CULTIVATING THE ARTS -5

CITIES BENEFIT FROM USING
THE ARTS AS AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOOL

Charlottesville, Virginia may have fewer than 50,000 residents, but its vibrant arts community creates a quality of life that ranked the home of the University of Virginia as the best place to live in the United States in the book Cities Ranked and Rated.

In 1976, the City of Charlottesville turned a decommissioned 1916 Federalist style brick school building into the McGuffey Art Center -- a vibrant place where dozens of artists rent studio space far below market rate.

In return for low rent, artists agree to open their studio spaces to the public for a required minimum of at least 17.5 hours per week.
"It humanizes the process -- people walk right in to your studio and begin to realize there are flesh and blood people making these things and these people have a role in the community," said sculptor Jim Respess, who has been at McGuffey for two decades and chairs its gallery committee. "It's a nice fit: we have a really nice exhibition space, but the lion's share of what goes on at McGuffey is people can walk in `and see the dirt on the floor' -- the process (of marking art) unfolding."