Arlington Leaders 'Rethinking' Artisphere

The Artisphere is having something of an identity crisis.

Originally conceived as a cultural arts center, county leaders concede that things haven't exactly worked out as planned. The facility didn't bring enough people in to support a bar and restaurant, providing space for area businesses to have a residency didn't work, and it costs the county more than $1 million a year just to keep the doors open.

"We're rethinking it now," Arlington Economic Development Director Terry Holzheimer told Patch. "There's not sufficient funding to create a world-class cultural center."

But that doesn't mean arts won't be a part of the Artisphere's future.

[More: Artisphere: What Does Success Look Like?]

The facility opened in October 2010 under the auspices of Arlington County's Cultural Resources Department. A year later, the county gave control of it to Holzheimer's office.

The center's exhibits, from Frida Kahlo's photographs to the current Next Wave gallery, have been well-received. Rental of the space for special events generates some revenue and is something Holzheimer plans to continue ramping up. And it's become a "third place" for Arlington's growing entrepreneurial and tech community — the first two places being home and work, Holzheimer said.

"It's become a place of innovation," he told the Arlington County Board on Tuesday during a budget work session. "It's become a place where people go to hear about innovative work."

In May, for instance, the Day of Foster.ly will return to Arlington thanks in part to the Artisphere.

And it's the only public facility in Rosslyn aside from the fire station.

But regular public scrutiny and a tight budget led Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan to propose splitting its funding next year between ongoing and one-time funds. In other words, the facility will have to operate under the assumption that half of its $1.8 million taxpayer subsidy will vanish June 30, 2014, unless something changes.

"I do believe we have really made an investment in Rosslyn, in this building. And I felt it was important as we move forward to have enough support there to make it strong," Donnellan told the board. "I'm giving it enough to say, 'Let's see what we can do in the next year.' "

The budget proposal would give $214,000 more to the Artisphere next fiscal year than the current spending cycle.

The Arlington County Board approved transforming the former Newseum site to a cultural arts center in the summer of 2009.

At the time, board member Chris Zimmerman told Patch, elected officials were under a lot of pressure to invest in the arts. The county had been given use of the site for 20 years during the negotiations with Monday Properties that led to the approval of the 30-story office building at 1812 N. Moore St. The long-term plan for the nearby Courthouse community included an arts center, but then again Rosslyn had access to two Metro lines. Artisphere was born.

Zimmerman said it was "overly ambitious" to begin with and lacked a "realistic" plan early on. He called the space "idiosyncratic" and "hard to use."

"The thing to remember as people think about what's gone wrong … is not that it costs something, because it's not as though we weren't going to spend anything on the arts," Zimmerman said. " … The part that people are legitimately unhappy about is that it was oversold."

Donnellan pointed out that the facility is yet to go one year fully staffed.

The typical funding model for a cultural center is one-third local tax dollars, one-third philanthropic contributions and one-third revenue from ticket sales and the like, Holzheimer said.

"Even if we were going to grow substantially, we would never not need county support," he told the board.

The county is pursuing nonprofit status for the facility.

Elected officials have several work sessions left before formally adopting the fiscal 2014 budget later this month.

Read more:

• Tax Increases: Arlington Residents Divided on How Big Hike Should Be
• Arlington County Full-Time Employee Salary Database
• Hourly Wages: Arlington County Part-Time Employee Database
• Schools Ask Arlington County for Bigger Share of Tax Revenue
• Fewer Community Police Officers? Board Weighs Budget Proposal
• Jail Programs Suffer Due to Lack of Staff
• Arlington County Real Estate Taxes Could Increase by Up to 5 Percent