BY MELISSA BEARNS
Who Will Decide?
Consultants bid on the future
of arts in Eugene.
The bids are in from agencies interested
in working as consultants to help the city of
Eugene create a plan to develop arts and cul-
ture over the next few decades. Five differ-
ent organizations submitted proposals by
Friday, March 24 to work on the city’s
Cultural Policy Review (CPR), a project
with a $250,000 budget.
On March 2 the city posted a request for
proposal (RFP) for outside consultants to
“develop an action-oriented arts and cultural
plan that focuses primarily on downtown
Eugene.” The money is allocated for a two-
year period, during which the plan is to be
completed. Previously, city staffers were
very clear to specify that while one consult-
ant could be awarded the entire project, it
could just as easily be completed by multi-
ple consultants.
The RFP detailed the work the consult-
ant or consultants will do, including market-
ing and promoting the arts in Eugene, iden-
tifying existing arts organizations and facili-
tating more collaboration and cooperation
between them, assessing the current audi-
ence and working to increase the numbers
of arts supporters and consumers, and iden-
tifying funding sources.
The RFP was advertised on the city’s
website and through the Oregon
Procurement Network. In addition, buyers
from the city notified businesses across the
country and even in Canada. The five busi-
nesses to respond were KJ Smith Associates
(Eugene), Jerry Allen and Associates
(Soquel, Calif.), LORD Cultural Resources
Planning & Management (Washington,
D.C.) Wolf Keens & Company (Cambridge,
Mass.) and ArtsMarket Inc. (Bozeman,
Mont.). The proposal from Jerry Allen and
Associates was rejected as “non-respon-
sive” according to Mia Cariaga, buyer in the
city Purchasing Department.
When the RFP was first launched, the
city came under fire from community mem-
bers and people involved in the arts commu-
nity who objected to the city outsourcing a
project with such a local focus. UO Cultural
Forum Director Darrel Kau was one of the
most vocal critics. He sent an e-mail to city
council members and Mayor Piercy object-
ing to the RFP, saying most of the responsi-
bilities the city wants to hire consultants to
fulfill are actually jobs the city’s Cultural
Services Department should be handling.
In addition, he raised concerns about
whether or not a company from outside
Eugene or even Oregon could do a good job
and effectively perform a complete evalua-
tion of the current situation in the city. He
asked why the city would outsource a proj-
ect that could and should be done by locals
who know the current scene and situation,
everything from who the current players are
to the city’s reluctance to fund the arts.
At the time, city officials including
Executive Director of Library, Recreation
and Cultural Services Angel Jones and
Interim Cultural Services Director Laura
Niles responded by saying that they hoped
gies for the future delivery of services that
will be identified as high priority by the
process.”
But despite repeated calls and e-mails,
city officials have never answered the actual
question: Can a business from outside
Eugene, whose employees never have or
will live here, come up with a plan to de-
velop arts and culture that will fit the poli-
tics, character and nuances of the city?
While some arts organizers are concerned
that the answer is no, others say maybe an
outside company would do a better job.
Alex Brokaw is a long-time Eugene resi-
dent and one of the people who helped pull
together the arts consortium that kept the
Jacobs Gallery open when the city cut all
funding in the late ’90s. “I would be inter-
ested in what someone from outside Eugene
would have to say about what we’ve been
doing,” she said. “[The arts community] is a
relatively small group of people. We all
know each other and everybody talks to
each other so we all have somewhat similar
ideas. Someone could come and interview
people in Eugene and study what’s been
going on and have a more detached opinion.
They might be able to see things the local
arts organizations are missing.”
The people reviewing the bids, dubbed
tee members by deadline despite numerous
requests for the information by both phone
and e-mail.
Even the selection process from the
Mayor’s Committee has been somewhat con-
troversial. Initially, the only people invited to
be on it were in some way linked to the Hult
Center. Following Kau’s criticism of the en-
tire process, people from a broader cross sec-
tion of the arts in Eugene were included.
While the city has broadened the number
of organizations currently involved and in
the loop, many of the key local arts organi-
zations felt the city had done little to help
keep them informed on what was happening
with the project. Members of DIVA re-
quested a copy of the RFP from Niles who
directed them to the purchasing department.
DIVA followed up, contacting the purchas-
ing department, but never received a copy of
the RFP.
“More information coming out to the
community would have been a good thing,”
said Toney, executive director of Lane Arts
Council. “Truly, until Darrel sent that e-
mail, I don’t think the larger community or
the key arts players and supporters were
aware of the status of the project.”
In addition, the city has not returned re-
peated phone calls and e-mails from EW re-
Can a business from outside Eugene, whose employees never have or
will live here, come up with a plan to develop arts and culture that
will fit the politics, character and nuances of the city?
local organizations would submit bids. Now
the bids are in and only one of them is from
a local business.
But Niles pointed out in an e-mail that
the RFP itself stated that experience in the
Northwest was a minimum requirement.
“The four [approved] proposals met the
minimum,” she wrote. “Being informed of
the region’s historic low government finan-
cial support of cultural institutions (as com-
pared to nationwide statistics) is an impor-
tant element in designing sustainable strate-
the Mayor’s Committee because the com-
mittee members are being selected by
Mayor Piercy, include members of the city’s
Cultural Services Advisory Committee as
well as other representatives from the arts
communities. Andrew Toney of Lane Arts
Council is a committee member as are Tina
Rinaldi, former director of the Jacobs
Gallery, Kirk Boyd of Willamette Repertory
Theatre and other members of the Hult
Center staff and resident companies. The
city did not provide a list of current commit-
questing various pieces of information for
this story. Meanwhile officials continue to
say they want this process, which could ef-
fectively guide the development of arts in
Eugene for the next few decades, to be an
open process with lots of involvement from
the public.
Monday, April 4 the current members of
the Mayor’s Committee are meeting to go
over the bid proposals and discuss the scor-
ing process that will be used to select the
consultant.
ew
EUGENE WEEKLY SUPPORTING THE ARTS FOR 25 YEARS.
EUGENE WEEKLY, WINNER OF THE 2006 BUSINESS ARTS SERVICE AWARD
CHECK US OUT ONLINE AT WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
It’s NOT what’s OUTSIDE, but what’s INSIDE
FAMILY PLANNING
LANE COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH
❤ FREE or low cost
women’s health exams
❤ Birth control supplies
To schedule an
appointment call:
❤ Emergency contraception
Se habla Español
❤ Pregnancy counseling
and testing
Located on 135 East 6th Ave., Eugene
(across Oak St., kitty-corner from the Hilton)
682-4361
The Chapin Clark
Rippling River Run
Saturday, April 8, 2006
Start Time 9:45a.m
Start & Finish at
EWEB Plasa
Confidential
Services
The Chaplin Clark Memorial Rippling run is a
Benefit for Community Mentor Programs
5000 METERS RUN-WALK • WHEELCHAIR RACE
ENTRY FEE: $10 by 3/31 or $13 after 3/31• REGISTER at YMCA, Nike,
The Step Beyond, Run Pro,The Eugene Running Co.
http://www.goodrace.com/good_race.html
MARCH 30, 2006 13