Increased hotel/motel tax needed for arts organizations

By James Kern

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Several weeks after the Flood of 2008, a group of non-profit executives met to discuss the disaster's effect on local non-profit organizations. The flood affected and jeopardized 80 percent of the city's cultural organizations, all of them non-profits.

In addition to the damaged Paramount and Iowa Theatre buildings, the city also lost use of three museums, the Science Station, Indian Creek Nature Center, Ushers Ferry and Seminole Valley. Brucemore, The History Center and the Grant Wood Home and Studio were the only cultural sites in Cedar Rapids not touched by the flood.

Despite the double blow of flood and recession, the cultural entities never missed a beat. Theatre Cedar Rapids performed in alternate locations until opening its temporary home at Lindale. Orchestra Iowa performed at Veterans Memorial Stadium, Brucemore, Sinclair Auditorium and other venues.

Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, SPT Theatre, Harmony Hawks and other groups found alternative spaces. The African American Museum of Iowa and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art reopened within months following the flood, and the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library found a temporary home at Lindale Mall until moving to 16th Avenue SW last spring.

Legion Arts found ways to stay on mission, reinvent the CSPS building and participate in the New Bohemia vision.

Collaborations and creative solutions quickly became standard operating procedure in the new normal.

Now 30 months later, resiliency best defines the cultural organizations in this community, thanks in no small part to visionary leaders and boards, dedicated staffs, volunteers and the generosity of private and corporate donors. The reopening of the Iowa Theatre Building, home of Theatre Cedar Rapids, was the perfect antidote to the flood's devastation, and now that plans are moving quickly forward for restoration of the Paramount Theatre, CSPS and National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, the cultural infrastructure will be completely restored within the next three years.

Nonetheless, the lingering recession and the plethora of local projects demanding funding have strained cultural resources. Cedar Rapids is a generous community, but residents and visitors must continue to purchase tickets, pay admissions and contribute to membership drives to assure the cultural community's vibrancy. Sponsorships, advertising, rentals and other corporate/cultural partnerships are essential.

Perhaps most worrisome for nearly all cultural groups is the threat of losing government funding. Local cultural groups have received funds for operations and capital projects from hotel/motel taxes. For most, the amount is a small percentage of budget revenue but without it, staff reductions and diminished programming would occur.

The cost of building the new convention center and other sites threatens the hotel/motel tax funds traditionally reserved for arts and culture organizations. For the new center to be successful at luring conventions, the city's other attractions must be a vital part of what else the community offers. Cultural leaders and city officials are encouraging the Iowa Legislature to allow voting for an increase in the hotel/motel tax rate in Cedar Rapids.

Iowa ranks 42nd nationally in per capita funding for the arts, about 34 cents per Iowan per year and the lowest of any Midwest state. Minnesota ranks first in the nation at $5.80 per capita. There is a statistically proven correlation between where people choose to live and travel and what a state spends on arts and culture.

A thriving cultural community is as relevant to economic development as SMID Districts, TIF funds and tax credits. Quality of life has a direct bearing on growing the business community.

The cultural non-profits have actively participated in restoring the spirit and infrastructure of a broken community, but their future is tenuous unless they are actively supported, encouraged and funded.

James F. Kern is executive director of Brucemore, a member of the board of directors for the Linn County Non-profit Resource Center and the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, a trustee at Theatre Cedar Rapids, and chair of the Cedar Rapids Visual Arts Commission. Comments: jim@brucemore.org.