Posts from ‘Economy’
Jackson Needs a United Arts Nation
Shattering news for the Art Association that its most recent executive director, Nick Van Hevelingen, has walked. When an organization of the size and complexity of the Art Association—still the Center for the Arts’ most significant tenant in terms of square footage—loses two new executive directors in such short order, it’s safe to assume internal conflict exists. Unfortunately, the Art Association isn’t the only local non-profit grappling with leadership and staffing issues.
My first impression of Van Hevelingen was that he was a natty dresser. Pressed and sharp, his business experience and pedigrees surely impressed board members. I was impressed. My first conversation with Van Hevelingen was surprising, because he openly discussed his frustrations. Pacing the room, he fiddled with connections and hook-ups on his computer. He produced a folder thick as a New York City phone book; that folder was full of research and plans to restore Glenwood Street’s Western Motel. The idea was to renovate the hotel’s single floor annex, clean up the hotel rooms and facilities and turn the building into artists
studios. I and a friend had come to talk about the Art Association becoming the anchor group for a public-art-in-store-windows initiative. He liked the idea, and said that insuring such a project would be relatively easy, but that he and staff would not be able to do the footwork of canvassing Town Square commercial real estate owners. Fair enough.
Travis Walker compiled the research in that folder. The Western Hotel project never happened, for the reason most projects-in-waiting don’t happen. No money. It seems Van Hevelingen hoped funding would come from a source other than the Art Association; the emperor had no clothes. Walker’s group backed off. Too bad, because reviving that space and bringing artists back downtown would help connect the Center for the Arts to Jackson’s Town Center. Visitors would be able to see artists as they worked. And those visitors would walk across the street to the Center and experience the Art Association’s superb gallery space and exhibitions.
It’s curious that despite strong suggestions from Jackson’s most prominent industry consultants that local non-profits consider consolidating, almost nobody has done it. Why?
The answer can only be ego. And it’s so past time to get over that.
Until our economy improves, non-profits should actively look for ways to hook up to solve common issues. Walker’s Factory Studios now provides affordable space for a large number of Jackson’s contemporary artists. But there is high demand for more space. Wouldn’t the ideal be to have those artists back downtown, making art that could be displayed in town? We should think of Jackson’s cultural health as a whole, not as individual entities fighting for dominance. The Art Association has traditionally been Jackson’s power contemporary arts hub. Many young artists got their start there. That’s changing, much as the world’s economic balance has changed.
Let’s think globally, locally. Our non-profits are countries whose fortunes are changing; creative groups barely on the map a few years ago now provide sustainable solutions and venues. Until recently, Germany‘s economy was troubled. Now the country is an economic model and much of the world would love to use its credit cards.
At September’s United Nations General Assembly, driven by national political agendas, the United States attempted to block a Palestine bid to gain U.N. membership. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, an underdog on the world stage, forcefully broke with the Obama administration and proposed a compromise: enhance Palestine’s status to that of an observer state.
“This would be an important step forward,” Sarkozy said. “Most important, it would mean emerging from a state of immobility that favors only the extremists.”
It’s not the size of your sign anymore; it’s innovation that counts. You may be an activist non-profit; you may be a “get it on the ground” organization. If you share a “big picture” cause with other groups, don’t isolate; seek strength by finding ways to come together.
Excellent news that Teton County commissioners approved a contract with Wisconsin sculptor Don Rambadt to design and install a pathways public art project. The work will be part of the pathways system on North Highway 89, adjacent to the National Elk Refuge and National Museum of Wildlife Art. Local sculptor Ben Roth’s design for a series of bicycle racks will complement Rambadt’s installation.
Roth and Rambadt’s styles are similar and should mix extremely well. Both artists are minimalists, both use crisp geometric forms in their portrayals of wildlife and other creatures. Clean, contemporary and realistic enough to be recognizable by all, the art should be broadly appealing.
I visited Rambadt’s website and discovered another one of his projects: Magnetic Migration. Rambadt is placing a series of magnetic nuthatch sculptures on various steel structures he finds around the country. He’s asking the public to keep their eyes peeled for these little metal birds. If you find one, Rambadt asks you to move the sculpture to another steel building or site and take a photo. Post your photo, along with place, time and date. If Rambadt likes your site and story, he’ll send you your own little bird. Some folks decide to keep the birds they find–which would be tempting–and that’s o.k. with Rambadt. Check out the project here.
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A batch of new works at Heather James Fine Art includes new sculptures by Diego Giacometti. The gallery is a little secretive with its art collection backstories; the Giacometti name is world
famous, but most people think of Diego’s brother Alberto. Diego and his brother were very close, and for much of his career Diego served as Alberto’s senior assistant. Diego’s artistry manifested as furniture and artful objects and he established himself as a noted artist in his own right. Diego designed the Picasso Museum’s interior, but did not live to see the museum open. It’s a privilege to have Diego Giacometti’s work in Jackson Hole.
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The sub-headline in July 13th’s Jackson Hole News & Guide read: “Town mulls restrictions on ground-floor businesses as method to revitalize, generate revenue.”
“Restrictions” and “revitalize.” Opposites. See the problem? It’s not the paper’s fault. Town government thinks a prohibition strategy will help transform our economy. Targeting art galleries, in order to solve Jackson’s dearth of tax revenue is, to put it politely, very poor judgement.
Hello! How many non-profits do we have in Jackson? Snow King Resort, financed by wealthy, shrewd business leaders, courted being bailed out by a non-profit; the owners have since rejected the non-profit’s offer. I don’t know the mountain’s chances of ever becoming a viable business, but the last thing we should do is bypass testing the market and hurtle towards providing non-profit status to what SHOULD be one of the biggest retail operations in the valley! How will we ever know what the market can bear? Instead of renovating its main facility, Snow King built too many spec units and failed. So put it up for sale. That’s what failed businesses do! Snow King may sit on the block a long time, but it’s in good company.
Raise the Town’s sales tax. Continue to lobby for a real estate transfer tax. Use some of the revenue to help Wyomingites who are isolated, impoverished, abused, mentally ill, and/or hungry. Use the rest to boost town revenues.
I value and respect the missions of our non-profits, and I support (to the extent of my ability) those I feel are most crucial to the valley. We need them, and so many good people give their hearts 24/7 to causes that make our valley a better place. But we simply cannot figure out our unemployment and sales tax revenue issues in a pro-active way. We give the hospital $11,000,000 without reviewing their accounts! SPET tax rules
should be overhauled; I don’t believe the population at large truly understands what they are voting for. We’re economically co-dependent. At the very least, non-profits should have to provide a full accounting of their expenditures to prove they deserve public money.
The Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival spikes Jackson’s lodging stats every year. That means the event brings more visitors, spending money, every year. I’m sure Santa Fe or Scottsdale would welcome our best galleries, if Jackson’s business environment becomes too hostile. This is a grasping-at-straws measure. Shipping works out of state has always been integral to the gallery business. Art is international, and we are a tourist town, counting heavily on out-of-state buyers. We’re damn lucky that Jackson is, truly, becoming an arts destination. It could all change on a dime.
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Good to hear from Legacy!
Legacy Gallery in Jackson Hole (there is also a Scottsdale, AZ branch) presents artist Kenny McKenna, in a One Man Show, July 21-August 11, 2011. An opening reception takes place Thursday, July 21, 6-8 pm, at the Jackson gallery.
McKenna is a landscapist. His striking, traditional works present views of some of our most memorable panoramas: Mt. Moran, Taggart Lake, Cascade Canyon, the Cathedral Group, Mormon Row, Sleeping Indian and more. McKenna also paints the smaller landscapes—check out his gentle portrayals of lily pads, meadows and willows. Summer and Fall views prevail.
Since the Town of Jackson’s wide-reaching DRD (Downtown Redevelopment) plans were voted down via public referendum seven years ago—a true, in-your-hands measure of community sentiment expressing its will that we not over-develop our town, not turn it into a playground for mismatched, overbuilt developments, not speculate that we can match Teton Village’s resort destination allure—-we’ve watched development happen. When citizens said “no” to DRD, development rights were simply granted individually, one project at a time.
And here we are, with a fist full of empty commercial space, large quantities of unsold real estate units, and a community that feels ever more transient. Too many citizens wonder if they should stay in the valley or leave it.
Town planners and community have been, for years, giving their lives over to creating an acceptable plan for this special place. We have been asked to trust our comments are truly heard by our leaders, charged with representing the public’s interest. As a community, we cannot afford to know we’ve all been whistling dixie. We want a logical process of implementation.
Otherwise, for all these years, our community has merely engaged in an exercise.
Preserving environment and quality of place, managing growth, and creating a viable, broad-based economy are Jackson’s great challenges. We need a certain critical population mass to achieve
that balance, but most crucial is ensuring we promote and protect our wildlife, its habitat and other environmentally sensitive areas.
We must continue moving towards making the arts a part of the Town of Jackson’s future. We can remind all visitors of our history by including beautiful and lasting public places in our Comprehensive Plan. That sort of planning aids in building tourism and helps us towards finding out what level of economic success we can expect to reach. We should, as Candra Day has said, be strengthening sustainable tourism practices, using cultural assets as tools. Growth should incorporate landscaping, parks, and grace of space. Let’s create space both sacred and fundamental. Without these provocative elements, we forfeit a higher level of urban vibrancy.
Officials must strategize to attract new businesses–businesses offering solid, long-term employment—to Jackson. Attract and establish products and services desired and supported by locals and visitors. Strive to fill all this empty commercial space, rather than plan for more building.
It still appears that developers are feeling encumbered by wildlife. Our core economic stability lies in protecting and preserving the power of this place. All new projects should be primarily concerned with that goal. Geography and wildlife are our golden eggs–they will only become more precious.
Keep downtown vibrant, give it an identity separate from Teton Village’s—we cannot match that profile—and use it as a place where families who can’t afford $400 a night lodgings may stay. We want to keep those “families of five from Toledo.” We want them to be able to come hereand experience the wonders of this place–we want to educate them. If we do not, why will anyone want to protect this place?
Former Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance Director Franz Camenzind has said, “We come home, there’s a moose in the yard. We pick up the phone, call our friend in Atlanta, and get them to guess what’s outside our window. It’s not just going to the parks to see these animals, it’s having them right there with us. Living with them. Nobody has the diversity of wildlife we do, let alone have it as visible as it is, interwoven with community.”
The Cultural Council of Jackson Hole currently has all 2011-2012 Arts for All grant applications available. Arts and culture organizations, as well as individual artists, are eligible.
The Cultural Council’s Alissa Davies notes that the program “distributes social service tax dollars from the Town of Jackson and Teton County for arts education, producing and presenting opportunities, and public projects by individual artists that have a strong community benefit.” Up to $6,000 in monies can be awarded, but all grants must be matched 1:1 or more by applicants. Grants are cash.
Applications are due by June 1, 2011, and late applications will not be accepted. Any organizations receiving public funds from the Town of Jackson or Teton County are not eligible.
For full details, visit www.culturalcounciljh.org. Contact Alissa Davies at 307.690.4757 or email culturalcounciljh@gmail.com.
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On April 27, 2011, Americans for the Arts hosted complimentary access to Transitioning into the Arts Sector in this Economy, a webinar for those
seeking jobs in the arts sector. I believe these webinars are free to those already registered in the American for the Arts Job Bank, so check their home website for details.
Americans for the Arts notes that their webinars are ”geared toward those who are new to the nonprofit arts field and want to learn how to make their resumes and cover letters stand out.” The non-profit says their jobs links will help job searchers “discover what executives are looking for when hiring for open positions, and what to highlight if you’re transitioning from another industry.” Question and answer sessions are offered after the webinars.
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A quadruple opening this Friday night, May 6, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Art Association:
- Y.A.R.D. Art Year 10 – “Works created by this year’s YARD (Young Artists Revolutionary Designs) Art students feature repurposed furniture made from recycled items in collaboration with the Habitat Restore. Their creativity knows no bounds – come see what these talented students in the YARD High School outreach program have created over the course of the schoolyear with instructors Sam Dowd, Javier Baez Armenta and Ben Carlson.” On exhibition at the Artspace Main Gallery through May 23, 2011.
- Y.A.R.D. Art Alumni & Instructors – celebrate a decade of Y.A.R.D. with former students & teachers–Artspace Loft Gallery, on display through May 23, 2011.
- Figures: Eliot Goss at the Art Association – “A collection of ink wash drawings” by painter and architect Eliot Goss – Artspace Conference Gallery – on display through May 27, 2011.
- On the Other Side: Teton Mudpots and Driggs Clay Group Collaborative Ceramics Exhibition – Artspace Lobby Gallery – on display through May 27, 2011
Pro-active. Citizens creating their own opportunity. Creative people building an incubating economic arts engine in Jackson. That is good news.
Teton Art Lab and its new entity, the Factory Studios, are new arts non-profits with a mission to support the creation of new work, education and ideas by young up-and-coming artists.
I’m very worked up about the direction of development and use of donated and public funds here in Jackson. In an era where people are struggling to stay off the streets, frequenting food pantries in greater numbers, forgoing health insurance, and just plain leaving town…Jackson continues on the path of high rents, ever higher ski pass prices, over-building (ignoring voters mandate NOT to overbuild, or at least develop imprudently; even if you push through building projects one at a time, instead of en masse, the result is the same, a glut of empty commercial and luxury residential space), and lobbying for taxes we now may not be able to democratically allocate, expensive marketing to lure tourists who will probably stick mostly to their patterns, putting the idling police on the public’s tail (I know the source of this initiative and it is worthy, but our town’s real, immediate needs are urgent (at the least let’s pass a no-talking-on-cell phones-while-driving law)…Maybe we’re so insulated from our country’s massive tragedies and ruined lives that we just don’t see ourselves clearly.
We cannot, right now, fullfill personal agendas by repeatedly applying bandaids instead of finding real cures. Especially in cases resulting from egregious, imprudent financial planning. This is a time to re-set our compass. We urgently need to keep people here by creating good, long-term jobs and re-think uses for all the empty space. We built a “tunnel to nowhere” in the side of Snow King. It never felt right, and it turns out it ain’t. The mountain was gutted, condos were built that few, if any, people have bought, and now our town is in a position to lose crucial amenities. And more jobs.
I don’t hear our public officials talking in real terms about Jackson’s economic future. What is the vision? How will we get there? Is 10×10 on track? How many of our leaders are even aware of a 
federal tax rebate program benefitting green building and retro-fits? There are even benefits for government buildings.
Jackson needs a new identity, one that can include ski amenities and culture, but that should not be the major goal for Jackson’s development. Instead we must look to invite new businesses, focus on job growth—everybody else is—broaden our economic base. Let’s prepare for the certainty that there are no certainties. Let’s encourage leadership that inspires us, that is investing in tools we can use to position Jackson residents to flourish locally and globally. Keep track of how our government influences our lifestyles, what it encourages and what it does not.
I can’t predict how the newly formed Factory Studios will ultimately fare because I’m not privy to their accounting. But I admire Travis Walker’s innovation and bravery in the face of hard times. He keeps coming up with new ideas, and HELLO!!!!!! Town and arts vitality factors go up. Some young artists now operating out of the Factory were planning on leaving town until this space was harnassed.
As Travis and I have discussed, this is his version of a business incubator. Something we’ve talked about many times–and definitely here on the Blog. (Use keywords “economy,” “public art,” “smart growth,” or “economy,” ”vertical gardens” and “window art” to search for other related articles on the Blog.)
I am hugely impressed with the enterprise behind Teton Artlab’s new Factory Studios, a converted factory space made over into artist studios and work space. Teton Artlab, Strapped Glass, Treefight, the Deadlocks, Caldera Collective, Abbie Miller, Meg Daly, and Dave and Anomaly Farm are based there. Over 6,500 square feet will house a contemporary gallery, glassblowing studio, printmaking presses, and a digital media lab.Walker says eight private studios ranging from 112 to 1,000 square feet are on site.
Even though I may be out of town and miss their Grand Opening, you should not. The party takes place Thursday, January 13, 2011, 6:30 – 9:30 pm. The Factory (hello, Andy Warhol…) is located at 1255 Gregory Lane in Jackson. Lots of parking, check for space in and around Martin Lane and Bison Lumber. The opening party will feature large-scale textile art by local fashionista Abbie Miller and music by the Deadlocks.
www.tetonartlab.org/www.factorystudios.org
