Video of actor Jonathan Council, speaking on an Actors' Guild Hall
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The Artist Guild Halls
Developers sometimes invest in an amenity to attract buyers... for example, a gated golfing community provides a golf course and club house paid for by the developer.
The Village seeks cultural enrichment that comes by having creative and performing artists and members of what is called the Creative Class.The problem with attracting such creative people comes with what is called gentrification - that by making the place attractive, the artists get priced out of the market and the place becomes bland. To overcome this, the Village proposes to do two things:
- On most plazas to fund the construction of an Artists Guild Hall paid for by the development but then turned over to a collective of artists united by their art and commitment to its success
- To provide affordable parallel market housing for the artists of the Guild Hall.
The Guild Hall - A large building with the amenities required by the artists, with visitor accommodations to provide an income for the guild to cover building costs and with classrooms for primary and secondary school children. Each guild hall is expected to address a different sector of the arts and creative class. One may be for actors, another musicians and a third for inventors or scientists. These creators are expected to be professionals for whom it is hoped the guild hall is a dream come true. There will be no mortgage on the building, no debt to service. When the guild artists have assembled and formed themselves as a group, they will make a series of decisions about what they need. For example, actors may need a stage, rehearsal facilities, perhaps even a recording studio. In addition, they will make decisions about governance of their organisation, addressing issues regarding day to day management, but also how to keep it fresh and how to rotate and retire members so it endures and thrives for decades. The artists will be encouraged to feature their work and supported to enable them to devote more (hopefully full) time to their art, not having to work at a labour job due to insufficient income through the arts. Festivals will be encouraged, as will be collaboration to make the village a place visitors come to discover and enjoy cultural excellence. In the performing arts, one may find one plaza with actors, and the next with film-makers and a third with musicians... all of whom collaborate to make movies, for example. In a plaza neighbourhood of say 500 villagers, the Guild Hall may host say 25 artists. By having the guild hall on the plaza, it will set a particular tone for the public plaza life.
Parallel Housing - In the surrounding neighbourhood of primary and secondary pedestrian streets, the guild members will own homes. In some cases artists not only have very little money to purchase, but earn little. For this reason, on the low end of the earnings scale, the Village Organising Company will seek to construct very small homes that are affordable by even the lowest earning artist. The artist will own the home. At the same time, they will have access to the facilities of the guild hall which would include a commercial kitchen, storage facilities, perhaps a living & entertainment room, shower and laundry and other commons facilities that would not fit in the smallest of artists' homes. The price of the home will be set initially as affordable, meaning the Village Organising Company will incur an opportunity cost by discounting the sale price. This concession will be passed over to the Village corporation (owned by everyone who lives in the village) with a requirement that when the artist goes to sell their parallel home, they may only sell it to another artist. The price is not restricted, only the profession of the buyer, thus assuring the community never loses its artists.
The Economics of Art - By lowering the cost of living, and by providing both the infrastructure and attracting a critical mass of artists to attract more patrons and buyers, the economic conditions should enable proficient members of the creative class to make a living. However, there are no guarantees, and as always, the artists must work as entrepreneurs where success or failure is based on their talent, skill and market conditions.
