Thursday, October 07, 1999
Artists protest plan that displaces shelter
BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A group of 50 local artists doesn't want to be associated with the plan to build an arts education center in Over-the-Rhine that would displace a homeless shelter.
The group Artists for the Drop Inn Center held a rally Wednesday at Washington Park. They distributed a statement titled “Not in Our Name” and debuted a protest song written to the tune of the Petula Clark 1960s hit “Downtown.”
“We want the Drop-Inn shelter to remain where it is,” said Barbara Wolf, head of the group and owner of a video production company.
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conductor Erich Kunzel first voiced his dream in 1996 for an arts campus where professionals would work among students. Mr. Kunzel's plan for the center near Music Hall has gained support with many educators and arts patrons, who are working to identify financial sources for the estimated $220 million project.
Ms. Wolf handed out the group's statement. Its major points are:
• Relocating the Drop-Inn Center would damage the work it does and seriously harm the community.
• The center represents the merging of many parts of society — unions, churches, schools, volunteers — and to move it would speak to disregard for the city's interlocking social fabric.
• The project, known as the Kunzel Plan, pits the arts against the homeless, low-income Drop-Inn Center residents.
“As artists and art workers, it is our job to tell (or paint or sing or dance or act) the truth,” the statement said.
Mr. Kunzel was not in his office Wednesday and was unavailable for comment. Norma Petersen, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Arts & Education (GCAE)-Washington Park Center, was also unavailable.
The artists have worked since May to publicize their position through the media, circulate petitions, design a poster and record and produce a cassette version of the “Downtown” song as a fund-raiser for the Drop-Inn Center.
The poster features a map of downtown's north end and Over-the-Rhine and connects the Drop-Inn Center to other services for the 200-250 homeless and low-income people it serves each day. The group is also recruiting more artist friends to join, which requires them to tour the center and become familiar with its programs.
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