Ukrop, chairman of Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. and the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation, says: "What we're doing in fueling the arts and culture of our community really helps attract the best and brightest people in this new information age, an age where businesses are built more around intellectual capacity rather than financial capacity."

The effort may be coming none too soon. Brad Armstrong, a former marketing executive tapped to head the Virginia Foundation for the Performing Arts, is charged with raising money to renovate existing halls and build new performance space. Of the city's existing venues, "not a single one was built with performing arts in mind," he says. "The Landmark was a Shriners auditorium; the Carpenter Center was a movie house. Empire Theater was a movie house. We can't do Swan Lake in the Carpenter Center," he continues, "because there [isn't] enough room for all the swans. We can't bring in Broadway shows like Miss Saigon because the Landmark doesn't have the technical capability of handling a show like that."

These facilities don't match the level of the talent that exists in the city, and that damages the city's ability to keep great artists and get new audiences to come. "When people are moving into town and they've been used to going to performances in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and we're not able to put on that kind of performance because our facilities are second class ..." He trails off, but his meaning is clear. "We have got to fix that," he says.

He's already raised several million dollars - enough to hire architects to renovate the Landmark and the Carpenter Center. Meanwhile, Richmond's arts organizations are working to raise awareness about the benefits to the community that flow from a strong support for the arts. One new plan shows promise. "The one common thread among those communities that have the strongest support for the arts," says Armstrong, "is that they have a united arts fund - a campaign that combines both individual and corporate giving." A pilot program among selected companies should begin within the year.

With new and better facilities and a renewed commitment for support from the business community, Rich-mond's arts scene is poised to reach the next level. If so, the entire region will benefit. "This really is a pivotal time," says Armstrong. He and others believe that a city with such a venerable history deserves an arts tradition of equal stature.

Return to Virginia Business - March 2002