D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has created a new office that will serve as a liaison between D.C.’s government and artists.

Amid the mayor’s bid to exert more control over arts funding and policy, the Creative Affairs Office will be the newest addition to the existing list of agencies and programs that engage with the city’s cultural communities.

Bowser made the announcement at the Eaton DC hotel on Wednesday evening during the launch of 202Creates, the annual month-long celebration of D.C.’s creative community that takes place in September.

The Creative Affairs Office will serve as an intermediary between the executive office and the soon-to-be independent D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which manages the city’s grants program for artists and arts organizations, oversees public art projects, and produces occasional events.

Historically, the Arts Commission has been headed by a mayoral appointee who would report to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. That’s about to change. This summer, the D.C. Council passed an amendment turning the Arts Commission into an independent agency, effective October 1. Its acting director, Terri Rouse-Rosario, resigned last week after less than a year on the job (but not before she hired a number of senior positions with six-figure salaries, as Kriston Capps has reported). A new director has yet to be named.

The announcement comes in the wake of several episodes of tension between the D.C. government and the arts community. Last fall, the Arts Commission caused a uproar in the arts community when it slipped in an amendment to the agreement that grant recipients had to sign to receive funds. The amendment would have banned “lewd, lascivious, vulgar, [or] overtly political” works, but it was scrapped within a week due to the backlash.

Then, in April, the city introduced its Cultural Plan, a 224-page inter-agency effort that prescribed ways the city can support and grow D.C.’s cultural economy. At the time, Bowser set aside $8.4 million to support the details of the plan, which included implementing new loan programs for artists. But some artists and cultural leaders said the plan lacked an understanding of artists’ core needs, particularly around funding opportunities. They also wanted a detailed timeline and clarity on who would be in charge of implementation.

The head of the new Creative Affairs Office will report to Angie Gates, the Director of the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment (OCTFME). Gates last year served as interim director of the Arts Commission. (Her signature appears on the November amendment about lascivious art.)

A spokesperson for her agency said they are still in the planning stages of creating a staffing plan and organizational chart for the new office.

“This will allow us to expand our reach in the creative community,” Gates said. When asked to clarify, she noted that the Creative Affairs Office, like 202Creates, will aim to serve people in cosmetology, culinary arts, and other trades that were not included under the Arts Commission’s mission, as well as performing artists, filmmakers, fashion designers, and visual artists.

“There are a lot of creators out there that we haven’t been able to fully service,” she said.

That expansion and the Arts Commission’s reorganization has left a number of the city’s cultural leaders with questions and concerns, particularly around the grantmaking process and the incorporation of artists into the myriad arts agencies, boards, and commissions.

“Will [the new office] respect artistic experience and expertise, or will it lump together all forms of creative endeavor in such a way as to make those issues irrelevant?” Peter Nesbett, the executive director of the Washington Project for the Arts, asked in a text to WAMU.

Others wanted to know if the new office would in any way affect the rollout of the Cultural Plan. It was introduced in April, but many members of the arts organizations who provided feedback during the plan’s development remain uncertain about its impact.

“Is [the Creative Affairs Office] the sort of switchboard that the Cultural Plan was envisioning?” asked Mark Chalfant, Washington Improv Theater‘s artistic and executive director. “Will it help connect the threads of the Cultural Plan?”

Meanwhile, Bowser also announced the return of the Mayor’s Arts Awards, which Rouse-Rosario had announced would be cancelled this year. In the past, the Arts Commission oversaw the awards and a panel would select the winners, but the program will now be under the purview of the Creative Affairs Office.

Gates did not share specifics about the awards structure or selection process, but did make clear that they will be “amazing.”

This story originally appeared on WAMU. 

Previously:
D.C.’s New Cultural Plan Leaves Some Questions Unanswered, Artists Say