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Building Arts, Building Community? Informal Arts Districts and Neighborhood Change in Oakland, California

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Building Arts, Building Community? Informal Arts Districts and Neighborhood Change in Oakland, California Building Arts, Building Community? Informal Arts Districts and Neighborhood Change In Oakland, California CENTER FOR COMMUNITY INNOVATION UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Lead Authors Anja Wodsak, Center for Community Innovation Kimberly Suczynski, Center for Community Innovation Karen Chapple, Center for Community Innovation Key Support We would like to thank the many people who contributed research and reviews, including Heather Hood and Elizabeth Wampler at CCI; Catherine Vladutiu from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health; Helaine Kaplan Prentice, lecturer at UC-Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning; and participants in the Arts, Neighborhoods, and Social Practices Working Group in Fall, 2007. A UC-Berkeley Futures grant supported this research. The Center for Community Innovation (CCI) at UC-Berkeley nurtures effective solutions that expand economic opportunity, diversify housing options, and strengthen connection to place. The Center builds the capacity of nonprofits and government by convening practitioner leaders, providing technical assistance and student interns, interpreting academic research, and developing new research out of practitioner needs. University of California Center for Community Innovation 316 Wurster Hall #1870 Berkeley, CA 94720-1870 http://communityinnovation.berkeley.edu January 2008 Building Arts, Building Community? Informal Arts Districts and Neighborhood Change In Oakland, California Introduction Two Models of the Arts and Neighborhood Change In recent years, there has been growing interest in the 1. Planned Arts District relationship of arts and culture to urban revitalization City Policy, Public Cultural Institution among public officials, city planners, policy makers, Designated Investment “Anchor”; Arts District Cultural Tourism Voluntary and scholars from a range of disciplines. Non-profit Transition arts and cultural organizations are today recognized as a significant industry, generating $166 billion a year in Disinvestment, Rising Land Values, Involuntary economic activity nationwide.a Many local governments Low Land Values Tax Revenues Displacement invest in the arts as a catalyst for cultural tourism, business development, and job creation. Cultural amenities are Stability Artists, Real Estate Public believed to enhance a city’s quality of life and help attract Informal Market Investment, Arts District Investment Retail & young, talented professionals—arguably the bedrock of Entertainment today’s creative economy.b Influx 2. Unplanned Arts District (SoHo Model) “The arts” not only comprise established non-profits, Based on exploratory research conducted during the such as the local opera company, but also for-profit arts- summer and fall of 2007, this report tells the story of related businesses and community-based or informal two informal arts districts in Oakland, at 23rd Street and arts activities, which involve local community members Telegraph Avenue and in the Village Bottoms in West in the creation or interpretation of different art forms Oakland. We chose these districts because they represent and can take place in a variety of settings, including two evolving clusters of grassroots arts in the city. Our cafes, parks, and streets.c From Williamsburg, New York researchers used block-by-block field observations, to downtown Los Angeles, formerly abandoned, re- secondary sources, census data, audience surveys, imagined industrial and commercial districts across the mapping techniques, and 15 interviews with local country serve as examples of the power of artists and artists and residents, non-profit leaders, independent gallery owners to influence public perception and lead business owners, real estate professionals, and city the renaissance of a neglected city block as a popular staff to find out how these districts emerged, how they destination—via the emergence of informal, rather than affect their respective neighborhoods, and what kinds planned, arts districts. of uncertainties they face. Much research has shown that cultural production can The case studies underscore the complexity of grassroots spur economic revitalization in a neighborhood.d But the arts in an urban setting. They suggest that a narrow arts have also been linked to gentrification, or an abrupt focus on quantifiable economic outcomes associated rise in land values, which may make it difficult for current with revitalization can obscure a variety of important residents and businesses to stay.e This raises several key ways in which the arts can affect individuals and questions. How do we assess the relationship between communities via the physical and social dimensions of arts activities and the social fabric of a neighborhood? community life. Furthermore, the case studies highlight Are arts districts inherently volatile or can they enhance not only the benefits that can accrue to communities neighborhood stability? Are grassroots arts organizations that nurture a range of creative activity, but also the and artists effective agents for community building, and challenges involved with sustaining informal arts if so, how? How does the artist community connect districts. We would like to engage city planners, policy with other regional and local communities? And what makers, foundation leaders, and stakeholders from the happens when government intervention formalizes the arts community in a fruitful discussion about the role informal? Can policy help maintain stability? of the arts in the context of equitable neighborhood revitalization, and look forward to expanding our findings through future research. Community-Based or Informal Arts Activities Building Arts, Building Community 3 CASE STUDIES The Regional and Local Context This report is written against the backdrop of the 2007 Demographics San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most expensive 23rd St. + housing markets in the country, driven by a resilient Village Telegraph Oakland economy that continues to reinvent itself.f The City of Bottoms Avenue Oakland, on the other hand, has been struggling with disinvestment, a lagging retail market, uneven housing Population 5,955 2,992 401,097 development, and high crime rates.g Family households 23% 66% 57% Both the 23rd and Telegraph, and Village Bottoms case Median household study areas each occupy approximately .3 square miles: $16,670 $25,565 $46,536 23rd and Telegraph is bounded by 28th Street to the income north, Harrison Street to the east, 20th Street to the south Households below and I-980 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the 31% 46% 17% federal poverty line west, and Village Bottoms by West Grand Avenue to the north, Peralta Street to the east, 7th Street to the south, Unemployment 3% 6% 5% and I-880 to the west. The case study neighborhoods also share several key characteristics. Once thriving centers Renter occupancy 97% 76% 59% of manufacturing, both neighborhoods today include a Average household mix of light-industrial and residential structures. Both 1.6 3.2 2.7 size areas show signs of abandonment – vacant lots, boarded- up apartment windows, and empty storefronts. At the Source: 2007 Claritas Demographic Data same time, the architecture in both neighborhoods is Both 23rd and Telegraph and the Village Bottoms are human in scale. Several buildings are of historic value, home to a disproportionate number of households including storefronts from the early 20th-century at in poverty. The vast majority of residents in both 23rd and Telegraph, and Victorian homes in the Village neighborhoods are renters, yet the areas are generally Bottoms. Both neighborhoods are accessible via public less volatile in terms of household moves than other transit, with a BART station in West Oakland and Oakland neighborhoods. several AC Transit bus lines along Telegraph. Yet, the neighborhoods also differ considerably. Though the two districts are similar in size, 23rd and Telegraph has nearly double the population of Village Bottoms. Households at 23rd and Telegraph tend to be small, while relatively large families are more common in the Village Bottoms. Despite their differences, both neighborhoods have been fairly stable since 1990, apart from a slight increase in income in the Village Bottoms. 23rd St. + Telegraph Ave Village Bottoms San Francisco Oakland Both neighborhoods include a mix of aging light-industrial and residential structures that show signs of abandonment – vacant lots, boarded-up apartment windows, and empty storefronts - yet also are of distinctive architectural character. Regional Context, Village Bottoms and 23rd and Telegraph Building Arts, Building Community 4 Grassroots Arts in Oakland In the midst of these very low-income neighborhoods, hubs of cultural production have been growing.h At both 23rd and Telegraph and in the Village Bottoms, numerous arts venues and other sites of creative expression have 23rd St. + Telegraph Ave emerged, including artist-run galleries, artist studios, Village Bottoms performance venues, after-school arts programs at community centers, arts-related businesses, and public art displays that range from grassroots sidewalk installations to murals and open-air film projections. Every first Friday of the month, the neighborhood at Total Funding 23rd and Telegraph hosts Art Murmur, an event that $0 - $5,500 consists of simultaneous exhibition openings by a $13,500 - $26,00 dozen participating galleries, and draws hundreds $54,000 - of visitors from the East Bay and San Francisco. The City of Oakland Funding to Local
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