Last week, SPACE Gallery hosted a forum as part of an ongoing series called “Creative Conversations.” With the help of visiting presenter Jason Schupbach from Massachusetts-based ArtistLink, the group attempted to answer the question, “What is an Arts District?” The Phoenix sat down to review the evening’s events with two organizers of Creative Conversations: Nat May, executive director of SPACE Gallery and a member of the board of both the Portland Arts and Cultural Alliance and Portland’s Downtown District; and Jessica Tomlinson, also a PACA board member, a member of the Maine Arts Commission, and an employee at the Maine College of Art.
What does the arts district have now and what has happened in the last decade since the initial push to create a “cultural corridor?”
Jessica Tomlinson: In ten years we’ve seen things come and go. It’s incredibly organic, not just the result of planning. Here’s the problem: we can be a victim of our own success. What does it mean that these FLOFTS [Schupbach’s term for high-end fake “artist lofts”] are going up? What are the measures we’re using for success and what are the safeguards to make sure we maintain our original goals?
Nat May: One thing about Portland is people have a really cool DIY attitude. We’re not going to wait around for the city to institute an economic mechanization that allows us to open a new cool gallery. We’re going to do it ourselves because we think it’s interesting and necessary. That goes for people looking to create presentation spaces, work spaces, and people creating special events. I can meet all the people I need to meet to do my job at this gallery just within this neighborhood. It’s not because everyone needs to drive half an hour to find me; it’s because we’re all here. What is lacking is visibility. You can walk down the street and not know you’re in the Arts District.
What are the DIY things that can happen now? What don’t we have to wait for from the city?
JT: I think First Friday is a great example. The Art Walk is not city sanctioned but it’s incredibly effective in making the industry visible. PACA has changed its format: rather than just facilitating these conversations, it’s becoming a steward for the ideas and directing them to the appropriate people.
NM: Creative Conversations is an opportunity to speak to PACA’s constituents. These are people who care about the arts community. We can hear the desires and concerns and then advocate for them.
JT: The city recognizes there’s value in an Arts District, but there’s not that point person. There’s a director of marketing, but for the city as a whole there’s not someone, like in Pawtucket [Rhode Island], that’s getting the New York Times interested in what the Arts District is doing and attracting national attention. I would love to see a local arts agency with the staffing to have answers for questions about potential studio spaces in town or resources for running special events.
What is unique about Portland’s arts district?
JT: The community of artists and organizations. A high concentration of artists per capita. A high degree of accessibility across all disciplines. You can contact a politician or an art gallery and create dialogue. The quality of the people in this community who will go out and get things done. I think the distinct neighborhoods we have foster an incredible sense of community.
NM: I find it difficult to identify the telling characteristic that no other city has. We don’t have the Halloween Parade that Portsmouth has. We don’t have the window displays that Somerville has. You can’t just name five or six things here. SPACE Gallery could have happened in Burlington or New Gloucester.
So Portland is a confluence of all these different things here at the same time?
NM: The next time I get asked that question, it would be nice to say we have a city government that embraces this aspect of the community, that is proud of it and gets behind it.
JT: It comes down to value. I don’t mean just in terms of money. Feeling like you have a place at the table.
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Ian Paige: ianpaige@gmail.com.
