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Arts Commission Invites Public Comments on Five-Year Strategic Plan
to see the Draft Plan and get the email where you can send your comments to DCCAH. My comment is below. What do you think?

Very interesting. Glad to see goals IV, V & VI on this draft.

I would like to point out something that I think is a glaring lack in the DC art community that is rarely spoken of and unsurprisingly not addressed in this report. I am speaking of the lack of a District of Columbia Institute of Contemporary Art.
Places like Philadelphia’s ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art), DCCA (Delaware Center for Contemporary Art), Dallas Center for Contemporary Art or The New Museum in New York City are the bests example of what I am proposing. The Hirshhorn, Corcoran, and National Gallery often show contemporary artists, but their branding as national museums of culture and history (and constant upkeep of that image fiscally and ideologically) over the decades has kept them from truly investing in the cutting edge.

In general a museum cannot offer the same dedication and scope that a city sponsored Contemporary Art Institute could when it comes to the presentation of contemporary art and investing in the local community of living art, if it maintained a truly cutting edge agenda and was properly funded and sited.

It would be fantastic if some of the private universities in the area served this purpose but alas, the contemporary is currently just a small part of the Katzen Art Center's agenda, the only university art facility in the area anywhere near the scale required to be truly meaningful.

The health of an art community hinges on the entire communities acceptance and dedication to contemporary living breathing evolving art (which gets mediocre attention in the Washington Metro Area) as much as it does on art education and historic value as presented in museums (which gets a lot of attention and consequently funding). To seek to develop a generously sized facility with a truly world class agenda should be spelled out more clearly and pursued rigorously by the city and the DCCAH.

The vibrant DC Art community has already taken hold of a lot of the goals you outline for the city as Goal II when it comes to using non-traditional spaces partnering with cultural agencies, large scale temporary exhibits. What DC needs now is clear incentive for a PERMANENT commitment not just temporary “edgier, hip arts activities”. I have no real quibbles with this 2010-2014 plan other than the above line.

In my personal life experience and circle of confidence we had a name for those that chose “edgy and hip” as their “strategy” which you may be familiar with. POSER. It does not reflect very well on the DCCAH and the many meaningful things they have accomplished in the last decade.

Finding MEANING in commitment to the principal and principles of Contemporary Art and its importance to world class living in an interconnected world is a strategy and a goal that needs to be put on the bargaining table here in D.C.

December 15 2009 Karen Joan Topping