jonetta rose barras: In Mayor Bowser’s arts slugfest, artists lose

Demonstrating a brand of strong-arming that could rival any seen at the national level, Mayor Muriel Bowser and some in her administration have tried for the past several months to muscle members of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) and the DC Council into ceding control of the commission’s program and budget portfolio to her. It has been an ugly fight.

The mayor previously sent in security guards to seize control of a multimillion-dollar arts collection under the commission’s control, changing the locks and refusing to provide DCCAH staff unfettered access. Bowser also established in August the Office of Creative Affairs, setting up this new entity within the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment to usurp much of the arts commission’s authority. She also has demanded that commissioners resign their positions. The commission is composed of 18 members; six seats are up for reappointment and one is vacant.

It’s been a wild ride, without obvious motive or mission. 

A spokesperson for Bowser seemed to suggest, in an email exchange with me last week, that everything is being done in the interest of the arts community and residents. She said Bowser is committed to “assisting the agency in transitioning to independence status.” (The line for purchasing bridges starts here.) The mayoral spokesperson also said that the new Creative Affairs Office will help “to ensure equity in the arts across all eight wards.”

Her comment about equity prompted me to ask whether there had been any class- or race-based complaints about the commission from artists or arts organizations. That inquiry went unanswered. I spoke with a dozen people — artists, arts leaders, advocates and residents — and none mentioned any claims of racism or classism, although several years ago there was a clash between small arts groups and larger companies over the distribution of grant funds. For the most part, that has been worked out.

Back in the 1980s, I worked at the arts commission as a grant specialist. My area of focus was grants distribution for writers and literary organizations. I also helped establish the first Larry Neal Writers’ Conference and Award Program and designed the Geographic Grant program, an initiative to ensure artists and arts organizations in wards 7 and 8 were not discriminated against. Then, as now, diversity and inclusivity were critical goals of the arts community and the people who supported it.

Further, there is little or no factual evidence that local artists, arts organizations or residents interested in a stable, vibrant arts and cultural community are being well-served by Bowser’s brutish actions. Were it not for the steadfast support of DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and most of his colleagues, the commissioners and DCCAH staffers might have buckled. 

This spring, the council stepped in to block the mayor’s repeal of the dedicated funding source that had been established for the arts commission. It then approved legislation making the agency independent of the mayor’s direct control. An upcoming fight is likely to occur over who is reappointed or appointed to the commission.

Mendelson told me earlier this week that he believes the Creative Affairs Office is “duplicative. And if it is duplicative, we will have to deal with it in the budget.” He also called it a “bad idea.”

“The executive has mishandled the arts commission for over a year,” he continued, noting legislation Bowser introduced a year ago asserting that the “arts commission was a vassalage” of the executive. “That was deep-sixed by [Ward 2 Council member] Jack Evans.”

Calling Bowser’s actions a “ghastly list of errors,” Mendelson said he thinks the mayor and her people thought he was acting independently of the arts community. “They grossly underestimated the arts community,” he said. 

Last week, heeding advice by Attorney General Karl Racine, DCCAH chair Kay Kendall ordered staff at the agency to temporarily suspend business functions until the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, a knowledgeable source told me. The legislation giving DCCAH independence became effective on Sept. 11, according to a council document.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) confirmed that the agency provided “advice to the arts commission at their request.” Citing “attorney-client privilege,” the OAG declined to provide details regarding its advice and referred me to the arts commission. Kendall could not be reached for comment, however.

This week, some members of the DC arts community posted an online petition on change.org. At last count more than 500 people had signed the document, demanding that Bowser “stop politicizing” the DCCAH and allow it “to conduct its own affairs”; return the city’s Arts Bank art collection to the commission’s control; “avoid influencing, interfering with or controlling the hiring” of the next executive director; and give DCCAH career employees oversight of the recently released cultural plan.

“She is willing to kill an agency for her own benefit,” said one resident and arts advocate who requested anonymity. 

Some individuals worried aloud that an effort to amplify the arts as an economic engine for DC may have led the administration and others to take notice of the money being generated — motivating a newfound desire for control over the arts commission’s budget and grantmaking. “I was always worried about driving this economic model in dealing with the arts. I felt it was going to be a problem, and that’s what’s happening,” said E. Ethelbert Miller, an author and literary activist who once served on the DCCAH. During his tenure he advocated for the city to establish a DC poet laureate — a position vacant ever since the death of Dolores Kendrick nearly two years ago.

“I don’t think there is any grand design,” visual artist George Koch said of the mayoral takeover. Koch — founder and chief executive officer of the Center on the Creative Economy and a former member of the arts commission — disagreed with Miller’s assertion about the focus on creative economy as the culprit. “Nobody knows what the [Office of Creative Affairs] is going to do. There is no mission statement. No strategy has been put forward. It’s suspect the way it got done.”

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities has come a long way since its creation during then-Mayor Marion Barry’s first term. While it was struck by scandal in the early 1980s, it aggressively served the community under the leadership of arts powerhouse Peggy Cooper Cafritz from 1979 through 1987. It was at the top of similar state organizations in the amount spent on grants and other support for artists and arts organizations, many of whom played an indisputable role in generating revenue and providing jobs in the city.

Instead of nurturing the DCCAH and helping to build on that legacy, Bowser has plowed through it. There have been three directors or interim directors during the last four years; the fourth, Heran Sereke-Brhan, was announced this week as interim director. The mayor and her team seem intent on hijacking the commission and whipping it into submission while forcing it to work alongside the new Creative Affairs Office under the DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment. The latter operation is run by Angie Gates, one of the mayor’s closest political and policy advisers.

According to her agency’s website, “Gates served as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Director of Inauguration, Director of Operations for the Mayor’s Transition Team and Traveling Chief of Staff during Mayor Bowser’s first term campaign.” In the second term, which began in January, Gates was “Executive Producer of the DC Proud 2019 Inaugural Celebration in honor of Mayor Bowser’s historic milestone as the first female two-term Mayor of Washington, DC.”

The Office of Campaign Finance (OCF) recently found that Bowser’s inaugural committee had accepted contributions that exceeded the limits in place. A total of $20,000 was returned. There were also questionable expenditures. However, the OCF auditors have suggested they were satisfied with the inaugural committee’s response. 

None of this indicates that anything untoward took place or that there has been any wrongdoing. It is just to provide context and background. Gates served last year as an interim director of the DCCAH as she managed her own entertainment agency. While she was praised for her handling of last year’s Mayor’s Arts Awards, Gates also drew strong criticism for an attempt to censor arts content and programs. The controversy began after there was a complaint related to a visual arts exhibition at the Frank Reeves Center highlighting issues related to domestic violence. She sent a memorandum to grantees warning that grants could be rescinded if they produced works that could be considered “lewd, lascivous, vulgar, overtly political, excessively violent, constitues sexual harassment, or is, in any other way, illegal.” She eventually backed down from the threat.

There is nothing wrong with the establishment of a new office. After all, Barry had an Office of Cultural Affairs. Ensuring continuity, cohesiveness of mission and vision, he appointed Mildred Bautista, who was also the arts commission’s executive director. She essentially worked under the oversight of Cooper Cafritz, who had previously co-founded the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Miller and others said they haven’t seen a similar caliber of leadership in recent years. Without serious discussion of the city’s artistic legacy and vision, the debate has devolved into a political battle.

“I have never seen a brain trust around the arts for years. I don’t see anybody talking about aesthetics,” said Miller. “You have a mayor who is consolidating power and giving people the illusion that they can still participate.”

There is a lot wrong with that!

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jonetta rose barras is a DC-based freelance writer and host of The Barras Report television show. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.