Arts-advocacy group wants county’s support, but not its cash – Gazette Leader
Livability22202 and the CCCA have long sought with Embracing Arlington Arts a Black Box Theatre in Crystal or Pentagon City, especially since we are losing Synetic Theatre in April when its lease on 1800 S Bell Street expires. Embracing Arlington Arts has obtained an informal pledge from a funder to finance a large portion of the project which would include much needed affordable housing units within the building, has researched and developed a workable business plan for the venue, and has met with many stakeholders and potential partners.
What is needed from County leaders bit funding: it’s a tight budget year anyway. But we need them to help identify potential sites and put EAA in contact with developers or other partners in order to nail down a site where the theater can be built. Could you help by emailing the County Board and County Manager with points like these:
• I wholly support the initiative to build a new and quality performing arts center in Arlington and ask the County Board and County Manager to proactively help find a location for this venue.
• Embracing Arlington Arts has found an entity that will provide much of the financing for the project, which will likely include hundreds of affordable housing units, but this partnership is at risk if the organization finds another opportunity elsewhere in the DMV. We are asking you to assist in identifying potential and specific sites for the entity, as well as potential partners.
• This venue could serve as the home of several organizations that are under threat of potentially having to leave Arlington due to no performance space including Synetic Theater which has been in the County for over 20 years, as well as serve as a meeting space for community partners, performance space for bands and other groups, attract more patrons from around the DMV to the County and its restaurants, and be a game changer for the arts industry in Arlington.
Exploring a Home for Synetic Theater and Performing Arts
“Currently the 22202 area lacks arts and cultural opportunities across the spectrum.” Livability22202 Framework and Action Plan, November 2019
What is the issue? Synetic Theater, the arts and culture flagship of Crystal City, will lose its lease in November 2022. In early 2019 a group of stakeholders—Crystal City Civic Association, Crystal City Business Improvement District, JBG Smith, and Synetic—started exploring development site plan options for a new home. At the same time, small and large performance groups throughout Arlington have lost, or are losing, their venues, with the prospect that our area could become a cultural/artistic wasteland. A new stakeholder, the non-profit Embracing Arlington Arts (EAA), proposed a two-venue theater that would include a Black Box theater with flexible programming for a wide variety of artistic and musical groups. Arlington independent Media is also looking for new venues. Amazon and Livability22202 round out the group of stakeholders, as well as a STEM representative of Virginia Tech.
What is proposed and why? National Landing is being revitalized as Arlington (and Virginia’s) largest downtown and can leverage new development and growth underway to support the arts, with Synetic as the flagship. A two-venue theater would create a major economic draw for restaurants and stores. Together, Synetic and EAA host some 50,000 attendees. The approach is innovative: no financial support or management required by the County, only support during the site planning process. Instead, a non-profit alliance will run a capital campaign and Synetic and EAA would jointly manage the facility. If co-located, AiM could help with video equipment and production, as well as with training. But at roughly 41,000 sq ft, major community benefits would be required by the developer. JBG has calculated (as worst case scenario) that the total Bonus Density Needed for Facility might be as much as 550,000 sf, whereas typical Bonus Density needed per Crystal City Project has been roughly 200,000 – 300,000 sf. The facilities needed to support the arts fit uneasily into the profit-driven and tax-revenue calculations that have historically driven development decisions in our area. But in this case, JBG Smith is open to considering construction as part of the site plan process, perhaps for PenPlace or 2525 Crystal Drive; the BID, all five County Board members, and Arlington Economic Development support the idea as “creative economics”; and Amazon has expressed some interest in the capital campaign. The economic advantages might triple the return on community benefit costs.
What are the options?
- Best: Full Co-location in Black Box Theater (Synetic, EAA, AIM): best option for cultural and economic development in Arlington; most difficult to find space in development projects; high community benefits cost
- Compromise: Co-locate Synetic and AIM (for production and classrooms): both have time constraints to find a new venue; lower space requirement for development projects; practical co-production possibilities
- Least satisfactory: Decouple Synetic, AIM (potential classrooms in Underground), and EAA; seek other sites in Arlington for a smaller Black Box Theater; lost cultural and economic opportunities