State leaders urged to do more to grow arts

ON STAGE: Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, above right, an actor and development director for Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket, says performing artists should be considered for tax breaks. Also pictured, from left, interns Alex Salazar and Trent Robinson Lee. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
ON STAGE: Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, above right, an actor and development director for Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket, says performing artists should be considered for tax breaks. Also pictured, from left, interns Alex Salazar and Trent Robinson Lee. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

If you want to keep Shakespeare alive in Rhode Island, give a tax break to Hamlet – or more precisely, the actor who portrays him.
That was one suggestion offered at a Feb. 11 charrette – or brainstorming workshop – where state leaders, businesspeople, college administrators, artists and actors discussed ways to ensure that arts and cultural activities continue thriving in Rhode Island.
The group, about 200 strong, came together at Fidelity Investments’ Smithfield facility because they’ve all come to recognize that arts activities – from WaterFire nights in Providence to musicals at Woonsocket’s Stadium Theatre and exhibits at Pawtucket’s Hope Artiste Village – have become a vital economic engine in the Ocean State.
“When all the arts venues in downtown Providence are active, so are the restaurants, bars and parking lots,” said Randall Rosenbaum, executive director of the R.I. State Council on the Arts.
His organization presented the gathering with numbers that illustrated the role of the arts in the state’s economy: There are 8,000 to 10,000 artists working in Rhode Island. The state’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations provide 5,165 jobs. And art businesses, nonprofits, museums, theaters and movie productions employ a total of 13,445 people in the state, according to a recent study by Americans for the Arts.
Those direct employment statistics are just one part of the story. The group also heard that the arts help other businesses to prosper. When Providence hotels are packed with conventioneers, that’s partly because the organizers know there are things to do in the city. When companies locate in the state, it’s partly because they know employees want to live someplace with cultural activities.
Leaders in government and business should be taking steps to ensure all that continues, Rosenbaum told the group. “RISCA is not an economic-development agency,” he said. “Economic development is a happy byproduct of what we do. … We all have to be at the table together.”
Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, House Speaker Gordon Fox and Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed all spoke to the group. Chafee described the arts as “an asset to the state,” adding that since the time he served as mayor of Warwick, he has recognized the economic benefits of arts and culture. Split up into discussion groups, attendees generated dozens of ideas to help the arts scene prosper, suggestions that will be presented to statehouse leaders in the days and weeks ahead.
Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, an actor and developmental director for Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket, noted the state has a program that gives income tax breaks to those who work in the visual arts; he suggested extending that benefit to the performing arts as well.
“As an actor I have a unique talent,” he said. “Why aren’t I eligible for the same thing? As it is, we have a lot of institutions that help someone in theater develop their proficiency, but once that’s accomplished, we tell them to leave, to go somewhere else if they want to make a living. How do we keep them here?”
Herb Weiss, economic and cultural affairs officer for Pawtucket, suggested municipalities include the arts in their economic-development plans. “Artists should be considered small businesses that enhance the quality of life,” he said. “Every city and town should have someone in their government who is the arts advocate, perhaps the economic planner, or the town manager.”
Christina Bevilacqua, director of programs and public engagement at the Providence Athenaeum, wants Rhode Island colleges to encourage students to work as volunteers with arts programs throughout the state. At present, she said, only Rhode Island School of Design makes a strong effort to do so. “These institutions don’t see themselves as part of the larger community,” she said. “It’s too bad, because students could really benefit from the real-world experience.”
Daniel Schleifer, development director at New Urban Arts, noted that while the state has done a good job supporting established artists, there should be an effort to boost newcomers, too. “We have to ensure the generation of artists coming up gets an opportunity to make their mark,” he said.
Others at the session proposed creating an arts brand for Rhode Island; creating a single Internet calendar listing all art activities in the state and having the state’s transportation authority provide special services to bring people to arts events.
“RIPTA could promote the idea that you could have dinner in one community, and then move on somewhere else to see a play or performance,” said Valerie Tutson of Rhode Island Black Storytellers.
There was also talk of replacing the state’s nine arts districts – where there is no sales tax on art purchases – with a program that covers the entire state.
With Paiva-Weed strongly advocating for more support for the arts economy, some of those suggestions could bear fruit quickly, said Lisa Carnevale, a communications consultant to Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts.
“Because this was the Senate president’s [joint] initiative, it will be put into a report for the Senate,” she said. “It was an idea-generating session, one done very quickly to help the arts industry move forward. Some of it will be used to develop a long-term strategy for building a strong foundation, but hopefully some short-term goals will emerge as well, things that can be handled in the current legislative session.”
John Maeda, RISD president, cautioned that schools have to ensure arts are not ignored in the classroom. He suggested a retooling of the current education trend that has teachers focusing on the so-called STEM curriculum – for science, technology, engineering, and math; the acronym should be STEAM, with an “A” for arts.
Carol Warner, an arts curator for Fidelity, told the group the arts play an important role in the innovation economy because they create the kind of community that’s attractive to their workforce. She added that Fidelity owns more than 1,200 works of art that are frequently exhibited in their workplace facilities to create a comfortable and stimulating atmosphere. “It invigorates our employees,” she said.

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