On Tuesday evening, the Sacramento City Council voted to dedicate $5 million to open a performing arts center in Midtown’s Fremont School. Located at 24th and N Street, the school was used as an adult education center until 2012 but is currently vacant. Sacramento City Unified School District agreed to lease the building to the city, who in return will lease it to a coalition of arts groups to form the E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts. A large crowd of arts supporters came out on Tuesday to support the project, led by Midtown resident Richard Rich. The two arts groups involved in the project are the Sacramento Ballet and the Sacramento Opera and Philharmonic. A third partner, California Musical Theatre, withdrew from the project two weeks ago, an action that removed this item from the City Council’s December 3 “Consent Calendar” for discussion at this meeting. While the project received broad support, some had concerns about potential effects on existing arts spaces and representation of diversity in this new facility.
Moving this item to “Discussion and Action” allowed more in-depth exploration of the project, which will make use of revenues the city receives from lease of the land occupied by the Cal-EPA building next to City Hall and repayment of a loan the city provided to the Crocker Art Museum. The funds will be used to repair and upgrade the 90 year old school. Use of the school is a recent development in this project, begun a decade ago. The original plan envisioned a new mid-rise building at 14th and H Street behind Music Circus, at a cost of about $16 million, but the collapse of the housing market put that plan on hold. Using the Fremont School provides the same amount of space for approximately one-third the cost, and reutilizes a building that would otherwise remain vacant, like the nearby Jefferson and Marshall Schools. Because California Musical Theatre was expected to provide part of the financing for the project, the approval is contingent on the coalition’s ability to find an additional group or groups to occupy some of the space and provide a revenue stream to the project. Richard Rich and Sacramento Ballet artistic director Ron Cunningham provided public comment to the council, urging them to support the project. (Disclosure: I also provided comment on behalf of Sacramento Old City Association, supporting the project.) Other members of the community spoke in support, including percussionist Jason Jong, local business owner Monica Rodriguez and independent film advocate Christina Marie. Matt Piner, co-chair of Midtown Neighborhood Association, and local activist and Marshall School New Era Park Neighborhood Association co-chair George Raya also spoke in support. Michael Vester also provided public comment, explaining that his progress in school was greatly helped when he discovered ballet as a means of expression.
Ray Tatar, owner of a performing arts center at 25th and R Street, expressed concerns about the project, especially how a public-subsidized arts center would affect his own center, privately owned and funded and operating in the neighborhood for 20 years. Tatar felt it gave them a competitive advantage over his own project, and he could lose tenants (including theater companies, poetry groups, artists’ studios and a French cultural center) to a group that receives assistance from the city in paying their overhead. Richard Falcon, executive director of Teatro Nagual and a tenant of Ray Tatar’s complex at 25th and R, also expressed concerns, specifically about a report released earlier Tuesday by the Latino Arts Network of California. This report claimed that less than 3% of the city of Sacramento’s budget for arts went to art organizations that represented communities of color. In addition to those present to support the arts center, many representatives of La Raza Galeria Posada and their supporters were present to address the City Council during the “Matters Not On The Agenda” portion of the meeting regarding this issue. Mr. Falcon asked how, if there were funds available for this sort of project, his organization and others could learn about them, and potentially gain access to those revenues.
Councilmembers commented on the project before the vote, expressing their support. Steve Hansen called it “an opportunity to create a more cohesive arts community” and mentioned the plan was 10 years in the making. Allen Warren said he supported the project, but wondered how he could direct future funds to arts projects in his district. Fong asked staff if they could address the issue of identifying a new partner. Angelique Ashby mentioned her own involvement with dance in high school, and called the project “a tremendous opening for other groups to join.” Councilmember Ashby also mentioned that Sacramento’s diversity made partnerships with arts groups representing diverse populations a natural fit for projects like this. The project was passed unanimously.
Here’s the part where I stop being a reporter and start editorializing
Speaking as a preservation advocate, neighborhood resident and participant in local arts, I spoke in support of this project and encouraged others to do so because of the potential benefits of the project and the potential risks of allowing Fremont School to remain vacant. In the year that Fremont has been vacant it has begun the same inevitable decline into disrepair as we have seen in other closed central city schools and vacant properties. Even with check-ins by SCUSD staff, a dark building suffers deferred maintenance and a higher risk of squatting and vandalism. An active use of the space encourages its maintenance and upkeep, and activity at the school promotes a safer neighborhood via foot traffic and eyes on the street. It also makes the neighborhood around it, already one highly valued and in high demand, more attractive to families of students and faculty interested in proximity to the arts center and other nearby cultural venues–including Tatar’s complex at 25th and R.
The project also has potential to expand the local arts economy through consolidation of resources, raising the visibility of Sacramento’s arts community. While the Fremont School was not opened as an arts academy, its classic design and patina of age are immediately recognizable as a school, unlike the Ballet’s current facility in an old commercial building at 17th and K. Future plans include live performances in the rear courtyard of the school and a planned small theater on the eastern end of the block. More facilities for arts education and events can help retain talented people in Sacramento, and draw creative individuals to our city as a means to pursue careers in the arts. In the end, this may create demand for more arts facilities by attracting new groups to a part of the region that is achieving a critical mass of arts groups. If this works as planned, Ray may have more tenants for the complex at 25th and R than he has spaces to rent–and other property owners may see the potential for future arts centers in their underutilized buildings, including SCUSD, who still have two other vacant former elementary schools in Midtown.
The issue of underfunding of arts groups serving diverse populations deserves attention from the City Council. As Councilmember Ashby mentioned, the remarkable diversity of Sacramento means that any arts group is likely to have participants of many ethnic backgrounds, but the types of groups mentioned in the cited report are specifically intended as modes of cultural expression, rather than multicultural participants in what the report characterizes as European-derived art forms. Could one or more of these groups provide the needed revenue to complete the project, and benefit from the city’s funding efforts? If not, perhaps there is space in another vacant city-owned or district-owned space ready for its own future arts center.
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