"Joe's Vision for Arts and Culture"

Joe Mallahan for Mayor:

Seattle could not be the great town that it is without our strong arts and cultural scene. As mayor, I will continue the city’s support of arts programs around the city. The arts bring us together, across social and economic lines and create community. The arts are integral and enriching to our children’s education. And the arts are a strong driver of our local economy and jobs – they leverage economic activity and increase the quality of life for all in Seattle. Support for arts, film, music and other cultural and heritage events will have a central place in my administration. Supporting the arts supports the soul of our city, and it’s just something we all need to do, especially city government.

Seattle citizens are over five times more engaged in the arts than the national average – both as patrons and as artists. That fact speaks volumes about the quality of our local cultural scene, and our commitment to investing in the arts. It is also proof of something we all know in our hearts – people live in our city because they want to take advantage of great live music, thought provoking plays, diverse galleries and other cultural and heritage events of all sizes in all of our neighborhoods.

The arts are a part of our economic engine
Seattle’s arts and cultural community enriches our human spirit and binds communities together. And it does so much more. It fuels Seattle’s economy via jobs, tourism, and tax revenue. It employs over 21,000 people and generates $330 million in annual revenue. Our vibrant cultural community helps Seattle attract and retain some of the most talented people and innovative companies in the world.

I fully support and will champion Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture, the Film and Music Office, and the Seattle Center in the work they do to bolster our artists, our arts and our cultural organizations. I’ll also work with the myriad of non-profit arts organizations – small and large – to listen to and respond to their needs for city partnership and better city process.

Supporting the business side too
Let’s be clear - whether it’s a developer filing a permit, a citizen looking for crime data, or a club owner trying to understand a regulation, or needing public safety resources to protect patrons, people deserve to get the same answer and information on a Wednesday that they got on the previous Monday. Varying interpretations of laws and regulations are not only frustrating to business owners and non-profit arts groups, but they can drastically alter their ability to keep their doors open – that is especially true for our music and nightlife venues. As mayor, I'll make certain that departments coordinate and communicate so that everyone in the city, including clubs and music venues, will know and play by the same rules. And, I will work to create a noise ordinance that works. Music and nightlife aren't just about increasing our quality of life and culture; it’s also a jobs issue. I’ve had several productive conversations with people from the industry, and there are clearly things that are working, and clearly things that are not. I will improve upon the City of Seattle’s support of this industry, recognizing the nightlife and music scene as an economic boon to our economy, not an afterthought.

Collective responsibility and support
The City of Seattle’s financial support ensures broad public contact with a variety of artistic forms, ensures diversity in the depth and breath of arts accessibility, and is a direct means to bring communities together. Our common humanity is shared through the arts.

The Vera Project and 826 Seattle are great examples of investing in the artistic development of our youth. I’ll also work with for-profit business to encourage their support of the arts, and arts education. The city can and should further supplement and encourage arts education through cooperative programming with schools and by supporting arts organizations in their educational outreach activities.

Our future depends on creative solutions to increasingly complex issues, and Seattle’s arts and cultural community plays a critical role in nurturing, challenging, and fueling our collective drive and imagination to make this a better, more inclusive, livable city.

Regional importance
We cannot divorce the arts from some of the biggest challenges facing us today. Our beloved institutions, like the Woodland Park Zoo, MOHAI, Seattle Center, the Aquarium, the Symphony and some of our cherished Seattle icons like the Tractor Tavern, and Northwest Film Forum, will not thrive if we make it difficult for individuals and families to get to the artistic event they want to attend. Our arts and cultural institutions host over 12 million visitors every year. One third visit from outside of King County, leveraging cultural tourism spending. Improving transit options is critical to this.

The waterfront deep-bore tunnel is an investment in the city’s vitality for the next 100 years. It represents our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to remake our waterfront as an open, public space that connects residents and tourists to Elliot Bay and Puget Sound. Especially in the middle of an economic downturn, undertaking a major urban infrastructure project is a win-win for our culture, for the arts community, and for all the citizens of Seattle. We must invite our friends in the region to explore the richness of the City of Seattle, not turn them away with traffic jams and a waterfront paved over over and jammed with vehicles.

Include the arts from the very start
We need artists and architects to help us design the future of our city. Artists should be engaged from the beginning of the design process in our most challenging urban design and infrastructure projects so that we all benefit from their innovative ideas and aesthetics. I also support incentives provided by cultural overlays to encourage preservation of character-defining buildings and enhance spaces for the arts and culture. Multifamily zoning codes need to be amended to encourage well-designed infill housing that creates the right kind of density and opportunities for artist live/work spaces, galleries and performance venues.

In addition I know that education in the arts is more critical today than ever before. Through experiencing and participating in arts, our young people learn to think creatively, to dream and to imagine a better world.
In my 20 years of business experience I have built a track record of bringing differing groups of people together and solving problems. As our city continues to grow, we’re going to have issues with noise, new developments near nightlife spots, and other issues of living and working together. As mayor, I’ll use my position to keep differing parties at the table, and keep the city moving forward. I’m going to listen to our citizens, lead with the best ideas and manage for efficiencies.

Our future depends on creative solutions to increasingly complex issues, and Seattle’s arts and cultural community plays a critical role in nurturing, challenging, and fueling our collective drive and imagination to make this a better, more inclusive, livable city.