Art Langlie

Langlie for Mayor
Democracy Voucher Program? Not Participating

The arts sector includes literature, theatre, music venues, museums, public displays of art, arts education in and out of the school building, design, and more. What role do you see the arts playing in the pandemic recovery? What is your experience with creatives, creative organizations, and the arts in Seattle?

A healthy and vibrant arts sector is crucial for Seattle’s pandemic recovery. A world-class city like Seattle has had a very supportive community for the arts historically and deserves a lively arts sector to bring people back into our city. From concerts at our numerous venues to new gallery openings to arts and literature lectures, our city thrives best with a healthy with arts sector.

My experience in the arts sector is being on the board of directors of ArtsFund for 10 years from 1996-2006 and the board of directors of the Intiman Theater for seven years from 1997-2004. I learned a good deal about that support and the diversity of such from my friend Peter Donnelly, and his many discussions about how the arts shape a city – which I am in agreement with.

My first experience with the arts sector was working with the music industry in high school and college, and carried through in theater both in my education and with Intiman leadership, but also simply as a patron at the Rep, ACT etc..

My son Arthur was fortunate to choose the arts in high school having studied drama with Ruben Van Kempen at Roosevelt High School and then going on to an acting career.

Total personnel expenses budgeted for 2020/2021 are nearly 30% lower than in the pre-pandemic fiscal year 2018/2019. Artistic and production personnel budgets are those most dramatically affected, seeing 44% and 37% drops, respectively, since prior to the pandemic. Given this statistic from ArtsFund’s economic survey, how will you work to grow the creative workforce sector?

Our arts scene could use a boost that would help bring back our downtown given that many of those institutions are located there. That is not to neglect Community Theater and other organizations, but with a solid concentration of the arts world in the central core with many of our public facilities and galleries, we need to treat that specifically because it draws so many dollars in revenue that should be used to rebuild the arts budgets.

I have suggested that we start a program I’m affectionately calling Art’s Bucks that would be distributed to residents to get them back into our arts groups and coming to see the things we have been missing as a society through the pandemic. Arts bring joy, which is greatly needed. We do, however, need to make downtown safe and clean as part of the vibrancy we are trying to recover. There is hesitancy by people to attend events downtown if they cannot feel safe. As thing are now opening, I think the city should partner with private industry to introduce Art’s Bucks that residents can download and use as discount vouchers for admission fees. I am also in favor of getting working artists out on the streets to encourage people to see the arts in action. Again, we need people to be comfortable downtown, and thus these plans need to dovetail with the services necessary for that safe, clean environment where people can enjoy the arts.

Growth in creative occupations has outpaced overall job growth (23% vs. 15%, 2012-2017). 2019 saw 4,373 more creative jobs than would be expected if Seattle had followed national trends. At $30.76, the Seattle metro has the second highest cost of living-adjusted, median hourly earnings for creative workers among large and medium metros. Creative industries contribute 18% of Seattle’s gross regional product, compared to 4% of the U.S. gross domestic product. Seattle is a world-class city for the arts and is a thriving hub for creatives with regional, national and international renown. How would you ensure that artists, and arts and cultural organizations, have the support and resources to maintain that status as a thriving hub? What are your plans to help grow the creative class that makes Seattle so vibrant?

Seattle traditionally has had decent support from the private sector for many of our arts groups. Unfortunately that often has smaller groups not receiving as much support. I have historically been supportive of ArtsFund because they were able to keep an inventory of all the groups that could benefit and were able to seek support through that network so that as many groups as possible received funding, and had access to individual funders as well.

Government budgets are stressed at this time and will continue to be until major societal issues are addressed and solved. Until we get control of those, the private sector may need to be the dominant fund source of money to the arts. This may not be a popular position. Because the arts helps heal and is a quality of life issue for our residents and visitors, the city should support fiscally and in as many creative ways as possible. The city may be able to provide venues for instance at reduced or zero cost, and in other supportive ways. With a limit to dollars, we will need to budget appropriately to make sure we support enough, with the promise that as we get past crisis levels of other issues, we are able to invest more greatly in all aspects of the arts.

I often say to people that are new to Seattle that we are a very giving city, and that we have a non-profit for just about everything. That they should choose an issue they are passionate about, get involved and be a donor of both time and treasure. I try to live that statement and pre pandemic had just started to donate to SMASH (Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Healthcare) because of me deep affinity for live music and concerts. I believe we have the personal and corporate support to help the arts succeed through public/private partnership. The City can work closely with all of these groups to retain and expand that successful relationship leading to greater vibrancy in our arts community and as a known center of the arts throughout the world.

Washington state ranks 45th in funding for the arts, while having the second highest absenteeism rate in the USA. Knowing that the arts increase engagement for children in school, what are your plans for arts education, and what role do you see arts education playing in our school system?

A thriving arts scene requires strong arts education programs both inside and outside our school system. In order to maintain and expand the size of our arts sector, school-level arts programs are needed to help inspire our children to express themselves through art. Having first had knowledge of arts education in Seattle Schools I believe we should continue to fund arts education programs in schools, and grow it.

As mentioned previously, my own son found direction for his career when presented with the need to have arts credits and chose drama, going on to a degree in drama and a career. My nephew chose the bass and had great success with his music in middle school, high school, in college and is now with the Seattle Symphony. Our family believes fully in the arts as a vocation and avocation.

The arts are often critical to special needs children, those that need it for therapy and other reasons. We should fund successful programs and seek out the best educators of the arts at all levels for our schools and for opportunities to educate arts for all ages.

Appreciation for art is a lifetime skill and lifetime learning. We should incentivize artists to teach evening classes for adults and using art in a variety of ways to better our community.

The arts sector was left out of early recovery dollars, and the impact was a 65% decrease in earned income projected for 2020/2021 as compared to 2018/2019. We know the arts have historically solved problems for our city, as each new job in a creative industry creates a total of three local jobs, according to 2019’s Creative Economy Report. What is your vision for the arts in community recovery, and how will you work with the sector to achieve your goals?

I believe the statistics that arts jobs create more jobs. I also believe that some of the arts were likely decimated by the pandemic for obvious reasons. Thankfully some funding was available to keep artists going, but it is clear there is a long road to rebuild. As mentioned previously, we need to get people out to see the arts and to pay for them. That includes the voucher idea, as well as creating more opportunity to showcase and fund them.

Seattle should spend stimulus money on the arts for just the benefit the question implies. Now that we have addressed as much triage of residents we can to keep them going through the pandemic, we must focus on the elements that imbue the vibrancy we strive for. We cannot lose our artists for lack of investment or opportunity and must seek creative ways to partner arts, business and public leadership to be successful. An exodus of art would be to Seattle’s peril.

Historically, the funds dedicated to the arts have gone to predominantly white institutions serving predominantly white audiences. How will you ensure that available funds are distributed in a more equitable manner and that we invest in diverse communities?

Artists, institutions and audiences of all backgrounds deserve to have equal access to funding. All of my plans use data-driven programs to ensure equitable allocation of resources and arts funding is no different. Ensuring that equitable funding goes to under-represented organizations is crucial to the arts sector’s diversity. Equitable growth of all sectors, including the arts sector, will be a priority in my administration. We are better as a city when we have people of all backgrounds succeeding. My memory of ArtsFund was that diversity was, and should be, a priority. The arts are enhanced by this and the data can show where the money is going so that we can show equity that an initiative like this demands.