If living in Santa Fe were like being on
Jeopardy
and the challenge was to figure out why, despite the city's generally arty vibe, we remain a minor bastion of youthful cool rather than a citadel of swank, you'd have a good chance at hitting the points by asking "What is affordable housing?"
It turns out that, despite that magazine-perpetrated image of a multi-metro, global nomad artist in need of nothing more than an iPod, a Blackberry and a nose for ironic culture hacking, plenty of artists, designers and generally creative types still feel like a room of their own ranks pretty high on the list. But when Barbie's first live/work studio runs three hundred grand in a neighborhood real estate agents call "colorful" and insurance agents call "a high deductible" it can be an assault on logic to think Santa Fe is a good place to set up shop and earn your chops.
As the City has now spent enough money to build, for example, half of a teen arts center, on studies that report maintaining a citizenry below retirement age and attracting creativity workers is
good for the economy, at least one group has got it together to ask what you need. The Enterprise Foundation, Santa Fe Community Housing Trust and the City of Santa Fe have compiled a survey about artist's housing needs. The information gathered through the survey will be used to fuel a charette (which I think is some kind of Swiss ski event) during the upcoming Santa Fe Design Week and Southwest Design Conference (June 23-26,
). Presumably after the skiing is over, a plan will be generated for the strategic creation of affordable housing projects spec'd out for the particular and sometimes peculiar needs of artists.
With typical, civic-minded ease of use always being the number one priority, you may fill out the survey online or print out a copy by visiting, no kidding,
www.santafenm.gov/community-services/community-
. You can also just go to
, and look for the "hot topics" links-affordable housing is right on top, just above graffiti, spiked bracelets and leather kilts. If you hate the Internet, or just think that all sounds laborious, get in touch with the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust (500 W. San Francisco St., 989-3960) to get hooked up with your civic duty.
But it turns out that not being able to afford a house or locate something with artist-friendly accoutrements isn't the only reason young creatives are fleeing. Just recently I had dinner with a couple, a painter and a landscape architect who own a home here that accommodates their respective creative needs, who have established a sense of community and have been able to find work and opportunity in Santa Fe. Yet, they're splitting. A tenure in Santa Fe has been good, explained the painter, as the art community here is out of touch with the contemporary art world, allowing his work to branch out in unanticipated directions, but there comes a time to take that work back to the rest of the world.
It's summer in Santa Fe, it's beautiful, it's hard to leave, said the landscape architect, but while northern New Mexico is a fine place to work for a couple years, there's not much in the way of an exciting career beyond that. If you want to push yourself, to challenge your limits as an artist, to feel some competitive spirit, well, it's not going to happen here.
I sympathize. I do. These are not lazy, uninvolved people. These are active and participatory folks who-though they would argue this-haven't gotten back from the community what they've put into it. It makes me think of Warehouse 21, the always active, always alive, teen arts joint on the Railyard. They have a lease for a long-term location on the Railyard, but they have to build a new building from scratch. Now, when a place is an existing destination for teens looking to, instead of partying and general destructive ennui, get involved in art, music, radio, design, publishing and all the other programs offered at W21, clearly it's important during a transition like this that the move from the old building to the new building not be interrupted; a safe place is a fragile thing during those years.
But it's already too late for that. The first phase of the new building will cost around $1.2 million. They've got half of it, but the current W21 home will be destroyed at least a full year in advance of the new building being ready-assuming the money raised. So, strike one, but as a community, we should step up to the plate at this point, right? They've got more than half already. Now a million bucks is a lot of money and even half a million bucks is hefty. Plenty of excellent organizations and individuals have already contributed their nut. But, honestly, the day a town like Santa Fe can't snap it's fingers and come up with all the cash necessary to keep one of the single most vital youth culture assets it has operating on a steady, healthy, uninterrupted course, it makes you wonder, it makes you start looking at your fellow citizens with a little suspicion. This community could drop a million dollars on W21 by the end of business tomorrow and it wouldn't put anyone in a pinch. This community could stand up and declare exactly where its priorities sit, regardless of studies and reports, regardless of plans, regardless of artists having to paint in their kitchens, regardless of inflated housing prices. But will it?
At least we know why the youth aren't sticking around-so far we haven't proven that we want them.
