Eureka to get unprecedented opportunity for art community exposure

EUREKA SPRINGS -- The recent controversy about the Artery has brought a lot of attention to a town of about 2,000 people that, face it, seems to have a talent for controversy. In recent years the city has made national news voting to ask police not to enforce marijuana laws, and establishing a Domestic Partnership Registry.

Even longer ago, the city's contentious politics captured headlines in a page one story in the Wall Street Journal. The headline was, "Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where you can file a lawsuit or see a 70-foot statue of Jesus.

Recently, the Artery controversy has been covered in a story by Fox TV, AOL online, the Arkansas Times, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. While much has been said about the art displayed in public places, behind the scenes the city is preparing to take advantage of what might be its best opportunity ever to showcase Eureka, which has been named one of America's Great Small Art Towns.

A new Eureka Springs Arts Council has been formed to work to promote art in the city, taking advantages of cooperation with the new Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville that is expected to draw visitors far and wide when it opens in late 2010 or early 2011.

Art for the future

"Art for Eureka is an extremely viable commodity which will figure more and more into our future," said Eureka Springs Mayor Dani Joy. "The Eureka Springs Arts Council was established to help promote the art and artists in Eureka Springs. With the wonderful creation of the Crystal Bridges Museum, I realized that we were behind as a city in the cooperative organization that an arts council can bring. They will be helping to facilitate the understanding that Eureka Springs is continuing to be an arts destination."

Joy said the city will be working very closely with the Crystal Bridges Museum.

"It is going to be very important that we establish a good working relationship with the Bentonville/Rogers area," she said. "The museum will bring a large number of upscale visitors that we want to make sure not only come to Arkansas for a world-class art museum, but also for a living, breathing artist community. The Bentonville chamber and mayor have been very gracious in including Eureka in their plans, and I believe that this will be a beneficial partnership for everyone."

Imagine

Alderperson James DeVito said it is hard to imagine the impact that tying Eureka Springs to Crystal Bridges will have. The museum has spent as much as $68 million on one painting. Most recently the museum made headlines by purchasing "Rosie the Riveter" by Norman Rockwell. And the modernistic building itself, built along the banks of a creek to create large ponds, is expected to be a "must see" for art lovers.

"We will be getting people from all over the country, if not the world, to look at the first major new art museum to be built in the country for a while," DeVito said. "Given what Alice Walton is acquiring, it is going to be a pretty significant collection. The staff at Crystal Bridges Museum has made it clear they want Eureka Springs to be a high profile partner in this. We are trying to do as much as we can on our end ahead of time so we will be there in some significant way when the museum opens."

The hope is that when people come to Crystal Bridges, they will be exposed to the working art community of Eureka Springs. There may be some art displayed and perhaps also Eureka artists shown at work in Bentonville.

Many people who appreciate art will go to great lengths to visit museums. DeVito knows as he has traveled a long way to view art openings. He is excited that there will be a world-class art museum in Northwest Arkansas.

"Within a 45-minute drive of Eureka Springs we are going to have some of the greatest art work in the world on display," DeVito said. "It is really exciting we won't have to go so far. Crystal Bridges, like any art museum, will have traveling exhibits. In 2013, the Rockwell exhibit is scheduled to stop at the Crystal Bridges Museum. That in itself is very exciting for Northwest Arkansas."

Focus on timing

DeVito says the city needs to be very focused on the completion date of the museum. It represents a unique opportunity to present a consolidated view of Eureka Springs to the art world.

"We are never going to have another opportunity like this, and we need to take full advantage," DeVito said.

Jim Williams, director of the City Advertising and Promotions Commission, said Crystal Bridges Museum has suggested Eureka might want to take space on Bentonville Square to showcase Eureka's art and artists.

"We are looking at that but, of course, it has cost attached," Williams said. "I don't exactly know what we are going to do. We have looked at some retail space over there, but it is not cheap. We don't have an unlimited budget for that sort of thing. We are exploring opportunities and talking back and forth."

He isn't sure it makes sense to invest in retail space at the square when there is as possibility that Eureka Springs will have space or somehow be connected to the new museum.

"We don't want to spend a lot of time getting a space ready for the short time it would be needed before a possible move to the museum or something similar," Williams said.

Williams said the opening of Crystal Bridges will be the biggest art museum opening in the country since the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

"There is no doubt it will be significant," Williams said. "Their projection is after grand opening when things settle down, they will get 250,000 visitors per year. So, if we position ourselves to be a place where you can see American art being produced, I think that would serve us well."

Arts District?

Another proposal that has been considered by the city is establishing an Arts District in Eureka Springs that would run from the Auditorium up Main Street to the Train Depot, go up Grand Ave. and end at the Writer's Colony in Dairy Hollow. The Community Development Partnership spent $10,000 on a white paper study of this proposal that was conducted by the Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas several years ago.

The white paper defines boundaries, and gives some comparable analysis of what other cities have done with arts and cultural districts. It would include a Tax Increment Financial (TIF) district that allows additional taxes generated to be plowed back into improving the district.

"If you look down by the Train Depot, there is a lot of property for sale down there could use help in being developed," DeVito said. "The idea is to create artist residences including work and display space. Since that all was proposed, there has been some movement purely by private sector with the creation of the Arts Colony, and some arts businesses in the area. That is all great."

DeVito said by establishing a TIF district, the city would be actively involved in promoting the arts. He added that the newly formed Eureka Springs Arts Council is also governmental acknowledgment of the importance of arts in Eureka Springs.