Grand Rapids, Michigan- Major Art Capital?

For a seventeen day period, between September 23 and October 10, Grand Rapids, Michigan will host a "part arts festival, part social experiment" called ArtPrize.

1,262 artists of various media (2-D, 3-D, Interactive, Performance, Film and Sound) will showcase their work in 158 venues within the central city. Visitors will vote for their favorite work, and ten winners will be selected. With a total of $450,000 in prizes (including a $250,000 grand prize), ArtPrize bills itself as "The World's Largest Art Prize".

Rick DeVos (grandson of Amway co-founder and multi-zillionaire Richard DeVos) founded ArtPrize in order to help bring more and a greater sense of place to Grand Rapids. Actually, the DeVos family has put enormous money and political capital into various revitalization projects for the city (including an enormous medical research complex). But this project may well turn out to be the most influential.

I am not aware of any other projects like this, so I do not yet know if it will work as planned. But I expect that it will help Grand Rapids establish itself as a clear cultural center within its region. In conjunction with other policies, I think it will help it attract people who prefer to live in (and visit) vibrant downtown areas, and thus maintain a strong local economy.

Unfortunately, Michigan will never again thrive on heavy industry. It can only succeed to the extent that people choose to live in its communities. And this is an exciting step in the right direction. Yes, this is funded by a private source; few city councils could budget $450,000 for this type of contest. Even so, I hope it has some impact on the way other cities will view economic development. I hope they will work hard to bring artistic and cultural amenities (grass roots as well as "high" culture) into their communities.

Currently, places with many cultural resources (such as university towns and some pockets of large cities) are in extremely high demand. For that reason, the very people who give these places their vitality are priced out. These extraordinary urban spaces become less ethnically diverse, while young creative people can no longer afford to live in them. The solution, in my view, is to increase the supply. The more great downtowns and urban neighborhoods we have, the less price pressure there will be. Good urbanism need not be elitist. If we make different choices, it can be accessible to anyone who wants it.