Candidate Question #4
The City passed some zoning provisions to incentivize "arts spaces" in new development in Old Town North. How would you work to encourage a vibrant, active arts environment within Old Town North, supporting both the performing and visual arts for the benefit of the community, the surrounding area and the artists?
Kirk McPike I am very supportive of including public art spaces in Old Town North. I believe that is a wonderful way to expand upon the existing artistic culture in our city. Alexandria already attracts visitors to the Torpedo Factory and expanding north into an arts district is a great way to grow this part of our economy. We already have the Arts Walk, performance spaces, and the symphony in Old Town North.
Additionally, community wide events such as Art on the Avenue and the St. Patrick’s Day parade have a unique ability to reach across the different communities in Alexandria and bring residents together through music, art, dance, and more. While Covid-19 has put a damper on such festivities, I will do my utmost to support other community-uniting events in areas like Old Town North, Old Town, Arlandia, and the West End.
We can foster public arts in many ways, and as a member of Council I would take an "all of the above" approach to such an effort. I would support development requirements that include public artwork and green spaces, which themselves can be used as locations for art displays and performances. I would work with local businesses, local non-profits and the state and federal governments to help the artists and arts organizations that make our city a vibrant place recover from the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would be a friend and advocate to the arts across the city, including Old Town North.
Sarah Bagley We must ensure that the developer contribution funding designed in the 2018 Old Town North Small Area Redevelopment Plan is collected and used in ways that maximize public interactive art spaces to include the outdoor displays of works of art as well as reserved public performance spaces or zoning that allows
for adaptive use of spaces to support creative works. Local artists should be invited to participate in place-making projects that invite interaction with artistic exhibitions or provide the means through accommodated seating to sit and reflect upon the surroundings. Where possible, housing options should be made available to artists and creatives to create combined studio and livable spaces. These areas should also be well lit and designed with an eye towards safety so that solo visitors, families with young children, and seniors all feel safe spending extended periods of time in the environment.
Amy Jackson I will certainly encourage an abundance of art to be created, displayed, and/or heard in the new development in Old Town North. A vibrant, active appreciation of the arts will create a positive, uplifting vibe in our community that is needed now more than ever with the now impending eradication of the coronavirus pandemic. Our economy needs to be re-imagined, re-built in some ways as it re-opens, being even more robust than pre-COVID-19 days. That successful economic expansion, however, is only encouraged by art, which creates a sense of community: where people go to gather, look, listen, and engage over food, beverages, and retail shopping. Performing and visual arts only strengthen our re-opening of our beloved Alexandria.
It is my hope that partnerships between the members of our arts
community (here and throughout the region) with our city, businesses, restaurants, schools, and non-profits provide many opportunities for the benefit for all our residents and visitors. I look forward to music in the parks, murals on buildings, participation in interactive creative endeavors that bring art alive and capture our imagination – giving a more vivid hope for our abundant future.
James Lewis Zoning incentives are just one of the tools to expanding the arts district in North Old Town. In order to create the vibrant arts district envisioned for OTN, we need to do more.
Work with Alexandria Economic Development Cooperative (AEDC) to recruit arts organizations and arts-focused businesses into OTN
Seek developer contributions, independent of bonus density, that foster the arts and artists
Increased opportunities for arts education
Foster outdoor, public art – like at the Gables – to put art directly into the neighborhood
Consider incentives for arts-focused businesses
Alyia Gaskins I have been actively reaching out to artists to hear their stories, as well as opportunities to better support them. In my professional capacity, I served on the Advisory Board for the Trust for Public Land’s Toolkit for Health, Arts, Parks, and Equity, which outlined guidelines on using place-based arts and culture to achieve health equity. Based on these experiences, I believe creating a vibrant, arts environment within Old Town North will require us to engage artists in the design of “arts spaces,” promote the performing and visual arts, and invest in a diversity of housing options.
Engaging artists is critical to ensure developers center arts and culture in their design and create tenant spaces tailored to their unique needs. To make spaces more accessible, especially to women and minority artists, I will work to create programs to help access low-interest loans to purchase spaces or invest in things to help their business thrive. To promote Alexandria’s arts amenities and attract greater investment, I would work with our city’s economic development authority and Visit Alexandria to raise awareness of the Old Town North Arts and Cultural District and to support placemaking activities. This increased patronage and visibility help solidify the long term sustainability of our arts community, in addition to creating increased direct revenue streams for our local artists and related businesses. Finally, by investing in more affordable housing, we can help artists and musicians stay in our City and ensure the diversity that fosters artistic development and great places.
Patrick Moran I have long been a fan of MetroStage in North Old Town. I announced my candidacy for the Alexandria City Council with a simple and lofty mission: to do all that I can to see Alexandria become the Greatest Small City in the World. I believe that core to this mission, is Alexandria offering the most vibrant arts district in the world. I see our brand of art our being a beautiful intersection of sustainability, nature, history, and progressive values. I would love to see it manifested physically by an open-air trolley loop that connected the waterfront from Jones Point to King Street, to the Torpedo Factory, to MetroStage, and the new North Old Town Arts District. To support this, we must build upon our current momentum in attracting world-class artists to display in our city, while also fostering talents and passions in our youngest Alexandrians, as well as students across the country and around the world.
We also cannot lose sight of the fact that artists' livelihood relies on patronage, ticket sales, art sales, and performances. It is not enough that artists be here. They must realize financial success so that they may continue their work. Broadband and fiber access will help ensure that not only in-person sales occur reliably into the future, but also worldwide engagement as well as digital art. We must also work with our neighbors to ensure that affordable housing on public transportation lines is readily accessible.
William Campbell Alexandria City funds an Office of the Arts, which manages the Torpedo Factory. There is also a citizen-led city commission for the arts. As the question notes, several new zoning provisions have also been passed to incentivize arts spaces. Additionally, the desire for the city and developers to “…encourage arts and cultural usages” in the development of Old Town North has been codified as one of the small area plan’s fourteen guiding principles. Personally, one of my dearest friends and mentor, the late Fay Slotnick, was a resident in Old Town North and she was also one of the biggest philanthropists supporting arts in Alexandria and most especially Old Town North and MetroStage. Some of my fondest memories remains walking from our home in the Parker-Gray neighborhood up to MetroStage and enjoying a dinner and a play or a concert with Fay.
Therefore, my primary efforts would be to ensure that all approved developments are done so only after ensuring that the small area plan has been front-and-center, early in the design and approval processes and that as strong a focus as practical has been placed on the arts and cultural principle. Additionally, as we look to develop a new park area, an outdoor amphitheater might warrant consideration (perhaps linked to MetroStage performances). I would also work to ensure that citizen input continues to be instrumental in the granting of any zoning/building permits. This incredible development opportunity should be an absolute destination center for Alexandrians and tourist.
Kevin Harris Ensuring a vibrant art community is integral to our community’s well-being. One idea I will look into is creating a North Old Town Arts festival, similar to the one that takes place in Del Ray.
North Old Town’s location near the waterfront is a natural tourist attraction - commissioning a diverse array of artists to create public art installations would attract even more individuals to the city. This would bring more walk in traffic to the restaurants in North Old Town.
I would also like to partner with ACPS to highlight high quality youth artists who can partner with local North Old Town artists.
John Taylor Chapman In 2016, I founded the Manumission Tour Co. in 2016 to fill what was a gap in Alexandria’s history tours and that there needed to be more focus on the contributions of African Americans in Alexandria. To that end, I am a strong and ardent supporter of expanding the reach of the arts and history in Alexandria and was happy that as a member of Council, we were able to approve the development special use permit and site plan for an arts and cultural anchor in Old Town North in partnership with the Art League. That plan proposed that the space be dedicated to the arts for the next 30 years and I plan to work with the community on how we can grow, sustain, and showcase our many talented artists from across the city for years to come. I would take it upon myself to do my own outreach to artists and organizations in the regional arts community, so that they know the opportunities that exists in Old Town North.
Bill Rossello Vibrant and active arts are core to the fabric of any great city. The Torpedo Factory has been an important art center and focal point of Old Town for decades. We need to preserve it and use it to drive the growth of art in the community. So, I’m all for appropriate zoning to balance interests and promote the arts. And I favor public art as part of the Pepco plant redevelopment. Our commitment to the arts should not be limited to the visual arts. I think North Old Town would be a great place for a music venue – indoors or outside in one of the parks. Since I have lived here for 32 years (including 6 years in Old Town), I remember when Mick Fleetwood, drummer of the iconic 70s/80s rock band Fleetwood Mac opened a music venue in North Old Town. It was a miserable failure, but perhaps only because the concept was 25 years too soon! Vacant commercial buildings might offer an opportunity to do something of that nature now.