David Hoppe

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:: Rally for culture

Monday on the Circle

By David Hoppe

I don’t know whose idea it was to call out our city’s cultural workers for a show of public solidarity on the Circle at noon next Monday.

But I applaud them.

The decision to act on behalf of the contributions arts and cultural workers and their organizations bring to Indianapolis is apparently prompted by the $47 million hole the Capital Improvement Board finds itself in, thanks to the city’s determination to anoint itself a “sports capital.”

In theory, being a sports capital seemed like a very cool idea. For one thing, the sports angle was appealing to state and local officials. So much as whisper about raising taxes for schools or sewers or public safety – don’t even mention the arts -- and these boys get bad tempered. But sports were like catnip to these simple souls. When Indianapolis needed a new stadium, our state legislators found a kind of financial creativity they’d never shown before. We had new levies on hotels, rental cars and restaurant meals before you could say, “Check, please!”
There’s just one problem with being a sports capital: We can’t afford it.

Lucas Oil Stadium hasn’t been open a year yet and it’s already $20 million in the red. And now the Pacers, a team with one of the worst attendance records in the National Basketball Association, wants the city to foot the bill for their use of Conseco Fieldhouse.

For weeks, our state and local big shots have been making like Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee in their efforts to make up for our sports-induced shortfall. Our sports enterprises, we are told, are too big to fail. And so our leaders will come up with a combination of tax increases and budget cuts that will, temporarily, staunch the flow of red ink.

As things stand now, those budget cuts will almost certainly include a reduction to the city’s already sandlot-style investment in the arts.

This, to put it mildly, is ironic. Two years ago, when city investment in the arts was at its highest – around $2.5 million per year – Americans For the Arts estimated that Indianapolis was reaping an economic benefit of almost $500 million, one of the best cost/benefit ratios in the nation.

You’d think this would have been considered a success story. After years of being told that they needed to run their arts enterprises more like businesses, that they should pay more attention to marketing and load their boards with for-profit types, the city’s arts organizations appeared to have their collective act together.

Not only that, they were doing this at a time when research indicates urban economic vitality can be linked to the depth and breadth of a city’s cultural life. Young professionals, the so-called “Creative Class,” have been migrating to cities less for specific jobs than to attach themselves to scenes that show the capacity to support a greater variety of employment opportunities. These cities are experiencing “brain gain.”
In Indianapolis, an arts organization that posted a $1 million, let alone $47 million, loss would be considered scandalous. Anyone remember Ballet Internationale?

So it’s no wonder the city’s cultural workers have had enough. They’ve been subjected to a double standard that requires greater efficiencies than most businesses ever dream of. Yet, when they succeed, they are punished by being made the first ones to absorb budget cuts. They are called “frills,” or worse by some of the same people who are looking for an extra $47 million between the cushions in their luxury boxes.

As our cultural workers know all too well, this is not only bad for them – it’s a disaster-in-the-making for Indianapolis.

That’s why they are calling on all people involved with the arts and cultural enterprise to assemble on Monument Circle Monday, April 20 between noon and 12:30.

But I’d like to extend this net to include anyone who is part of this city’s Creative Class. This gathering shouldn’t be limited to artists and arts administrators. Let’s see the professionals who work in advertising agencies and who are constantly hunting for new talent. And what about the people who are designing websites, coming up with new software, doing graphic design and creating marketing campaigns.

If you’re working on new drugs at Lilly or part of a Bio-Crossroads initiative, you should go to the Circle at noon on Monday. If you’re a teacher or a landscape architect, an interior designer or a skilled artisan of any kind, you should be there.

Maybe you’re a cook, a waiter or a restaurateur. Maybe you own a shop. If you believe in buying locally grown food and supporting homegrown business, you should head to the Circle at noon on Monday.

Are you a doctor? A lawyer? A researcher? Does your job depend on creative problem solving – and would your work somehow be enhanced by living in an environment that celebrates new ideas, new designs, new forms?

Then you know where you should be next Monday. I’ll see you at the Circle.