Queen’s City Hall

Candidates sound off on arts

I was alerted to the Enquirer’s October 21st story "Candidates sound off on arts" from Sara Pearce’s Art Blog. All 25 candidates were asked to respond to twelve questions about the arts in Cincinnati. The article provides an overview and then links to the questions and the answers each candidate provided. One can search by candidate name or by individual question.

In Sara Pearce’s blog she indicates:
"Janelle Gelfand, Jackie Demaline and I came up with a 12-question survey for Cincinnati's city council candidates about the arts, then divided the list of candidates between us and asked them the questions, which ranged from ‘how should the City of Cincinnati invest in arts and culture?’ to ‘should the city have an entertainment district and (if yes) where would you put it?’. The story appeared in yesterday's A&E section."

In my opinion, it is a really interesting look at the candidates. Takes a while to go through and read everything but worth it if you are interested in the arts in this City.

A few excerpts . . . (And you might want to read full article to get a better picture of each candidate.)

Joan Kaup:
How do you believe arts and culture define Cincinnati?
"Cincinnati is defined by its arts and culture. Only 13 cities in the U.S. have a professional ballet, opera, symphony orchestra, regional theater and "full-service" art museum. Cincinnati is the smallest of these cities and a cultural draw throughout the region for high-quality performances, which give us great cache nationally. . ."

George Zamary:
What arts and entertainment should be part of The Banks?
"More popular mainstream arts and entertainment should be put in place to compliment the Freedom Center and the sporting venues . . ."

Pat Fischer
How should the City of Cincinnati invest in arts and culture?
". . . Once the City of Cincinnati as a governmental entity focuses its energy around what citizens have said over and over again is their number one priority - reducing crime - and that is lowered, then we must begin to make measurable improvements in the City's support for the arts . . ."