Many Hands Make Light Work

The old saying “many hands make light work” seems to apply now to fall Tucson Open Studios.  Just this morning (September 2) in a meeting called by Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) CEO Debi Chess Mabie, the three groups organizing fall Open Studio tours came together and are making light work together.  

Attending the meeting were Pat Frederick representing the Art Trails studio tour (west/northwest region), and I was there representing the Heart of Tucson Art (HOTA) studio tour for mid-town Tucson artists.  Pat and I met with Mabie, Laura Reese of TPAC, and Alec Laughlin, a Citizens Warehouse artist who designed and managed TPAC’s fall 2014 Open Studios website. Laughlin recently was designated the website coordinator for TPAC’s fall 2015.

If you remember, TPAC cancelled the fall Open Studios tour in July when funding was cut.  The two alternative groups, Art Trails (ArtTrails.org) and Heart of Tucson Art (HeartofTucsonArt.info) quickly organized to provide regional city fall tours. These groups organized not only in response to the cancellation of TPAC’s fall tour.  They also addressed the long-held view that the Open Studios tours had become too large for just one weekend. Over 200 artists participated in the 2014 fall tour.  Read more about how other cities/counties have divided into smaller regions to hold tours in different weekends in my last blog posting here dated August 22 and titled Open Studios Tours in Tucson and in Other Cities.  This multi-weekend, multi-regional tour model has become the dominant model for most American cities operating studio tours. Tucson is now joining the 21st century.

Meanwhile, after reading about the cancellation of fall Open Studios due to lack of funds, benefactors Jim Click and Fletcher McCusker stepped forward in August with a donation of $21,000 to TPAC  to restore fall Open Studios. You can read Kathleen Allen’s report in the Star about the donation and revival of TPAC’s fall tour here:  Open Studio Tour is a Go After $21,000 Donation

Rather than deciding to compete with Art Trails and Heart of Tucson Art, Mabie took a true community-cultural development approach, and she embraced the newly organized tours as part of TPAC’s service to our community.

Now all three tours will offer art lovers Open Studios tours this fall.  All three tours will cooperate in the areas of promoting and marketing all three tours, and TPAC will share funds with Art Trails and Heart of Tucson Art to manage expenses such as printing maps and creating informational websites.  Artists in the west/northwest and mid-town sectors can participate in their respective Art Trails or Heart of  Tucson Art, and they can also decide to participate in TPAC’s city wide tour as well

Be sure to watch the Open Studios page of Sonoran Arts Network (see top menu) for more information about each tour as it appears. Many sincere thanks go to Jim Click and Fletcher McCusker for recognizing what is really important to our community. I’ve long said that Tucson could easily be an arts destination just like Santa Fe if we only had more support.  “Art destination” means visitors spending money on food and drink, entertainment, hotel rooms, and yes, art. Art creates jobs and builds local economies.

The meeting this morning is a good sign, folks. In a time in which the arts are considered expendable by too many dispensers of public funds, we who know the truth of how important the arts really are MUST come together to cooperate and to inform our public officials of our views.

When we look back over human history, what do we really remember?  The cave paintings in Lascaux, Mayan temple murals at Bonampak, the Mona Lisa’s smile, exquisite Ming Dynasty porcelain or Qing dynasty landscapes, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, or the luminous heart-wrenching beauty of a Mark Rothko painting?  Or will we remember all those illusory jobs supposedly created by giving corporate CEOs yet another tax break so they can line their own pockets?

It’s time for us all to step up and defend what is really important and what gives meaning to human life. Let your elected representative know where you want your tax money spent.  Let them know how important the arts are to your children, to you, to your community, and to humanity.

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