I’m just back from Cleveland Ohio, where I was attending an Historic Theatres conference. I was struck by their downtown, and its success in respect to our local situation. While it was a long time coming, the entire success can be traced to a singular action – the restoration of the theatres at Playhouse Square. The square is made up of a number of historic theatres including the Ohio, the Palace, the Hanna and the State which have all been restored or rehabilitated by a private non-profit entity. When this project started, downtown Cleveland was a wreck – now it is not. The holdings of the Playhouse Square Foundation now include a hotel, office buildings and parking facilities as well as a unique partnership in the IDEA center with Cleveland’s public TV and radio entities.

The restored theatres have led to increased office rentals, street traffic and new retail opportunities for downtown. I saw public art, pedestrians, busy shops and restaurants, new mass transit solutions and a sense of civic pride. Of course Tucson is not Cleveland, nor is it any other city, but I think we can learn a little from them. It has been said that every successful downtown revitalization has an historic theatre as a central component (Richard Moe – National Trust for HIstoric Preservation) and here we are in Tucson with TWO restored historic theatres. 

How do we leverage these properties to greater overall success? Public support (not just cash), as well as insuring that multiple voices and decision makers are at the table for key discussions is a good place to start. We cannot continue to chase away key community members who are valued stake holders with experience. Government cannot always lead, and should not be in charge of our cultural resources if we are to become a world class arts community.

It seems like the debate over art space in Tucson is ramping up again. Every so often we see a story in the local media about some “sweetheart deal” local artists are getting at tax- payer expense. As a veteran of many art space development projects downtown I can tell you it is not as simple as it sounds. Development is hard, whatever of the end use. There are risks, benefits and headaches along the way for all projects.

What many people forget, or did not know, is that downtown used to be filled with quirky art spaces (galleries, studios, small theatres) and then big developers saw a potential for profit due to the crowd these spaces brought in. (especially during the heyday of Downtown Saturday Night as presented by the Tucson Arts District Partnership).

This almost-gentrification was amplified due to the chimera of free, easy cash from Rio Nuevo and, consequently, many artists fled for the warehouse district or simply left the core. Is it worth reasonable public support to keep part of what makes our community vibrant – yes. We need only to look at other communities to see what works and what does not. We have some vital parts of the puzzle, let’s keep adding the rest until the image is complete.