At our City Council meeting last night the Council had a brief discussion about the proposed Art Center. I recommended the Council ask the City’s Arts & Culture Commission to study the concept in more detail and report back to the Council within 60 days. The Council unanimously approved that recommendation.
The Arts & Culture Commission will study the immediate and long term capital needs of the building. For example, we know that the building will require additional parking spots if we are going to develop it into a public art center. How many spots will we need and how much will it cost? We want to know that.
The commission will also study different options for the new art center. Will the City hire new fulltime staff to run the place? Maybe parttime staff would be OK? Maybe we can contract the management of it to a non-profit arts group? The City operates an Outdoor Center and a Senior Center using two different operational models. Perhaps one of those models would be a good fit for the art center? We want to know this too.
The proposed gift of this building to the City to serve as a public art center is a wonderfully gracious act. The best thing that we can do as a city government is to make sure that we know what we’re going to do with this gracious gift after we receive it. That’s the best way that we can honor the gift and the giver.
