Arts commission
Members of our Community Editorial Board respond to the following question: Boulder voters will decide in the Nov. 3 election whether to expand the size of the Boulder Arts Commission. Your take?
Out of all of the measures to be considered on the ballot this year, Ballot Measure 2F, asking for a charter amendment to expand the Boulder Arts Commission from five volunteer community members to seven, is probably the easiest to muddle through.
Over the last couple of years, Boulder has increased its funding for local arts programs. Which is amazing for our community, right? However, it has increased the workload for the current members of the arts commission, who review and disperse the grants, prompting them to request the amendment from the City Council.
Currently, there are no groups organized in opposition to the expansion. I hope we can all find a way to support this charter amendment expansion to disperse the workload for the community volunteers and create a more efficient and effective commission.
As a current Housing Advisory Board member and vice-chair for the City of Boulder, I understand the workload associated with a board or commission appointment. Our ability to deep dive, research, and tease apart complex issues facing the city make our contributions and recommendations incredibly valuable for council members typically inundated with consequential issues and workloads. Our efforts, although heavily politicized at times, are critical to the overall health of an informed council and the decisions they ultimately make for us all.
Boulder has 22 boards and commissions that assist in sussing out directions for the council to consider when making difficult decisions. Appointments create opportunities for any community member to lend our experience and voice in specific areas of interest.
Our city benefits greatly when a wide variety of voices are reflected in these positions. To learn more about these positions and when the city will accept applications, go to https://bouldercolorado.gov/boards-commissions or call the deputy city clerk at 303-441-3008. Volunteer your time and contribute to shaping Boulder’s future with us!
Masyn Moyer, masynmoyer@gmail.com
The orange economy has nothing to do with the citrus industry. Nor, refreshingly, does it have anything to do with our current president, although he is often cast in that hue with his hair and makeup.
Instead, the orange economy is the term that has been coined by British economics writer John Howkins to describe the creative economy and it includes everything that is developed through people’s creativity and inspiration that becomes a good or service.
Mr. Howkins uses the color orange because it has been historically associated with youth and happiness. Howkins’ creativity-based economic model includes all kinds of creativity, whether expressed in art or innovation. The cultural and creative industries, which include activities such as architecture, audiovisual arts, digital services, fashion, graphic and industrial design, handcrafts, music, and software.
Howkins acknowledges that creativity is not new and neither is economics, but what is new is the nature of the relationship between them. The U.S. and other countries see creativity as the dominant economic force affecting jobs, economic growth, and social welfare. If the creative economy were a country, it would be the fourth largest economic power with a gross domestic product of $4.3 billion, with a total of 144 million workers.
In 2014, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an intergovernmental agency with 37 member countries, declared: “Creativity and innovation are now driving the economy, reshaping entire industries, and stimulating inclusive growth.”
The City of Boulder recognized the value of creativity and the arts in our community when it created the arts commission. There are currently five dedicated volunteers who do the work, and they are overloaded. It is important that two more members are added to relieve their burden so the important work of the arts commission can be even more effective in helping our city both culturally and economically.
To riff on political consultant James Carville’s mantra during the Bill Clinton presidential campaign: It’s the orange economy, stupid!
Fern O’brien, fobrien@fobrienlaw.com
Boulder’s municipal commissions provide the City Council legislative efficiency by taking the lead on issues in which their memberships have expertise. Diversity of thought on boards gives the council policy to deliberate that has also considered the politics. Having served on the Downtown Management Commission, I know this volunteer work can be challenging and fulfilling.
It is frustrating for board members, the public seeking policy solutions, and council seeking advice, when a board is dysfunctional. This sentiment was expressed by a citizen at-large member of the newly appointed Cannabis Licensing Advisory Board in his recent abrupt resignation. Due to lack of interest or qualified applicants during the last board recruitment, there are now five boards with vacancies.
Disengagement and disinterest are ways of demonstrating dissatisfaction with the outcomes of a process. Changing the rules, a tradition that goes back to the 17th Amendment, is another. That proposal was a panacea to the corrupting influence of money in the appointment of senators by replacing it with the corrupting influence of money in the election of senators.
Republican democracy, like the constitutional monarchy it was based on, or Alcoholic Anonymous, a framework for self-governance, don’t work if you don’t work them. The cohorts supporting state and local reforms to the rules apportioning representation in hopes of different outcomes together represent a consensus of dissatisfaction with the game.
If the council is dissatisfied with the outcomes of the work of the arts commission, it could rebalance the membership now, if it could find applicants. Since it has run out of volunteers and the current ones are starting to run off, the most likely outcome of adding seats is empty seats.
The other democracy reforms such as direct election of mayor have the merit of plausibility that if they pass, policy could change, thus deserving our careful consideration. Adding two members to the arts commission will change no policy outcomes, making it one ballot question that’s easy to dismiss.
Shawn Coleman, slcbdco@gmail.com
Many thanks for this week’s topic.
In the middle of a week of really important news stories, including the discovery of a cache of Hunter Biden emails that purportedly link Joe Biden to a payto-play scheme — the latest “Russian” election interference on behalf of Donald Trump, or scandal of the year? — it’s nice to have a no-brainer of a topic.
So instead of trying to decipher why this newspaper chose not to publish a single word about the Biden emails or why Twitter and Facebook chose to suppress the story so that you couldn’t make up your own mind, we instead can ponder whether or not you should vote “yes” to expand the City of Boulder volunteer arts commission from five members to seven.
The current arts commission board members approve, on average, nearly 100 grants every year. No telling how many more they have to review and ultimately reject due to lack of funds or other reasons. And they do it all for free. They do it because they love the arts and the money is there and it needs to be allocated. So if these five citizens think they could really benefit by having two more unpaid volunteers join them, then by all means, vote “yes” on City of Boulder Ballot Measure 2F. There really doesn’t seem to be a reason to vote “no.”
And while hopefully we’ll have seven brave souls working in 2021 to help ensure that all kinds of art flourish in the city (you should read through the list of projects funded – you’d be surprised at how many theaters, dance companies, and art opportunities exist in Boulder), the rest of us can get back to our new favorite activity, thinking your neighbor/ friend/family member has gone brain dead because he or she decided to vote for, take your pick, Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
Chuck Wibby, cxwibby1@gmail.com