Covington Tries to Tap League of Cities
The Enquirer
"Covington Tries to Tap League of Cities"
Commission wants $500,000 for arts
district
By Cindy Schroeder and Mike Rutledge
Published: January 12, 2005
Click here for a copy of this article retyped below.
COVINGTON - An arts district would revitalize downtown and increase property values, supporters say.
The Covington City Commission is seeking $500,000 from the Kentucky League of Cities to help jump-start the three- or four-block district.
City Solicitor Jay Fossett told the commission Tuesday that low-interest loans of less than 2 percent would be used to acquire property. He declined to give the district's boundaries until the city acquires the properties.
"This will encourage artists to move into the area, display their wares and maybe eventually become homeowners or (commercial) building owners,'' Mayor Butch Callery said.
Jennifer Baldwin, executive director of Art Machine, likes the approach.
Art Machine, known for the Scholastic Art Awards it has exhibited at Crestview Hills Mall the last three years, is moving into warehouse space at 812 Russell St. this April. When artists move into an area, like Main Street in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine, they tend to renovate buildings and transform their neighborhoods, Baldwin said.
"And then the landlords up the rent, and the artists have to move out and find another blighted area to move into,'' Baldwin said. "So Covington's objective is to create a situation where the artists can get the housing and stay in it, and also provide an opportunity for people ... to see and purchase the art that they're making,'' she said.
"I think it'll be huge,'' Callery said. "They did it down in Paducah, and it's been really done well there.''
He calls Covington a perfect spot for an arts district because of its proximity to Cincinnati and the suburbs. "And it's safe,'' he said.
"We did a lot of art things in the last several months of the year, on Fridays, and they were pretty well attended, both in MainStrasse and in the downtown area,'' Callery said. "You saw a lot of people in the downtown area, walking around, which was great, on a Friday night.'' Art Machine has a mailing list of 750 teachers in Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio, and hopes to draw participants from Indiana once the group gets established in the Russell Street building.
By the end of the month, Covington officials hope to approve legislation that would create an arts district.
Kathie Hickey, Covington's renaissance manager, has spent 10 months researching other communities' arts districts.