Arts panel creates ‘magic,’ struggles for money

It seems fitting that the monthly meeting of the Arts Commission is held in a conference room at Northwest Architectural Co. The room has windows, warm beige walls, and a funky periwinkle-blue ceiling, giving it an aesthetic quality lacking in the usual bland boardroom.

The commissioners also don’t fit the bureaucratic mold. They are architects, actresses, artists and musicians, and they have higher goals than the bottom line.

Hot coffee in ceramic mugs on a wooden tray was waiting as they bustled into the room. They unwound scarves, unbuttoned coats, and pulled their swivel chairs up to the table.

Established in 1976, the Spokane Arts Commission is a 16-member advisory board whose mission is to promote, not surprisingly, art in Spokane. All the members are volunteers, except for Karen Mobley, director of the City Arts Department.

Vice chairman Tom Sippl called the meeting to order. The hot topic was a $33,000 grant that commission chairman Dana Harbaugh had sought from the city’s lodging tax fund the previous night. He got nothing.

The commission needs the money. Among its duties are maintaining Chase Gallery exhibitions, participating in the Visual Arts Tour, and selecting and maintaining public art.

“We’ve got a hole to fill,” said Harbaugh, nodding.

To get hotel money, groups must prove they draw visitors who stay in local hotels, creating “heads in beds.” Commissioners voiced frustration at the impossibility of tracking the bedroom decisions of visitors who come for art events.

Then, guest Ward Duft from the BHW1 advertising agency, introduced a guerilla marketing campaign, “Life Without Art.” Soon local artwork will be shrouded in black vinyl, and feature a large sticker: “Imagine your life without art.”

“By covering up the art, we want to shock people into noticing the art pieces, by their absence,” Mobley said.

Two hours into the scheduled hourlong meeting, ideas were still being tossed about, like paint splatters in a Jackson Pollock work. Among them: A moment of silence in the middle of a symphony performance, and cutting the lights during a Civic Theatre performance, while a recorded voice intones: “Imagine your life without art.”

Perhaps those approaches could be seen as singing to the choir, but there’s no mistaking the passion behind them.

“I’d like to see Spokane move to a place where art is a way of life – a way of thinking, feeling and being,” said commissioner Rik Willmering, owner of Moderna, a custom architectural and decorative metal arts company.”I really believe art is what separates us from the rest of the primates. Art in the community is what gives it its song, its magic,” said commissioner Summer Berry from Gonzaga University’s theater department.