There are more than 55 murals painted throughout the City the Annapolis; all conveying stories and history of the town. “Pearl Bailey,” painted by Future History Now and the Stanton Community Center is located at Whitmore Garage, between Washington and Calvert streets. Singer and actress Pearl Bailey, known to frequent Annapolis stages in the historically black Fourth Ward.
In 2009, a City of Annapolis commission chaired by then-President of St. John’s College to explore the economic value of the arts determined the industry employed 1,000 people and would become the City’s future major economic opportunity. This was not a new affirmation.
In 1976, a consultant was hired by Maryland Governor Harry Hughes to look at the feasibility of a performing arts center in the State’s capital. A proposal was unveiled that included a 1,500-seat auditorium and exhibit halls along College Creek. The report noted “the curious paradox” that Annapolis, rich in history, architecture, and style “is singularly lacking in arts facilities of any quality” and urged the General Assembly to include $5 million in the capital budget to help address this void. Another report 10 years earlier had also recommended a major arts center on Compromise Street. Elected officials, however, ignored all these reports.
From the 1960s to ’90s, Annapolis was alive with music and theater. The Maryland Inn opened a jazz club in 1965 that helped Main Street thrive. The Annapolis Symphony, opera, theater groups, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, and shops for the visual arts all took root. In 2001, and again in 2006, the City established an Art in Public Places Commission and a State-supported Arts District along an economic “dead zone” on West Street.
But there was trouble in our “Arts City.” Every arts group and project operated independently, fund raising from the same limited sources of revenue. Elected leaders continued for decade after decade to ignore the arts as an industry on which to build sustainable City revenue.
Finally In 2022, our Annapolis State Senator was able to bring a mandated funding source for the city arts through the City Hotel Tax. Oops. So unhappy was the City Council with this dedicated fund to the arts that they amended the city code to eliminate one tenth of one percent of the general fund towards the city arts from its code, while including a provision to use new monies in support of public art for undefined administration fees. This totally ignored the potential economic asset of performing and visual arts that call Annapolis home.
Five hundred miles south of us, Asheville, North Carolina, went through a similar identity crisis. The historic Biltmore Estate was coming back to life by means of Madison Avenue public relations and a collaboration with the City’s Chamber of Commerce. New revenue was dedicated to marketing. As the city inched toward economic recovery, artists found a new, welcoming home in Asheville. Today, Asheville is a town that thrives economically on art. Buses carry an ART logo. Brochures carry directions to various art districts and retail centers. The city embraced the arts, stories of itself, and engaged its elected and business leaders in telling such stories. Dollars dedicated to marketing paid off.
Annapolis has assets. It was the cultural arts center of the colonies, but it has shied away from promoting itself in any coordinated fashion, passing up one opportunity after another to wholeheartedly embrace and market this town as a destination for tourists interested in all the cultural arts.
We have 55 murals, and counting, in our town. Who knows about them?
The State House holds classic art and restored chambers where George Washington resigned his commission ushering in civil government of, by, and for the people. Who knows? We were the first city to entertain the performing arts way back in the 1700s. The buildings still exist. Who knows?
We have stories to tell and a potential of economic wealth that languishes by a disinterested City Council, a struggling Arts District, and revenue-starved community groups. Could we do better?
What do you think?
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