Arlington County officials hope a new rental agreement will be the first step in rescuing the money-losing Artisphere, while artists are pushing for more flexibility in a building that doesn’t allow them to hang signs on the wall without permission. The Rosslyn arts center, which formerly housed the Newseum, is bringing in only 22 percent of its expected admission and ticket revenue, after receiving millions in renovations and $2.5 million in fiscal 2011 from county taxpayers. Now the county is scrambling to rethink
expectations, promising a new business plan by the end of the summer.
A new short-term rental agreement could be the first step in drawing more business.
“Sometimes people are like, ‘Wow, I want to have a party there for an hour and I have to sign a 15-page legal agreement?” said Artisphere spokeswoman Annalisa Meyer.
So the County Board of Supervisors slashed pages from the rental agreement in hopes that more people will use the space.
But that doesn’t change concerns that artists have about the rules included in both the new and old rental agreements.
Peter Owen of UrbanArias brought his concerns before the County Board, asking for better rules on hanging things on Artisphere walls and liability.
Christopher Henley of Washington Shakespeare Company said his group has run into restrictions that are “time-consuming and cumbersome and not really understandable about why the restriction exists in the first place.”
Thespians must leave the building by 11 p.m. most nights — difficult for companies that rehearse by day and build sets by night.
“The access restrictions bleed out any margin for error. Everything’s got to be perfect or you’re not going to open on time,” Henley said.
County Board Member Mary Hynes said she would convene an informal discussion with artists this summer to clear up rental confusion.
