City Convenes Meeting Tuesday on Arts District

By Desiree Parker Monday, March 01, 2010

The City of Williamsburg is hosting a meeting Tuesday evening to get public feedback about the possibility of an arts district in the city.

In December, City Council gave the Economic Development Authority the go-ahead to look into creating an arts district and set aside some funds for a feasibility study by an outside group. They also established a focus group of artists, business people and other members of the community to assist in the task. If an arts district is created, the city would be able to offer incentives to arts-related businesses that locate within the boundary. Read a previous story here.

Nonprofit real estate arts developer ArtSpace has been hired to do the study, and representatives of the organization will be giving a presentation and soliciting input from the community at Tuesday’s meeting. Their mission is to create, foster, and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations, and they’ve offered advice to cities such as Denver and Boston as well as suburban and rural areas across the nation.

The city has set up a Web site to inform citizens about the arts district investigation, including an outline of the different areas being considered for the district. There is also a section where people can share comments.

The meeting will take place Tuesday from 7 until 9 p.m. at the Community Building on Boundary Street.