Arlington County Recommends Closure of Cultural Center –Rachel Kurzius
When Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan recommended the closure of Artisphere at a Dec. 17 County Board meeting, “the delivery of the news couldn’t have come at a worse time,” according to Artisphere Founding Executive Director Jose Ortiz.
The 12 full-time and 20 part-time staffers spent their Christmas holidays knowing that the Rosslyn community cultural center will shut its doors come July 1. While Donnellan’s recommendation is the first in a series of steps the board must take to ratify the decision, Ortiz thinks the closure is a done deal. “There’s not much wiggle room here,” he says.
When Artisphere took over the former Newseum building in 2010, it symbolized the hopes of those who wanted Rosslyn to be an artistic hub in addition to a large business park. Arlington County and commerce groups like the Rosslyn Business Improvement District hoped that the infusion of art would drive further economic development.
The space features three separate theaters (two in-house and one next door), three galleries for visual arts, a 4,000-square-foot ballroom and a two-story projection wall for video installations. “What we created here doesn’t exist anywhere else,” Ortiz says. “Across all disciplines under one roof—there just isn’t another place that could pull this off.”
Despite programming that has brought nearly a quarter of a million people through its doors, according to the Rosslyn BID, financial woes have plagued the project since the start. “The reality is that the Artisphere has not lived up to projections,” Donnellan said at the December meeting. Visitor revenue in FY 2011 was 75 percent lower than initial projections. Ortiz, 53, says that the first financial plan had unrealistic goals, and they’ve been working under a revised plan.
While Arlington County does not pay rent on the facility, owned by Monday Properties, Ortiz said that Artisphere still costs about $1.2 million per year in utilities and upkeep on the iconic building. After the Newseum decamped from Rosslyn in 2000, it remained empty until the county decided to covert it into an arts center nearly a decade later.
“There’s lots of interest in the space,” says Mary-Claire Burick, Rosslyn BID President, who has attended meetings with the county and potential tenants for the building, yet she would not go into detail on who is interested in the space. “The county is still very much interested in investment in Rosslyn’s cultural development.”
Burick believes that Rosslyn’s arts are headed outside. “It’s important to bring art to the people, bringing vibrancy to streets and sidewalks.” The Rosslyn BID is currently working on new benches and solar charging stations.
Artisphere will continue to program through the end of June, says Ortiz. So far, that includes comic book expo, a version of “Othello” as a soldier returning from Afghanistan with PTSD and more. While staffers continue to process the county’s decision, they’ve already kicked off their final season. “The show must go on,” Ortiz says.
(February 2015)
