Artisphere: What Does Success Look Like?

So, what should the Artisphere be?

It's the conversation that perhaps started two-and-a-half years late — and it started Tuesday with a few big questions.

What does success look like for Rosslyn's cultural arts center? Should the public facility be limited to the arts?

Elected officials began wondering aloud as to what the county's end game should be for the Artisphere on Tuesday after Arlington County Board member Libby Garvey questioned increasing the county's subsidy to a struggling facility while cuts are being proposed to social safety net programs.

[More: Arlington Leaders 'Rethinking' Artisphere]

Arlington Economic Development Director Terry Holzheimer said one thing it won't be is the Strathmore of Rosslyn.

"That isn't possible. It isn't going to happen," he said. "It has to be scaled down and broadened in purpose."

If going with what works is part of the plan, Arlington's growing entrepreneurial and tech community could help determine its future. Holzheimer said Arlington had captured the mantle of being the center of the greater Washington area's entrepreneurial scene.

"Right now, we own that," he said. "... That's been very important to us."

As one of the only public facilities in the canyons of Rosslyn, it could evolve to wear at least some of the trappings of a community center, although county leaders didn't seem comfortable Tuesday calling it that.

And, of course, there's the arts.

"It really is a cool space," said Rosslyn Business Improvement District Executive Director Cecilia Cassidy, adding that it takes several years for a cultural center to establish itself. The Rosslyn BID is a major supporter of the Artisphere.

"All great cities have great cultural centers," she told Patch. "For a community to embrace the arts is an enlightened community about the value it brings."

Holzheimer said both the tangible and intangible benefits of the Artisphere need to be realized.

"The visual arts activities that we've done have been very successful in terms of creating a reputation and creating community value — the whole idea of the Artisphere as a third place, not a community center, but a place people go for certain experiences or activities," he told the county board.

Board Vice Chairman Jay Fisette said he was intrigued by the Artisphere's successes in the realms of the arts, technology, innovation and culture.

"It isn't really on track to be what we originally envisioned. I don't think it has played out, that the design of the space allows for that," he said.

"I don't know that I see (what success looks like) yet. That doesn't mean I can't see success; I just don't know what that success is. And I don't want to wait until next April to have a better sense of that."

If Rosslyn is to be the "Manhattan on the Potomac," Arlington's leaders will have to help the Artisphere past its identity crisis.

Perhaps they'll enlist the help of an entrepreneur. Or a community group. Or an artist.

So, what should the Artisphere be?