It is a warm fall day in downtown Bremerton, the first Saturday in September, 2001. You are just finishing a delicious lunch in the atrium seating at the new Korean restaurant on 4th Street, which you chose over the roof top gourmet Italian or the funky vegetarian soups and salads place. Lunch conversation at most tables has buzzed around the news that the featured shows at three of the now fourteen galleries in town sold out during the gallery walk last night.

Besides the art sales, the evening was a kick! There was live music in the galleries and on the street. A group of local actors presented a marvelously funny street theater piece and there also was a great juggling act and a roving unicyclist. Today you plan to visit the new all natural dyes and fiber boutique, and stop by the new recycled products store. For this evening, you are still torn on whether to take in the “three for one” jazz clubs special, or go to the new musical theater production of “Snow Falling on Cedars.” However, next weekend you are committed to see the UW’s dance troupe’s experimental modern dance piece debuting at the Admiral.

Is this a dream for Bremerton too good to be true? Can the arts become the engine that re-ignites the downtown economy? There is a long history of artists moving into dead, decaying or abandoned urban areas to set up studios and work spaces. They have been followed by galleries, cafes, theaters, art supply stores, clothing boutiques and other small business, revitalizing their districts. This is the story of Greenwich Village, SoHo and Tribecca districts in NYC, Maxwell Street in Chicago, and even Pioneer Square in Seattle. Santa Fe, Taos and Port Townsend are smaller towns where the arts have played important economic roles.

An important opportunity for Bremerton exists right now. Rents and housing prices are still relatively low and we are close to a prosperous, culturally aware urban area. However, in Seattle, artists and arts organizations of all descriptions are feeling the pinch of escalating real-estate values and rents. An enterprising group of artists, gallery owners, Realtors and city personnel are promoting Bremerton as the ideal place for artists to relocate. What do we need to do to make this effort a success?

First, I believe we need to recognize that the arts are an industry. Participants in that industry have to solve all the problems of doing business that any other business must solve. Admittedly, they may do so in unconventional ways, such as live/work spaces. We need to find out what their needs are and make it as easy as possible for them to be met.

Second are the needs of artists for community. It is important to attract enough artists to form a community of artists. It is equally important for the artists to be a valued part of the larger community. Ideally, the creations of the arts community need to find their single best audience and market here in the people of Kitsap County. We understand and enjoy the artworks of our friends and neighbors more readily because they are based in common experience. We sense community when we see or hear them our homes, businesses and public places.

Third, we need to build systems of support. We need value the arts, to attend arts events, learn about the thoughts feelings and ideas behind works of art, and to collect original artwork for our homes and businesses.

We make sure that they are part of our school curriculums. Our newspapers should publish reviews and articles that help readers engage the content of serious works of art. We need percent for art ordinance so that artworks that acknowledge our past, express the present and look to our future are our legacy.

The return for the community will be an enriched selection of cultural amenities that will enhance our lives. We will gain an identity as an interesting and desirable place to live or visit. The area will become a more attractive site for potential employers to locate. Cultural amenities rank high with virtually all corporations seeking new business locations, especially the higher paying clean industries.

As for the creative community, artists, actors, musicians and authors tend to be well educated and community oriented. They are motivated to improve their communities through volunteer service.

The Bremerton Artist Loft Summit, a City sponsored event, took place on September 29 in an all day conference with over 100 people in attendance, including Mayor Horton who stayed around for the whole thing. There were numerous artists and musicians from Seattle and other communities who asked questions of and made contacts with the broad array experts and officials that were assembled by the organizers. This was a powerful step in the right direction. For more information contact Deborah Peavler-Stewart, City of Bremerton, 478-7996.

(Editor’s Note: Alan Newberg is a practicing artist who maintains a studio in downtown Bremerton and has exhibited widely throughout the country with major works in a number of museums and corporate collections as well as numerous private collections. Prior to moving to Bremerton in 1989, he was a Professor of Art at Montana State University-Billings. He continues his interest in teaching as an adjunct faculty member at Olympic College.).