Supervisors vote in favor of art center

By Katie Northcott

At the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors’ Jan. 22 business meeting, the supervisors took a step towards building an art center in eastern Loudoun, designating $500,000 for its design.

A group of citizens began reaching out to the Board asking for a second arts center in eastern Loudoun County in 2022. The citizens expressed that some community groups’ performances have outgrown school auditoriums and the Franklin Park Arts Center. The Board heard more public input about the community desire for a second facility at board meetings.

“Our dream is to have a place for patrons to experience various forms of performing and visual arts,” Bobbie Christman, a member of Citizens for the Arts, said at the Jan. 22 meeting. “Our dream is for a place to give our youth an opportunity to develop their art participation, for families to have shared experiences, for adults, young and old, to have a date night, and for seniors to enjoy and support the arts. Our dream is for our talented artists to have a dedicated center to call home and expand their audiences.”

The discussion eventually moved to a committee level. Then, the Board added an Eastern Loudoun art center to the Fiscal Year 2024 budget at the April 4, 2023, board business meeting. Since then, a study has been conducted to determine what kind of art center best suits the community out of four options. 

The community as well as the supervisors’ staff expressed that a multi-use facility best suits the community. This type of facility would accommodate 650-700 people during performances with additional area to support community/visual arts program.

At the Jan. 22 meeting, the supervisors voted to approve the design of the multi-use facility. Since the community and staff supported this type of facility, the supervisors did not offer much push back on the type of facility. However, Vice Chair Juli Briskman (D-Algonkian) and Supervisor Koran Saines (D-Sterling) indicated that they would support building a larger facility to encourage and facilitate growth.

Supervisor Kristen Umstattd (D-Leesburg) referenced the Board’s previous distinction between “life-enhancing” nonprofits and “lifesaving” nonprofits. She said that art center is clearly a life-enhancing project. She did not support the arts center because she thought that funds should be prioritized toward the lifesaving projects before the Board.

“Clearly, this is a life-enhancing project, but it is not as critical as a number of other responsibilities we have towards the community,” she said. “I’m very concerned that a project of this size and vision is going to take up a vast number of tax dollars that I think if we were going to spend, should be spent on lifesaving services, including mental health, including family services, food security.”

Umstattd said she hopes a private investor with deep pockets will come forward to fund the project. However, she has seen no evidence that this will happen and will vote against the motion.

Supervisor Sylvia Glass (D-Broad Run) responded to Umstattd’s comment by saying that the arts touch every aspect of life. Supervisor Matthew Letourneau (D-Dulles) added that, while he agreed with Umstattd’s point about prioritization, those priorities don’t mean that the Board can’t spend anything on life-enhancing projects.

The supervisors passed the motion 7-1-1 with Umstattd opposed and Supervisor Caleb Kershner (R-Catoctin) absent.