Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Photographer Erin Parker photographed Amy Traylor and Mat Arthur dancing recently at Velcro, the weekly indie dance party at Spanish Moon. With its rustic interior, cool artwork and diverse crowd, Spanish Moon has hit upon the precise ingredients downtown officials hope to nurture in the 15-square-block Arts and Entertainment District. Even as they struggle to nail down rules and incentives for the District, downtown nightlife continues to thrive, which has many downtown business owners hoping officials can catch up.
This from Adam Knapp, a 34-year-old fan of downtown revitalization and the new CEO for the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. Knapp understands the role a successful downtown will play for the entire nine-parish area in the next decade.
In a word, huge.
Successful downtowns have most, if not all, of the following: synergy and diversity, sound policies and citywide events, working artists and the working class, quality architecture and local food, movie theaters and music halls, grocery stores and retail spots, bars you’d never drink in and ones you love, restaurants out of your price range and others that aren’t, art you don’t understand and art you do. Oh, and thousands of permanent residents. Don’t forget them.
In March, after years of meetings and studies, the Metro Council established the boundaries and design guidelines for the new Arts and Entertainment District in Baton Rouge. This is square one, soon to be followed by streetscape improvements, comprehensive policies, economic incentives packages and, in theory, unprecedented growth.
225 polled subscribers to our sister publication, Daily Report, for opinions on what they think downtown needs. The non-scientific poll, taken in early May, received 799 responses. The percentages have been rounded off.
Supermarket with pharmacy...32
A large music hall for popular bands...18
A movie theater for commercial & indie films...18
A 24-hour diner...10
A sports bar and grill...6
Affordable artist studios...5
Trendy clothes stores...5
A funky art gallery...2
This month 225 looks at where the new district stands and where its next steps need to lead.
Click the links below to read each section of the cover story.
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have sound policies...Authorities better hurry
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have synergy on diversity...Austin’s 18-hour plan
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have movie theaters...Dinner and a movie
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have working artists...Where art thou?
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have permanent residents...Movin’ on up
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have good looks...Designing downtown
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have clear alcohol rules...Unclear rules could hamper district
Comments
Posted by Herb on June 3, 2008 at 11:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have multiple diverse venues and private promoters.
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts have good public transportation.
Successful Arts & Entertainment districts are open on Sundays & Mondays.
Posted by Preraphfan on June 13, 2008 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What about a movie theatre downtown that's below average in price, $1-3, showing second run movies and classics. This could be a big draw for downtown.
Posted by MightyFavog on June 23, 2008 at 2:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Here are three links you might want to consider perusing:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/tra...
http://revolution-21.blogspot.com/2008/0...
http://revolution-21.blogspot.com/2008/0...
WHILE THE EFFORT at creating an "arts and entertainment" district is laudable, and while the progress downtown BR has made certainly is encouraging, this is an issue that's not really about downtown.
The issue boils down to "Is Baton Rouge the kind of place CAPABLE of supporting what planners want to achieve downtown?" That's a good question.
After all, BR sits in a state and in a region where culture literally oozes from every nook, cranny and pore. And it never has been able to capitalize on that, because capitalizing on that involves doing the basics of life and self-government well.
It involves regarding education -- particularly public education -- as important. And it involves actually embracing (or, at a minimum, tolerating) people different from oneself . . . which, really, is both less and more than rigid enforcement of elites' notions of political correctness.
And it doesn't involve jumping onto every bandwagon such as gay marriage, or changing one's core beliefs, or any other ridiculous thing. It just involves being humane.
It involves loving your neighbor as yourself -- even when you don't agree with him on a single damn thing.
And becoming a city capable of supporting a vibrant, fun and *important* downtown also requires becoming a city that can embrace new ideas and learn from other places and people.
It requires a new vision of what it means when people say "Dat's how we do things in Loosiana."
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