Downtown Suffolk Revitalization Plan through Arts - College of ...

provide information on their website and other publications for city attractions. All
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businesses are treated the same and the office approaches public, private, and non-profit
equally. The movement of the Suffolk Museum into the Tourism office is a natural fit, as
the function of the building is more of an attraction over a recreation facility. In the
upcoming years, this office can facilitate more promotional and other services for the arts
and culture in the city. It can also be used as a catalyst for greater integration between
culture, residents, visitors, and businesses.
Regional Attractions and Venue Information
The Norfolk - Virginia Beach MSA is home to hundreds of art, culture, and
entertainment facilities, not to mention working artists and entertainers. The Cultural
Alliance of Hampton Roads provides information for many of these organizations on
their very well designed and easy to use website. They define the arts and entertainment
into categories, including art museums, history museums, performance theaters, dance
companies, and other venues. While they do not report on every cultural facility or
organization, their contact list provides a comprehensive cultural overview of the area.
When population is related to the cultural amenities, this list can serve as an art index, as
illustrated by Table 21 below.
Table 21 – The Art Index
Type Suffolk Chesapeake Norfolk
Newport
News
Hampton
Virginia
Beach Portsmouth Williamsburg
All
Others
Arts Commission 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 14
Art Museum / Gallery 2 6 2 3 5 3 5 7 33
Dance 1 2 10 2 1 5 1 4 6 32
History Museum 2 1 6 3 3 8 3 5 11 42
Instramental Music 1 18 4 8 3 9 5 48
Vocal Music 1 19 1 2 7 2 5 5 42
Science Museum 3 1 1 1 1 2 9
Theater 20 3 4 3 6 6 42
Other Venue 20 4 5 5 4 6 3 47
Grand Total 6 7 104 21 17 45 21 41 47 309
Grand
Total
Percent of Cultural 1.9% 2.3% 33.7% 6.8% 5.5% 14.6% 6.8% 13.3% 15.2%
Population 63677 199184 234403 180150 146437 425257 100565 11998 207870 1569541
% of MSA 4.1% 12.7% 14.9% 11.5% 9.3% 27.1% 6.4% 0.8% 13.2%
As illustrated in this report, Suffolk contains 4.1% of the MSA population but
only 1.9% of the cultural amenities, which shows that the city could support several more
cultural amenities. The Suffolk Center is not included on this list, however, adding it to
the numbers would result in only raising the Cultural Level .4 percent. Norfolk, at 14.9%
of the MSA population, contains 33.7% of the cultural amenities, underlying their
importance as the cultural center of the region. While Suffolk could add more cultural