Posted on: Thursday, September 2, 2004

ISLAND VOICES

By George Cassarno

I recently visited Santa Fe, N.M., a beautiful town of some 60,000, with harmonious adobe buildings, Indian culture, year-round sports activities — and a mecca of the arts. I came back with comparisons and reflections on Honolulu.

I timed my visit for the summer opera season and had a great artistic experience. The opera, a modern venue, seats 2,200 and has such state-of-the-art features as individual screens for the subtitles. In yet another theater, I caught a performance of the locally sponsored ballet company, which is of national caliber. The Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts featured an exhibit that came from St. Petersburg, Russia, focused on the last, ill-fated Russian tsar and his family; it attracted a lot of people. Besides performing arts, Santa Fe also has the largest concentration of art galleries after New York, some 300.

Santa Fe, which is a fraction of the size of Honolulu, attracts 3 million visitors per year. They come from everywhere.

One out of six Santa Feans is employed in the arts sector. Many beautifully printed magazines acquaint the visitor with the community and its unanimity of purpose: a focus on the arts.

All this contrasts with the prevailing sentiment at home, where art is the concern of a small minority. Gov. Linda Lingle has just cut the pitifully small state arts subsidy. This when our major cultural organizations barely survive but when our economy is booming. Both mayoral contenders promise "need to have" rather than "nice to have" projects.

Honolulu could become a truly great city if only we take advantage of our potential.

Like Santa Fe, we, the community, should hold that art is good for business and so mandate those who represent us. Santa Fe's two-month (sold-out) opera season sells about 100,000 seats. Assuming that opera is not everybody's cup of tea, even in that city, that's a lot of visitors who fill the hotels and sponsor the shops. Santa Fe started tourism with outdoor activities.

We need to invest in a new, super performing arts center and become a major player in the music field — also contributing to the enjoyment of us all. It requires the entire community to believe that support for the arts must be an investment rather than a budget item. Santa Fe is a fine example of what public resolve can accomplish: a city of beauty, culture and enjoyment — and a solid economy.

Is anyone listening?

George Cassarno is a retired businessman of international trade and is on the Honolulu Symphony board of directors.