DATE: Monday, October 6, 1997               TAG: 9710040038
SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  173 lines

CHESAPEAKE'S QUEST FOR CULTURE CITY SEEKS TO IMPROVE FACILITIES IN ORDER TO BECOME AN ARTS CENTER

IT HAS THE HIGHEST median income in Hampton Roads. A $9 million conference center. Fifty-three foreign companies. And one of the fastest-growing populations in the state.

What Chesapeake does not have, many say, is culture. It has no theater, repertory company or art museum.

City boosters hope to change that.

They're campaigning to put Chesapeake on the cultural map by promoting home-grown talent; by building a city cultural center where Chesapeake's artists could showcase their work; and by demanding that regional arts organizations take the city seriously.

Chesapeake needs to improve its cultural facilities if it hopes to compete as a major player with other cities, said Helen Spruill, co-chair of the Chesapeake Consortium for Arts and History. An arts center is the consortium's major effort today.

The city's largest performance space is a high school auditorium. This basic lack of facilities has slowed the city's artistic development, Spruill said.

Two of Chesapeake's most recent successes, the Virginia Symphony's ``Symphony Under the Stars'' and a dramatic production of Shakespeare's ``As You Like It,'' were produced outdoors - as much out of necessity as for ambience. The Shakespeare play was the only dramatic production performed at the Chesapeake Campus of Tidewater Community College in 20 years, said director Ed Jacob.

Chesapeake's community college students won't find a single visual art class at TCC-Chesapeake, said provost and interim president Timothy Kerr.

And Chesapeake's professional artists must travel to other cities to exhibit their work or to find studio space, said painter Karen Kinser.

``As we speak, there are no opportunities for people to go to an art exhibition in Chesapeake,'' Kinser said. ``There's no fine art. You can go to a craft show and you stand there next to someone decorating toilet paper holders. It's not something that anyone with any pride in what they do will have any pride in.''

An arts center could solve those problems.

It would give artists a place to display their work, theater and musical groups a place to perform and school children a place to learn, said Chesapeake painter Bob Holland.

And an arts center would polish Chesapeake's image, as well.

Cultural facilities could make it easier to sell Chesapeake to business, said Economic Development Director Donald Z. Goldberg.

``To say we have an arts organization that is looking into the establishment of an arts center gives the suggestion of an aggressive, up-and-coming city,'' Goldberg said. ``We can benefit from the other cities and their amenities, like the Chrysler Museum, but it's good to have our own identity.''

So Chesapeake Mayor William E. Ward has made the cultural center one of his top priorities.

The city's last major effort to build an art center was in 1986, when it commissioned its first feasibility study, but arts lovers have been working on the project for more than two decades. That study recommended building any future arts center at TCC-Chesapeake, which has since included the center in its master plan and capital outlay budget, Kerr said.

With a possible location selected, supporters now need to raise money - and popular support.

Ward wants the art center project under way before his present term is up in 2000.

``Any great society, any great nation or city, past or present, has always been known for its culture,'' Ward said. ``We're a major city in America and we pride ourselves on being a major city, but we're not going to be able to attract the type of citizens you want if you don't have amenities.''

Chesapeake is ``a cosmopolitan city, with people who've moved here from different countries, from different parts of the country, people who are used to the fine arts in all their forms,'' Ward said. ``They now have to go to other cities for that. Certainly Chesapeake is big enough and diverse enough and affluent enough to provide those cultural amenities.''

Chesapeake is also big enough to boost its own local talent.

Chesapeake's arts leaders are wielding their modest financial power to send regional arts group a message: Don't expect city patronage if you don't come to Chesapeake.

Only those organizations who stage performances in Chesapeake are receiving city arts dollars. Chesapeake's Fine Arts Commission last spring denied grant money to the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival after festival organizers staged events in just about every city but Chesapeake.

However, the commission rewarded the Virginia Symphony for its Chesapeake concerts with one of its largest grants.

Only Chesapeake players were encouraged to audition for a summer performance of Shakespeare's ``As You Like It,'' director Ed Jacob said.

And only Chesapeake artists were considered for $8,000 in commissions from the Chesapeake Conference Center, said Susan Bernard, executive director of the d'Art Center, who helped arrange the exhibit.

The city can't create a name for itself without encouraging its own artists, said fine arts coordinator Randy L. Harrison.

``I recommended they stay in Chesapeake - and why not?'' Harrison said. ``We've got terrific artists, and I'm excited that our conference center had the foresight to use local artists. . . . People think there is no art in Chesapeake, but some of the finest artists in the area are right here.''

In fact, the Chesapeake people's appreciation of the arts has seldom been stronger, said Arts Commissioner Alvene Buckley.

``There was standing room only at the Tidewater Winds concert this winter,'' said Buckley, who has campaigned for an arts center for 20 years. ``There were 500 people. I think we're seeing something of a renaissance in the arts in Chesapeake, and it's wonderful.''

This year's ``Symphony Under the Stars'' drew a record audience of 5,000 and ``Shakespeare In the Grove'' drew nearly 1,700 people over four days, Harrison said.

Impressive numbers - especially considering Chesapeake's history.

Just 10 years ago, the performers onstage outnumbered viewers in the audience when Chesapeake's high school chorus performed at the city park with the Virginia Symphony, Kerr said.

``It shows that there's some interest here that wasn't here 15 years ago,'' Kerr said.

Chesapeake artists suffer from the city's lack of prestige, as well, painter Kinser said.

``If you're from Chesapeake, you're looked at a little askance,'' Kinser said. ``If you have a Chesapeake address, people might think you're a hobbyist. They don't take you as seriously. . . ''

Chesapeake illustrator Ken Wright agreed.

``A lot of people look at Chesapeake and see it as nothing but farms, cows, cattle growers and cotton growers,'' Wright said.

Yet bringing the arts to Chesapeake is a challenge.

Its fine arts commission has one of the smallest budgets in Hampton Roads - $155,000 this year. In comparison, most other cities spend far more to promote the arts:

The Hampton Arts Commission - More than $383,000, including more than $100,000 in grants.

The Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities - More than $2.2 million, including $324,500 in grants, more than $1.7 million to the Chrysler Museum, $146,000 to the Chrysler Museum's historic tour homes and $50,000 for the Virginia Symphony.

The Portsmouth Museum and Fine Arts Commission - more than $1.4 million, plus an additional $15,000 in grants.

The Suffolk Fine Arts Commission - $13,500.

The Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission - More than $432,000.

Chesapeake's arts commission budget has grown by $50,000 in 10 years, Harrison said. It probably won't grow much, if any, in the near future.

Chesapeake now faces a $19 million projected budget shortfall over the next two years.

A city cultural center would have to be funded largely by state or private money, Ward said. City Council has not yet allocated the project any money; it's waiting for the results of a feasibility study that will determine how large a center the city needs.

Chesapeake's public works department has received responses from five architectural firms to its request for proposals. A study commission is now reviewing those proposals in order to select an architect.

The d'Art Center's Bernard welcomes an arts center in Chesapeake. It would benefit the entire region, she said.

``The more the merrier,'' Bernard said. ``We all travel. Boundaries are invisible.''

Yet with so many well-established regional arts facilities, some question the need for another facility in Chesapeake.

``I don't think every community needs an opera,'' said Minette Cooper, president of the Cultural Alliance of Hampton Roads.

Cooper praised Chesapeake's arts programming, from its arts education in school to the zeal of its cultural leaders. But the city's image-conscious boosterism could be counterproductive, as well, she said.

``Obviously the arts commissions have to be responsible to the taxpayers of their city, so they encourage performances and participation within their own city,'' Cooper said. ``Is boosterism good? Maybe for a while. In the long run I don't know that it will be. . .

Yet Harrison makes no apologies for her boosterism for Chesapeake arts.

``One of the things that has been really encouraging to me is that people are really supportive of their own community here,'' Harrison said. ``If every community felt that way, there'd be a lot more going on (artistically).

``It doesn't mean we don't want to support other communities,'' she said. ``I really feel like there is an attitude of, `Why can't it happen here too?''' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

HUY NGUYEN

The Virginian-Pilot

Bob Holland...

Jaime Swingle...

Randy Harrison... KEYWORDS: CULTURE CHESAPEAKE ARTS

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