Buy some art, Boulder
Published in the Boulder Daily Camera, 4/21/15
It seems that we Boulderites have lately been more frustrated than delighted with our local officials' attempts to make Boulder more livable. Things that used to delight us have been falling flat. Historic preservation? No thanks, we'd just as soon skip the historic coal shed. Improved public transit? Better buses aren't trains and we want trains. More open space? How about letting us use the open space we already have? It's hard to get excited over new wrinkles in these well-worn themes.
It's not that we don't appreciate how these ideas have contributed to making Boulder the great place it is, but genuinely new ideas of where to put our time and effort have been in short supply lately. Investing in open space and historic preservation in Boulder may have reached a point of diminishing returns where more time and money aren't going to yield big results, and that's frustrating. Maybe we need some new ideas.
That's why I found a recent story (" Community culture plan: Boulder could double grants," Daily Camera, April 10) a breath of fresh air. This headline gave Boulderites a glimmer of a new idea for public investment that may be the spark that transforms Boulder before our very eyes — investment in arts and culture.
As described in the Camera article, the city's Office of Arts and Culture has been developing strategies with an eye towards increasing public investment in the arts. It has been working with residents and members of the arts community to determine whether there is a genuine desire and willingness among Boulderites to put more emphasis on the arts and culture. While still a work in progress, it has already found a hunger in the community for better art and culture and a willingness to pay for it.
Boulder has a strong cultural base in the performing arts through our existing institutions. Chautauqua and the Dairy Center for the Arts offer Boulderites excellent year-round performances from a wide range of artists. Macky Auditorium and other University of Colorado facilities and departments provide us with a steady stream of entertaining performances as well as fine arts. This and the success of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art demonstrate Boulder's support and hunger for art and culture.
But walk around Boulder with an eye out for art on public display and it's hard to find. Great cities and towns are littered with sculptures, paintings, murals, and botanical gardens, to mention but a few of the kinds of art we all enjoy seeing when we travel to interesting places. However, walk down the Pearl Street Mall and you won't find much beyond that bronze sculpture of a girl on a swing (a beautiful piece, which, we might note, has been on loan to the city), an artistically-featured playground (gotta love the animals), and a few old war statues by the courthouse. Pretty lean.
Of course, any traveller to Boulder will find plenty to visually appreciate in our town's natural beauty. That's no accident since we have worked diligently for decades to bring this visual feast to the forefront of the Boulder experience. However, imagine how relatively small investments in public pieces of art could enhance this natural beauty — sculptures, paintings, and murals of natural scenes that help us better find and understand our natural environment.
And how about using art to accentuate other integral parts of Boulder's identity — our history as a western frontier town; our healthy lifestyle and home to world-class athletes; our commitment to knowledge and technology development; and, of course, our commitment to "keeping Boulder weird" that makes "only in Boulder" mean something. Scatter artistic representations of these themes around town and they will be appreciated by locals and visitors alike.
What should surprise us all is how little our city currently spends on arts and culture — a total budget of only about $400,000 a year. This is a paltry sum for a place that ranks amongst the most well-known, enlightened, and progressive small cities in the world. By comparison, the city and county of Boulder together spend about 150 times more than that on open space and the head coach of CU's football team makes about six times that amount. That's embarrassing, especially with Loveland's extraordinary public art on display right down the road.
The city is currently discussing doubling the current budget for the arts. Maybe City Council should aim higher and ask voters for a dedicated tax where a small tax increase would make an enormous difference.
Boulder is truly a Renaissance town full of enlightenment and culture. We should decorate accordingly. Buy more art, Boulder.
It seems that we Boulderites have lately been more frustrated than delighted with our local officials' attempts to make Boulder more livable. Things that used to delight us have been falling flat. Historic preservation? No thanks, we'd just as soon skip the historic coal shed. Improved public transit? Better buses aren't trains and we want trains. More open space? How about letting us use the open space we already have? It's hard to get excited over new wrinkles in these well-worn themes.
It's not that we don't appreciate how these ideas have contributed to making Boulder the great place it is, but genuinely new ideas of where to put our time and effort have been in short supply lately. Investing in open space and historic preservation in Boulder may have reached a point of diminishing returns where more time and money aren't going to yield big results, and that's frustrating. Maybe we need some new ideas.
That's why I found a recent story (" Community culture plan: Boulder could double grants," Daily Camera, April 10) a breath of fresh air. This headline gave Boulderites a glimmer of a new idea for public investment that may be the spark that transforms Boulder before our very eyes — investment in arts and culture.
As described in the Camera article, the city's Office of Arts and Culture has been developing strategies with an eye towards increasing public investment in the arts. It has been working with residents and members of the arts community to determine whether there is a genuine desire and willingness among Boulderites to put more emphasis on the arts and culture. While still a work in progress, it has already found a hunger in the community for better art and culture and a willingness to pay for it.
Boulder has a strong cultural base in the performing arts through our existing institutions. Chautauqua and the Dairy Center for the Arts offer Boulderites excellent year-round performances from a wide range of artists. Macky Auditorium and other University of Colorado facilities and departments provide us with a steady stream of entertaining performances as well as fine arts. This and the success of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art demonstrate Boulder's support and hunger for art and culture.
But walk around Boulder with an eye out for art on public display and it's hard to find. Great cities and towns are littered with sculptures, paintings, murals, and botanical gardens, to mention but a few of the kinds of art we all enjoy seeing when we travel to interesting places. However, walk down the Pearl Street Mall and you won't find much beyond that bronze sculpture of a girl on a swing (a beautiful piece, which, we might note, has been on loan to the city), an artistically-featured playground (gotta love the animals), and a few old war statues by the courthouse. Pretty lean.
Of course, any traveller to Boulder will find plenty to visually appreciate in our town's natural beauty. That's no accident since we have worked diligently for decades to bring this visual feast to the forefront of the Boulder experience. However, imagine how relatively small investments in public pieces of art could enhance this natural beauty — sculptures, paintings, and murals of natural scenes that help us better find and understand our natural environment.
And how about using art to accentuate other integral parts of Boulder's identity — our history as a western frontier town; our healthy lifestyle and home to world-class athletes; our commitment to knowledge and technology development; and, of course, our commitment to "keeping Boulder weird" that makes "only in Boulder" mean something. Scatter artistic representations of these themes around town and they will be appreciated by locals and visitors alike.
What should surprise us all is how little our city currently spends on arts and culture — a total budget of only about $400,000 a year. This is a paltry sum for a place that ranks amongst the most well-known, enlightened, and progressive small cities in the world. By comparison, the city and county of Boulder together spend about 150 times more than that on open space and the head coach of CU's football team makes about six times that amount. That's embarrassing, especially with Loveland's extraordinary public art on display right down the road.
The city is currently discussing doubling the current budget for the arts. Maybe City Council should aim higher and ask voters for a dedicated tax where a small tax increase would make an enormous difference.
Boulder is truly a Renaissance town full of enlightenment and culture. We should decorate accordingly. Buy more art, Boulder.
