The Arts Council of Fairfax County would like to thank the Reston Community Center and Dominion for their support of the FY 2009 Annual Meeting and Reception. We have posted both the Members' Forum and Annual Meeting PowerPoint slide shows here. The Honorable Sharon Bulova, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, was the keynote speaker. We have published her remarks below.

The Arts Council of Fairfax County Annual Meeting
January 25th 2010
Sharon Bulova
Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

Good evening.

Before I begin, I’d like to take this opportunity to say a few brief words about Ann Rodriguez, whose passing is a tremendous loss, not only her immediate family, but to her extended Fairfax County family as well.  Ann was one of those rare individuals whose warm and enthusiastic engagement spanned a wide range of activities throughout the community.  She helped to shape what we are.  As the President and CEO of this body, Ann was the “face” of the arts in our county, advocating for the arts in all aspects of our lives and promoting their importance as a key element in our quality of life.  Her key role in the establishment of a County arts policy will be a long-term legacy of her leadership. Ann’s spirit lives on, woven neatly into the fabric of Fairfax County. The tremendous work that all of you do will carry on her legacy for years to come. Art is a medium of self-expression, human connection and enjoyment.  Even earliest man valued arts, painting cave walls 16,000 years ago in Lascaux  France with stunning figures of bulls and horses, and creating instruments to mark occasions and rituals with music and song.  The Arts help to create and foster a sense of community.  I learned this first hand early in my public career, when, as a nose-to-the-grindstone new supervisor, immersed in land-use challenges and a controversial project to build a missing segment of Roberts Road, I drove down Route 123 in 1994.  As I passed the Old Fairfax City Hall, workers were setting up for a summer concert on the lawn later that evening.  I was immediately envious of the small town feeling that pleasant scene evoked.  And then suddenly I had an epiphany – my Braddock District didn’t have a Town Hall, but we had many lovely parks.  Why couldn’t I create a Small Town feeling for people to enjoy?  For members of the Symphony the rest is history.  Less then a year later you were performing at Lake Accotink and Royal Lake parks – jazz, swing, summer strings.  During the first season of what I coined “Braddock Nights” a young father with his two exuberant children in tow motioned me aside.  For a minute I was sure I was going to hear complaints about Target, or Roberts Road, but instead he said, “This is great! I think elected officials should stop worrying so much about roads and development and just make more fun things available for people!”  For an elected official, this was more than music to my ears.  Every Friday night I got to stand up in front of crowds of hundreds of happy, smiling, mellow people.  The man was right.  We needed to make the fun things, the beautiful things happen.  Today, summer concerts are taking place all over Fairfax County – Spotlight by Starlight in Mason District, Lee District Nights, Sully District Starlight Cinema.  As our County has matured, we understand the need and the value of providing opportunities for our residents to relax, smell the roses and enjoy the beautiful things our County has to offer!  In 2008, our Board-sponsored Commission on the Future of the Arts in Fairfax County released its final report on the current state of the visual and performing arts.  The Commission made recommendations for strengthening the arts as an important component in the overall quality of life and economic vitality of Fairfax County.  The report recognizes the need to establish a County policy and approach to provide expanded opportunities and facilities for art.  Opportunities should include public art and enhanced collaboration to achieve arts goals.  The report recognizes the importance of the arts to the County’s economic development.  The establishment of an arts policy provides strategic direction and a framework for the advancement of the arts in Fairfax County. The Arts are no longer an afterthought, or icing on the cake, but an integral component in the planning for our redeveloped areas.

The Board of Supervisors is currently considering the adoption of Comprehensive plan text for Visual and Performing Arts. This plan will call for three things:

1. To support opportunities to display art in public places, private development and public-private ventures.
2. To seek investment in existing and new arts facilities through proffers, contributions, and land dedication as goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan.    
3. To provide for a variety of arts venues to accommodate audience and performance space needs and technical capabilities.

Shortly after being elected as Chairman to the Board of Supervisors in February of last year, I received a number of briefings on The Transformation of Tysons Corner and the mega project to build rail to Dulles Airport. These plans include four rail stations serving Tysons Corner, with eight distinct Districts oriented to the stations to be developed over time.  The Tyson’s Vision call for “Amenities and aesthetics in Tysons, such as public spaces, public art, parks, etc.”  One of those briefings especially pleased me. Plans for the Dulles Rail project calls for “Integrating public art into overall station designs to:

• Help create attractive transit facilities that enrich the everyday lives of transit users and pedestrians.
• Help build livable communities by creating public spaces that reflect the artistic, cultural and historic interests of surrounding communities.
• Create economic opportunities for artists, engineers, fabricators and other professionals.
• Enhance overall transit experiences.

When Rick Stevens briefed me on plans for the new Metrorail Stations, he came armed not with engineering plans and blueprints, but with artist renderings for signature artistic displays to be mounted at each of the new Stations. I would like to congratulate you on adopting a five year strategic plan to advance the arts in Fairfax County.  I share your vision for the role of the Arts in our community. In order to achieve this goal we must have wide spread support for pro-arts policies. There will be, and there are, people who say that government has no place in the arts.  And they are wrong.  In order to successfully integrate beauty, aesthetics and the arts into our community, we must work as partners to make it happen.  I am excited to see the Arts Council growing into its role as the primary advocate for arts and art facilities in the County. It is critical that you have a place at the table when decisions are being made.  We need, and will rely upon, your perspective as our community continues to mature. Of course, in order to fulfill this vision, advocacy must be translated into action. Providing funding to enhance arts management capacity in the County will help artists, arts organizations and arts educators better manage and leverage their resources. Even during these difficult economic times, Fairfax County has managed to increase funding for the Arts by $500,000.  Saturday night I had the opportunity to attend the Fairfax Symphony and to hear the brilliant guest violinist Augustin Hadelich as he played the Barber Violin Concerto. Our new Maestro Chris Zimmerman had the most wonderful rapport with the young violinist.  The Arts Center at George Mason University was packed and the night was magical and I thought as the evening ended that we have a bright future indeed.  I look forward to working with you to make that happen.