Conversations with the Candidates for Governor

Candidate: Lincoln Chafee

Lincoln Chafee is passionate about public art. As Mayor in the City of Warwick, he oversaw the T.F. Green expansion, work that generated calls for public art, and led to the then hugely controversial "cloud machine" proposal. Chafee wasn't happy with the result. For his part, he advocated for an "iconic RI figure" - a quahoger.

While Chafee peppered our meeting throughout with his views on public art, we garnered his ideas on economic development of the creative sector until the meeting got cut short. To get the candidate's position on all our initiatives, we had a follow up conversation with Chafee's policy director, Jonathan Stevens. What follows is a combination of our time with the candidate and talk with Stevens.

Chafee refered to nurturing our assets in economic development. Does that include the creative sector? "Yes. It's all about growing our economy. [We can] certainly make the connection of the rich history of artists and economic growth. I think it's in our best interest to promote something that we are good at." He mentions making RISD "work better for us", utilizing "the talent coming out of there."

In referencing the EDC, he spoke of the "scathing" Verrecchia report that called the department "fragmented, disjointed and lacking focus", pointed to the failed hire of Ms. Morfessis as the new EDC director as "another RI bomb" and declared "EDC is a mess." What does this mean for the EDC? Stevens explained Chafee's economic development plan calls for a restructuring of the EDC, shifting the focus to work with small and mid-size companies, addressing their needs to be competitive, such as resources for data. He boasted the candidate's endorsement by the Freelancers Union, based in NYC. "We are excited to work with them to find ways to benefit the solo practitioner. This would include artists."

The candidate gave us this comment: "I think there is room for a position in this type of industry, a growth industry. What else is growing 11% these days? It's something special about this state."

Which led to his mentioning again why he is so upset about public art at the airport: "There is no welcoming art. Where is the 'Welcome to Rhode Island, the Creative Capital' sign?" While Chafee's public art proposal at the airport didn't win, he did succeed in seeing it through as part of a library renovation in Warwick. He talks about the space "where there is a beautiful statue, where people can sit and read a book", even mentioning the direction of the sun. Stevens, former city planner in Warwick under Chafee's administration, gives context to this, mentioning Chafee's friendship with Ron Lee Fleming, author of the Art of Placemaking: Interpreting Community through Public Art and Urban Design.

Stevens helped fill in the gaps on the other topics on our call, going through them quickly and directly.

On a creative economy council: "The Senator is generally resistant to creating boards and commissions unless there is real need." Stevens instead offered that they plan to assess what models are out there, "that would stimulate investments in the arts and advocate opportunities within state government."

On RI State Council for the Arts' budget: "In all honesty, it would be a big achievement to preserve it as it is. That's the unfortunate fact. He'll do the best he can in this regard."

On arts education: "He doesn't want to make any specific promises." Stevens talked about the candidate's 1% tax proposal goal being to ensure there is no further reductions to state aid for education. "[The goal] is to build the economy back and build a respectable state aid program so there is not this annual threat of cuts in arts programs."

While on the topic of the 1% tax, we mentioned the areas that affect the arts - specifically the inclusion in their list of items on the Chafee website of "sales by artists" and "exemptions for sales by writers, composers and artists" (presumably those in artist tax free zones) and "charitable, educational or religious organizations". We wondered how this would be implemented with non-profits, questioning if that meant the sale of tickets to performances. Stevens offered: "Those areas that are now 100% exempt would be charged a 1% tax." We then asked whether there would be room for negotiations on these items. His response: "For withstanding the barrage of attacks on this plan since his announcement, Chafee remains commited to move forward on this in full."

At the end of our conversation with the candidate, Chafee shared a story with us. Pointing to his work in the Ukraine, "Every time we go to Kiev, they always take us to a cultural event." He said the most interesting part of those experiences is that "you could go to the Showcase Cinema in Warwick, and that is the audience that is in the Old Opera House in Kiev. I've sat next to teenagers in goth. They take [culture] seriously."

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