Pencil in another arts victim to Pioneer Square redevelopment. Word around the Washington Shoe Building has the entire building being cleared of tenants (including three co-op galleries, a performance space, Zeitgeist Art and Coffee, and countless cheap live/work spaces) in order to convert the building into upscale apartments. A call to building owner David Hasson confirmed that changes are planned for his beautiful brick building on the corner of S. Jackson and Occidental. Unfortunately, William Justin, the man in charge of the redevelopment, is out of town for most of October, so I couldn't get any specific information about plans for the building. But let's assume for the sake of argument that low-rent artist studios aren't part of them.
For the sake of what argument? Why, my new pet theory of the arts economy, which largely parallels the populist critique of the market economy shared by everyone from Pat Buchanan to Warren Beatty. The arts economy in Seattle is thriving by most measures, with new construction, rehabs, or additions for On the Boards, A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle Symphony, Experience Music Project, Seattle Art Museum, and Henry Art Gallery during this decade. And it's not just the big groups benefiting: Money pours into savvy, scrappy startups like the Northwest Film Forum, Consolidated Works, Richard Hugo House, House of Dames, and Three Dollar Bill Cinema -- though most of those groups would disagree with me.
It's at the level beneath those groups -- individual artists, co-op artists' groups, and artists' studios -- where the heavy bleeding is going on. This lower level exists without much in the way of grants, without private or corporate patronage, and outside of the market economy. They are, in short, money-losing propositions -- artist-funded farm teams out of which some will graduate to real careers in the art world, and most will quit or perpetually pursue their creative work as a hobby.
The health of co-op galleries like Soil, Oculus, or the Pound, and of studios like the Washington Shoe Building, 619 Western, and Noodleworks depends on cheap rent in buildings which would otherwise lie vacant. Neglectful owners like the late Sam Israel are their lifeblood, keeping their expenses sustainable; his death, and the ensuing redevelopment of his properties during a general real estate development boom threatens co-op galleries and studios greatly.
Thus my pet theory: Fringe arts groups and emerging artists are recessionary by nature, and best served by a sagging economy. In a boom, they are culled from the herd. So we shouldn't look for any real surge in ground level arts-making until we enter a recession or the stock market crashes. The answer to the problems faced by emerging artists in Seattle isn't more government funding, it's economic collapse. Vote Beatty!
* * *
Further evidence of my theory: Seattle Repertory Theatre announced the receipt of a whopping $2.5 million donation last week. Now, at a very conservative 5 percent interest, that would give the Rep $125,000 extra to play with every year. But does that sate the appetite of Puget Sound's seventh largest arts organization, with an annual budget of over six million dollars? It does not! The Rep is planning a whole-hog endowment campaign to begin in 2000.
