April 21, 2009
Community Viewpoint: The Time to Chart Riverspace's Future is Now
In a little under three years, Riverspace, the volunteer-powered arts center in Nyack, has become an essential part of Rockland County’s cultural landscape. Meanwhile, Riverspace is in the midst of a financial crisis, needing to raise $500,000 by June 30 in order to ensure another fine season of diverse, inventive and moderately-priced cultural arts for the region.
Such crises are all too common in the arts. Ticket sales cover only about 50% of any arts budget, whether you’re Lincoln Center or Riverspace. That’s why cultural institutions are constantly groveling, hitting up their friends to cover next month’s bills. Riverspace is especially needy because its rent and utilities come to almost $1,000 a day. By contrast, many arts centers own their own buildings, free and clear.
The board of Riverspace has known from Day One that this rent-heavy, contribution-dependent scenario would be arduous to sustain. So from Day One, the animating vision behind Riverspace has been an innovative paradigm for arts funding, pioneered by groups like Brooklyn Academy of Music and California Center for the Arts in Escondido.
In this model, the non-profit arts center is funded by a real estate development arm, whose generated income provides a strong financial foundation for the arts center, supplemented, of course, by philanthropy and ticket sales. It’s an ingenious collaboration of commercial and non-profit interests that uplifts the entire community, both economically and culturally, without uplifting taxes.
With this business model in mind, Riverspace has assembled options on a 4-acre “superblock” in downtown Nyack and is proposing a green development plan that includes shops, apartments, an arts complex and cleverly concealed parking, all in scale and stylistic harmony with the older village. In fact, it restores much of what once existed there before Paradise got paved in the 1960's.
Nyack and environs could benefit enormously from such a project. Where now there are two acres of parking lots, imagine a lovely open plaza, bordered by a humming arts complex, close by shops and cafés that serve both locals and visitors seeking the vibrancy of a thriving downtown. Imagine the restored, old-time street grid, where, strolling the broad sidewalks, you watch the buskers, window-shop or have a bowl of linguini, before or after a show at Elmwood Playhouse, or a concert at Riverspace. Imagine a downtown that is gracefully connected with the riverfront and Memorial Park, a downtown that feels great to be in. And imagine being able to park easily and reasonably!
Can such a vision become real? Absolutely, say urban experts, as long as the development is large enough to reach “critical mass.” It’s a balancing act: Not so big as to change the essential charm of the village, yet big enough to attract neighbors from the surrounding region.
To realize this vision will take time--at least three years. The Nyack Village Board has been intrigued by the concept from the outset. On April 23rd they vote on whether to explore it in depth, with requests-for-proposals, impact studies, etc. The details of scale and design will need to be worked out, with full input from the community that stands to benefit so greatly.
Amid all this promise, the stark fact remains...
Riverspace must still raise $500,000 by June 30. If the doors close, the dream will die, likely replaced by a big-box store. So we must ask the public to step up and help during these bridge years, until we can shift from the old model—paying money to a landlord—to the new commercial/non-profit collaboration. Your contributions today are not only keeping the doors open... they’re carrying Riverspace toward its goal of creating a vibrant and economically-viable cultural destination for Rockland.
Submitted by:
John Forster
241 South Broadway
South Nyack, NY
845-353-2170
Katrina Hertzberg
25 First Avenue
Nyack, NY 10960
845-353-1959
The authors are members of the Riverspace Board of Directors. |
