Downtown Scene: Last Friday
The First Fridays Art Walk is one of the few splendid success stories to come out of downtown Richmond in many years. The cultural affair, which now draws visitors in the thousands, is all the more wonderful for having arisen on its own. It is an authentic grassroots endeavor that has grown organically, on the strength of its genuine appeal. City officials should be doing everything they can not to impede its flourishing.
Unfortunately, some participating galleries and Richmond's enforcement agencies have been at odds over permitting and safety issues. The city has tried to accommodate the events' sponsors by granting occupancy-limit variances, but some galleries reportedly fear the scrutiny that applying for the special-use permits might invite.
Last Friday police officers shut down a popular fire-twirling exhibition by the G5 jugglers, to great consternation. Both Amanda Robinson, the director of Gallery5, and her father, Tom Robinson, have expressed themselves hotly about the decision to stop the performance and reopen a lane of Marshall Street the gallery had closed with orange traffic cones.
The gallery hadn't asked permission to close the lane. It should have. Maintaining public safety is a legitimate concern (and one this newspaper had to contend with at its recent Public Square on health care featuring Reps. Eric Cantor and Bobby Scott. The newspaper took some heat for turning away individuals because of the fire marshal's overcrowding concerns.)
The bad blood seems to be fueled by a mixture of truculence and paranoia, embodied in the notion that the city is trying to stifle First Fridays in order to squelch any possible competition for the CenterStage performing-arts complex -- the "epitome of corporate and government art," as Tom Robinson put it. The underpaid members of the Richmond Ballet, Richmond Sympony, Elegba Folklore Society, and other CenterStage performers deserve better than such vitriol.
At the same time, the city has a long history of strangling local businesses with red tape. Navigating through its permitting process is at times an ordeal that would leave Kafka incredulous. Struggling gallery owners have a hard enough time without being incommoded by heavy-handed enforcement for enforcement's sake only.
Richmond officials still need to do a better job of reaching out to the First Fridays community and helping the art walks succeed. Like the 2nd Street Festival, they are one of downtown Richmond's saving graces, and ought to be nurtured. In turn, gallery owners could help the city help them by striving to cooperate more -- and pout less.
Reader Reactions
No one is bashing specific organizations. Tom Robinson was speaking about the development of the Centerstage project, not its associates and performance arts groups which we/he respects and supports.
This article was a follow-up article created after the police spoke with the Times Dispatch claiming that Gallery5 had no permit and were in the wrong. After talking with the police today, they admit that we did indeed have permission by the city to block the streets and plan to work with us to fix the problem for the season.
Despite the permission we obtained, if a venue/business/developer/audience, etc, has been told that it is OK to do this for 4 1/2 years by the city and police who have not only supported this event but have always helped secure crowds and offer their services with crowd control, then it is a bit barbaric to enforce new codes/laws that they themselves have let slide for years. Communication was lost, or never initiated.
It is ridiculous to accuse ANYONE of speaking about the Richmond Ballet, symphony, folklore society, etc with “such vitriol”, because NO ONE ever did, except what is being implied in this article! With the press and controversy that has been attached to Centerstage from the get-go, you do not need Tom Robinson to tell you that it is a corporate and government project. This article absolutely puts words in the mouth of Robinson.
Last but not least “Pout Less”?? We are not pouting, we are frustrated. It takes years for this city to progress. How many city leaders does it take to screw in a light bulb? Pouting is a waste of time, and many of these struggling organizations do not have any more time waste on “pouting”. Please keep in mind here that many arts organizations, non-profits and city programs are struggling due to the way our city has decided to allocate its funding (Centerstage). Things must change to insure the overall success of ALL organizations associated with downtown Richmond. Many people want to point the finger at Centerstage because of the public money that is tied up in their project. We cannot blame our problems on Centerstage. If First Fridays fails, Centerstage will fail. If both fail, development will fail. If development fails, then our city is S.O.L. This is why we all need to work together and figure out what the true sense of collaboration means.
I am looking forward to seeing progress by the newly appointed CultureWorks board. Hopefully they can be the new advocate for change and make things happen along the way.
If the staff reporter had done his/her homework, he/she would have found out that Gallery5 had received permission from RPD’s Traffic Division to block off one lane of Marshall Street two and one half years ago. Each First Friday thereafter several RPD officers attended the fire performances and commented on how much they enjoyed the events and how well the Gallery5 security personnel handled the crowds. For the past two days, RPD officers have stopped by the gallery to offer their support.
We are all finding it hard to believe that common sense was used by the city building officials when they granted maximum occupancy ratings of 15 for large, Broad Street buildings that can host ten times that amount. Isn’t it strange that much smaller bars in Shockoe Bottom, often sites of fights and alcohol-related problems involving RPD, have much higher occupancy ratings. Stranger still is the fact that maximum occupancy ratings for the passive and orderly art galleries on Broad St. have a lower occupancy rating than City Hall elevators…go figure.
And lastly, the ending sentence stating that CenterStage was going to be an “abysmal failure”, conveniently left out the beginning of the sentence that preceeded it…“If the City runs CenterStage like it did Sixth Street Market it will be an…....
We need our own version of the Tea Party to unite artists throughout Richmond to stand up against the antiquated codes and bureaucratic nonsense aimed at the ONLY thriving section of Broad Street. Long Live the Ar"T"y Party
How much public money has gone to First Friday? Very little. How much public money has gone to Center Stage? Over 50 million dolars. What is stimulating more for downtown?
You take your ‘pout less’ comments and shove them you know where.
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