Tucson arts council cancels fall studio tour

It comes down to money, said Roberto Bedoya, executive director of the 31-year-old organization, which supports and promotes the arts throughout Pima County.

“It’s very simple,” he said. “We have been cut more than 50 percent by the city (and county) since the recession began.”

Last year, the citywide Fall Open Studio Tour drew more than 200 artists, and from 7,000 to 10,000 people wandered through studios to look at works and speak to the artists who made them, said Bedoya. Though a few years have been missed, it is essentially an annual event. A spring studio tour is organized by artist Dirk Arnold. While TPAC supports that event, is does not help organize it.

Producing the fall studio tour takes about $21,000, which includes a full-time staff member for three months, said Bedoya. The organization’s budget this fiscal year is $684,850, with 70 percent of that provided by the local governments. The budget reflects a 12.5 percent cut from the previous year. TPAC has seen its budget slashed by 56 percent over the last decade.

“What’s distressing is there’s an impression that things will go on as normal when we’ve lost more than 50 percent of our funding,” he said. “The reality is, you have to make the adjustments. … It was a hard decision.”

And an unpopular decision.

Artist Susan Gamble, owner of Santa Theresa Tile Works, has participated in the studio tour most years since the early 1990s.

“I think it’s a terrible shame,” she said about the cancellation of the fall tour.

“It’s grown so much and is so successful. It takes a lot of time and money, but obviously the public appreciates it. If the funding isn’t there for the staff or to absorb the costs, then it can’t be done. But it’s a shame. A loss for the city, the community, and in particular downtown.” Downtown is home to a large group of artists studios.

The Open Studio Tour was a boon for artists without a storefront, said Gamble, who does have a shop. The tours brought them people and potential customers that they might not have had otherwise.

“It’s a shame for Tucson,” she said. “A lot of our artists are world-class, and they aren’t supported here.”

“It’s a huge loss,” said artist C.J. Shane, a regular participant in the tours. “I think of the studio tours as one of the reasons TPAC exists. … The loss of the tour affects thousands, both artists and people who attend. … I think TPAC is making a mistake and is in danger of becoming irrelevant.”

Shane, through her blog on the Sonoran Arts Network, an online arts journal, has been trying to rally artists in hopes someone will step forward to save it.

“There are good artists around town in the process of organizing neighborhood art tours,” Shane said. “And there’s a potential organizer who is talking about a different model for the tour, downsizing so that it won’t be so expensive.”

Web designer Jerry Peek has been a regular attendee of the studio tours for close to 10 years. He calls it “my favorite art event of the year.”

The loss of it is very disappointing to him, and devastating for the artists, he said. “They will lose the chance for people to come and buy their work; it’s a disaster in that way.”

He is mulling over the idea of using his website, Tucsonart.info, for a comprehensive directory of local visual artists and launching a low-budget studio tour from that.

Artist Arnold said there’s no way he wants to take on the job of putting on a fall tour this year.

For a few years, TPAC did a spring tour but dropped it a little more than a decade ago. Arnold quickly picked up the banner. The spring tour he organizes is smaller and quieter but still draws about 150 artists and enough art lovers to keep it going.

“I mainly do it singlehandedly,” said Arnold. The event is low-budget and funded only by artists fees, which are about $50, he said. TPAC offers support by spreading the word about it through its website. The organization will continue to do that.

It’s time-consuming enough to take on one tour a year, though Arnold doesn’t rule out helping launch a second studio tour next year or beyond.

“I always thought it was important to have the (second) tours,” said Arnold. “There are more artists on one tour than one can humanly see.”

Meanwhile, if someone came forward with the offer of $21,000 to help oversee a fall tour, TPAC’s Bedoya said he likely wouldn’t turn it down.

“We would probably say yes,” he said, “but it won’t happen the second weekend of October.”