The Return of Philip Morris

Way back on Easter Sunday, Philip Morris, an arts-based economic development consultant from Schenectady, New York, returned to Geneva. He came to help the Geneva Arts Development Council (GADC) find new, more effective ways to support local and regional arts and culture organizations. He was also brought here, in our fact-based point of view, to help, wittingly or not, local Fat Cats get some projects going. [See “Fat Cats and Starving Artists.”]

We base our point of view, in part, on the history of Morris’s involvement in the City. Back in 2002, the Finger Lakes Cultural Center Committee (an ad hoc arts development group which might be regarded as the predecessor of today’s GADC) brought Morris to town. He was supposed to consult on the Committee’s proposed expansion of the Smith Opera House into a “cultural center.” His scope of inquiry included the possible rehabilitation of the historically significant, but dilapidated, 305 Main Street gas station. [See “Accountability 101.”] The Geneva IDA paid for Morris’s 2002 visit.

Since 2002, Morris has enjoyed success in arts-based “arts-based economic development,” in Schenectady. He is executive director and CEO of Proctor’s Theatre, a revitalized, downtown “landmark” theater, built in the 1920s, which has contributed to that City’s and the region’s economy. Morris has also become a blogger, posting regularly on his site, “Morris Code,” housed on the Schenectady Times-Union newspaper website.

Morris’s recent visit to Geneva coincided with the City’s stepped up efforts to carry out the demolition of “305.” Razing that building has been stalled since the previous City Council voted over two years ago to tear it down. That’s because the City administration has not completed a vetting process required before it can legally draw down grant money to pay for the demolition. [See "Accountability 101."] Overall, the return of Morris suggests new development-based “arts-based economic development” efforts are under way in the City.

From his success in Schenectady and Jamestown and his perspective on arts development expressed on his blog, we believe Morris may have a positive role to play in Geneva’s economic future. Question is: Were Morris’s successes with Proctor’s Theatre a cause of Schenectady’s economic revitalization, or were they an effect of other initiatives? And how does what might have happened in Schenectady translate to Geneva’s situation?

Bottom line: Morris developed Proctor’s Theatre under the auspices of the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority. Metroplex, as it is commonly referred to, is a large scale, regional economic development “zone´ created by the New York State legislature back in 1998-- long before Morris ever signed on with Proctor’s. Morris is not directly part of Metroplex, he does not sit on the Metroplex board, for example, but he has drawn down lots of money from it.

While it may include some art-based projects, Metroplex is not an arts-based economic development agency. Essentially, it has been offering a variety of negotiated economic development “packages” to attract firms to Schenectady County and, hopefully, to create jobs. For example, when Time Warner moved into the Metroplex, it received a $2.5 million package toward infrastructure and other project costs.

Primary funding for Metroplex investment incentives, and hence for any Metroplex funding channeled to Proctor’s Theatre, comes from the portion of the Schenectady County sales tax diverted to Metroplex. In short, the development of Proctor’s Theatre was driven by the pre-existing Metroplex agency, which itself was funded by Schenectady County taxpayers, which itself was enabled by the New York State legislature.

Proctor’s Theatre is one of many arts institutions in downtown Schenectady. To quote from a recent Metroplex report:

Downtown Schenectady is also home to such cultural institutions as the Schenectady Museum & Suites-Bueche Observatory, Proctor's Theatre, Edison Exploratorium, Schenectady Symphony, Schenectady Light Opera, New York Folklore Society, Schenectady County Historical Society, Schenectady Civic Playhouse, Schenectady County Public Library, and the Empire State Youth Orchestra.

In his recent visit to Geneva, Morris facilitated discussions in a variety of venues. In sessions attended by Capraro, he stressed the importance of the arts and culture in “economic turnarounds.” In that regard, he drew heavily upon his own experience in Jamestown, New York, and Schenectady. He also reinforced the necessity of looking at Geneva’s economic development holistically, incorporating the lakefront, downtown, the Smith, and other area educational and cultural institutions into any plan, as he did in his 2002 study. This, in our view, makes good sense--both economically and artistically.

Morris recommended that the community work together to develop some specific “opportunities for arts-based economic development” in the following areas:

1. To incorporate the arts in the lakefront/downtown planning process currently underway;
2. To incorporate a “September to June” perspective on the arts in addition to the current “Summer” perspective in thinking about tourism;
3. To establish clear connections with educational institutions regarding “performance based facilities”;
4. To focus on “existing downtown properties” including the cinema building as ‘adaptive reuse’ projects for the arts;
5. To establish a “cultural event” to identify participants in the development effort;
6. To provide a “money package,” to entice arts-based development through the joint efforts of the City and the private sector.
   

It’s the last item, and public funding in particular, we worry about most, for two reasons:
(1) The Metroplex model, of Morris’ Schenectady experience, could only be duplicated in Geneva if all existing economic development agencies were consolidated. Perhaps such consolidation is already underway, but we believe the public should be involved in determining if, when, and how such consolidation would work in Geneva’s best interest.
(2) If public money is critical to the success of any art-based economic development, we worry the City may become entangled in another fiasco like 305. In other words, the public needs assurances that a project’s feasibility would be fully explored and the decision to invest public dollars would be made in public view.

Currently, the city has an ongoing revenue stream from Wilmorite, as the result of an Empire Zone expansion at Eastview Mall. That money has been earmarked, in theory, for tourism. Rather than rushing to create one big project that will leave the whole fund empty, we believe a better investment could be made in developing an arts-based economic development vision, with some real leadership to carry it out, that would coordinate efforts to build private capital for the arts.

We’re still waiting for Morris’s report which was due in April. In the mean time, we believe growth of Geneva, and the Finger Lakes region, cannot simply rely on an infusion of public money, especially when the money is not there.