A Creative Solution
Revitalization program creates magic in Paducah

How do you revitalize rundown neighborhoods, improve quality of life, draw in more tourists, and increase the tax base? Paducah found the answer with one program – the Artist Relocation Program.

Using financial, business, and cultural incentives to attract artists to the downtown and Lowertown areas of the city, Paducah’s Artist Relocation Program has far exceeded expectations.

Established in 2001, the program is more than the answer to city leaders’ prayers. It is also a dream-come-true for many of the artists who have joined the program: They live in a vibrant community with fellow artists; own their own home, gallery, and studio space; and have support for their business efforts.

Charlotte Erwin and her husband Ike were the first artists to relocate and are witnessing the benefits first-hand. “We did not know where it was going but felt secure in our ability to survive should not another artist relocate. The program has been more successful than we ever dreamed. ”

Thanks to the commitment of the community and the efforts of program coordinator, artist Mark Barone, and Tom Barnett, the city’s director of planning, the program is thriving.

Barone, a Wisconsin-born painter and printmaker, had lived and worked in Paducah for over 10 years and was troubled by his neighborhood’s downward spiral. Lowertown is Paducah’s oldest residential neighborhood. However, its Greek revival, Queen Anne, Victorian, and Italianate homes were sinking into disrepair as property fell into the hands of landlords interested only in profit.

Barone approached city officials with the idea of a neighborhood revitalization program generated by an artist relocation program and sustained by a permanent artist community.

The program has since become a national model for using the arts to revitalize deterioriating neighborhoods and create a supportive environment where artists can live and work. Artists are attracted by the financial, cultural, and business incentives offered and the community benefits through the preservation of neglected historical structures, an increase in the tax base, expanded tourism, the additional cultural activities, and other financial advantages to existing businesses.

Several elements have contributed to the success of the program. First, existing city ordinances were changed in an effort to clean up the Lowertown neighborhood and hold property owners and landlords to minimum standards.

Then Paducah Bank came through with a low-interest loan package for artists to purchase and renovate their new property without a down payment.

The City of Paducah also teamed up with other organizations to offer still more incentives, including health insurance, Web sites, and local and national marketing and advertising programs.

In the end, artists were offered an attractive, viable package of financial, business, tax, and cultural incentives.

Not only are historical houses and run down buildings being renovated, but empty lots are filled with new construction that further benefits the local economy. The Artist Relocation Program is working with local architects to design store fronts that will be available to artists who want to build new construction rather than renovation.

So far, the program has attracted 21 artists. More than that, it has created a new excitement and sense of community in the city. Artists have come from California, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington D.C., Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Canada to renovate and/or build. Their work covers the gamut of the art field and includes ceramics, paint, fiber, jewelry, metal, and sculpture. Another three artists are in the process of relocating to Paducah through the program.

“Our long-term goal is to make Paducah a national cultural destination. As long as artists keep wanting to come we will find a place for them. We used to set goals and benchmarks and we blew through all those in the first year of the program. We are just holding on for the ride now and see where it goes,” Barone says.

For more information about the program, contact Mark Barone, City of Paducah Artist Relocation Program, 300 South 5th St., P.O. Box 2267, Paducah, KY 42002, (270) 444-8690, mbarone@ci.paducah.ky.us.

You can learn more about the artists involved in the program at http://www.lowertownarts.com.
 

Deanna Mascle is a staff writer for The Lane Report.
editorial@lanereport.com

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