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Winter 2006

We're currently working on a neighborhood plan proposal, to augment the arena neighborhood redevelopment plan. Kent Williams and Elizabeth Stevenson are serving on the committee that is spearheading this initiative, so please contact them if you would like any more information at this time. More information will be added to the site when it is available, and more resolved. Keep checking back!

May 2006

 

A presentation to the Arts Council included ideas for a green 'Art Park' zone between St. Francis and Commerce St.: a block-long green space that the community will be able to enjoy 365 days a year. We proposed a sculpture garden (displays are rotated, to present new local work, every four months), large organic "bowls" of earth, for community gardening, poetry boards, assembly spaces for outdoor performances, a living tree museum, hookups for coffee carts, free 24-hour tea stands (water kept hot all the time, so someone can just bring a tea-bag and enjoy), free WIFI access, bicycle and vehicular connections to other downtown features, better lighting and trash receptacles, and possibly a recycling facility. The same proposal was sent to Councilman Carl Brewer in November 2006.

There are many other options for this park as well, and we are definitely open to suggestions. On-line images will be available soon. For more information, please contact Elizabeth Stevenson, at 200-5200, or info@fischhaus.com.

Winter 2005

 

#1. Re-zone district to CBD (Central Business District), so that artists can both live and work in the same space.

#2. Become, as a district, more involved in Final Fridays. Sponsor, and advertise on, a trolley to take people around to all participating Final Friday galleries.

#3. Work on publicity--design and distribute a pamphlet, listing all Wichita galleries, and including a map; improve website design and visibility; organize ourselves into a cohesive entity and plan street-wide events to highlight this; make presentations to City and Chamber of Commerce and become recognized as a financially viable cultural area, both to visitors and members of the community.

#4. Encourage all Wichita artists to participate by adding art list to website, and maintain gallery spaces open to anyone who'd like to display their work. Contact Pat Peppard, at ptppprd@aol.com for information regarding the availability of gallery space in her building, The Loft at 420; or Chris Stong, at chrisstong@yahoo.com, for information about his space at 414 Commerce. A photo of his gallery space can be found in our Commerce St. Art District photo gallery.

 

First Commerce Street Art District Meeting, January 13 2005.

 

Result of brainstorming session, not necessarily in order of priority or preference:

 

#1: Create an entity for ourselves first and market that to the city--emphasizing how Wichita can benefit from having an official 'art district'.

a) Develop official name--'Commerce St. Art District' is only one idea. Perhaps we want to highlight the historical aspects and/or the wide variety of businesses along this street.
b) Ask local advertising firm to donate their time and expertise, to help us organize a large-scale, city, county, or even state-wide campaign.
c) Include City in plans from beginning, by informing City Councilors and Mayor, but not rely on them for funding or guidance. Encourage City to promote Art District buy placing our brochures and advertising with other tourist materials. According to a previous study, $30 is generated in a community when one person goes to one free art event.
d) Approach Chamber of Commerce for promotional assistance.
e) Make presentation to City Council, once Art District has begun to firmly establish itself.
f) Form symbiotic relationships with Old Town, WaterWalk, Downtown and possible arena project.
g) Have regular, posted business hours when doors are unlocked and someone is available to greet public. Open studios to public. Not all art facilities may be able to do this in the beginning, but it could be set as a goal to work towards.
h) Encourage more Commerce St participants in Final Fridays. If no exhibition is up in a particular gallery on that date, suggest that the space host a musical performance, poetry reading, book release party, or other cultural event.
i) Publish a small brochure that lists all the galleries in Wichita, and distribute it to every gallery, restaurant, bar, museum, movie theater, etc. Include as a pull out flyer in local papers.
j) Hire a trolley to drive people around to all galleries on Final Fridays and put a large advertisement on trolley.
k) Enter a 'Commerce St. Art District' float in River Fest, and host a 'Clean River' street party, in conjunction with River Festival and advertised in their literature.
l) Organize and host multiple-day, street-wide party/art festival/fundraising event, that will also serve to enhance visibility of Art District and officially announce its intentions.
m) Arrange outreach programs--Commerce St. Art District events at other galleries in the city, and invite other galleries to exhibit in Art District. Try to find a way for every art organization in Wichita to participate in the Commerce St. Art District. We could also sponsor or facilitate events in the school system and other community institutions.
n) Discuss, with City, plans they have for this area, and work towards mutually beneficial solution. Is City willing to make compromises, or amend decisions?

 

#2: Try to get Commerce St. re-zoned to CBD (Central Business District), or appropriate designation, so that artists can live and work in the same place.

a) Speak to zoning commissioner at City Hall. Investigate parameters of CBD zoning to see if it can include metal-working shops, foundries and other light industrial activities along with residential units.
b) Meet specifically with Commerce St. property owners to make sure no one objects.
c) Examine potential property tax increases, apply to City (through our representative--Carl Brewer in District 1) for tax relief.
d) Figure out how to avoid the usual gentrification process that these kind of districts usually undergo.
e) Make sure that non-art business owners in this neighborhood are not "pushed out" by the art district, or otherwise made to feel unwelcome. We believe that this will succeed as a multi-disciplinary environment, where everyone can benefit from, and contribute to, the area's development.

 

#3: Form a not-for-profit LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) made up of members of the Wichita art community, patrons and local businesses, who can buy shares; developing an initial seed fund for preliminary development and/or purchasing available property along Commerce St.

a) Find lawyer who might be able to help us form an LLC for less than their usual fee, or trade art for lawyer fees.
b) Organize campaign to inform Wichita artists, art patrons and relevant business owners of the LLC and have large meeting of all interested parties.
c) Inquire into possibility of forming a health insurance cooperative within the LLC.
d) This will serve to unite Wichita art community, making it stronger and more influential within the city's structure.
e) Study Crossroads District in Kansas City, arrange a meeting with their Board of Directors.

 

#4: Apply for grants to cover organizational and planning costs.

a) Present plan to Knight Foundation, under umbrella of Wichita Downtown Development Corporation.
b) Seek funding through philanthropic grants or private donations.
c) Investigate Business Volunteers for the Arts--an organization that allows businesses to help fund the arts in their community.
d) Identify our potential strategic alliances--local businesses that share our demographic or that are connected to the arts in such a way that they succeed when we succeed and vice versa. Offer cross-promotional opportunities for Downtown restaurants and bars, cafes and bookshops.

 

#5: Make minor infrastructural improvements.

a) Encourage every business owner along Commerce to purchase large lights to affix to the side of their building, in order to make people feel safer when coming to our events. This would be in lieu of asking city to put in new streetlights.
b) Creative signage on buildings, within standards allowed for by city codes.
c) Sculptural additions to buildings (such as unique downspout covers or front railings, etc.), making it clear to passers-by that this is an art and design district.
d) Continue to maintain buildings at current high standards of structural and aesthetic integrity. Keep area in front of buildings clean and neat.

 

#6: Draw more artists to Wichita, and more Wichita artists to Commerce St.

a) Advertise in national papers and magazines, get billboard space on highways, advertise in airport--venues that will be seen by both visiting artists and patrons.
b) Encourage Wichita artists to form informal groups and purchase buildings along Commerce St., both above and below Waterman. If no buildings appear to be for sale, try asking the business owners, as they might be thinking of selling, but had not yet taken the time to put their building on the market. John and Connie Ernatt just bought a building that way, and already have four artists working in their space.
c) Organize artist-in-residence programs in collaboration with local universities, whereby visiting artists work and stay in a studio on Commerce St.
d) Investigate Tax-Increment financing--form a tax district and get bonds to improve and develop district, and then district pays off bonds through sales tax and/or property tax.
e) Convince City and City-funded art organizations, who host large fundraising balls with high-dollar tickets, to let the exhibiting artists participate in the event for free. Facilitate more interaction between patrons of the arts and the artists themselves.
f) Explore possibilities of drawing related businesses to Commerce St., such as cafes, bookshops, small grocery stores, etc., but maintain current un-gentrified state of district. Gentrification will lead to higher property taxes and rents will soar, thereby forcing out the people who have spent so much time and energy developing the area to make it appealing to the general public.
g) Encourage City planners, or arena planners, if that project is passed, to implement a green belt along Commerce St.; small pieces of parkland that could be used for outdoor events, or just create pleasant outdoor spaces that would bring more people to the district.

 

#7: Research process and ramifications of applying for listings on City and State historical registries.

a) How much does it cost to get listed, as either a district or an individual building?
b) Would this designation just produce a great deal of red tape that no one has the time or inclination to wade through? Would the benefits of being listed be overwhelmed by the detriments?
c) Three listed buildings make up a historical district. Would we want to list our buildings separately, or become both a historical and art district?
d) Apparently, we could get up to a 45% credit off any renovations we do, providing they fall within the historical society's criteria for allowable alterations to existing buildings.
e) How much freedom would we have to renovate or alter our buildings to suit our needs?
f) How long would it take to get approval for any changes, and how much more will it cost, in the long run, to make the changes, compared to the usual cost if we were not a historical building or area?
g) How safe would we be if we were listed--can the City or County, by some loophole we are not aware of, still purchase our properties by eminent domain and destroy them?