PADUCAH'S PROGRAM FOR ARTISTS IS ONE TO COPY

The Ohio River community of Paducah, Ky., which has a long history of accentuating the arts, is generating interest in an innovative program it hopes will bring more artists to town and help clean up housing in its downtrodden Lowertown area.

Paducah's Artist Relocation Program offers many incentives to artists who are drawn by the program or already live there if they situate in Lowertown adjacent to Paducah's downtown.

Among incentives are 100 percent financing for real estate, below-market interest rates on loans, a free Web site, health insurance and free lots on which to build. In return, artists who set up shop in Lowertown can enjoy the benefits of a lively cultural atmosphere and more than 40,000 tourists annually who travel on riverboats or come to town to enjoy the arts, including Paducah's national quilt museum.

Like countless small and midsize communities across the nation, Paducah's downtown has suffered from the relocation of retailers and other businesses to new malls and professional buildings far from their downtown areas. Paducah's Lowertown once contained some of the city's finest homes, including a number of mansions. But slumlords bought up many of the properties, drug dealers moved in, and the area has deteriorated drastically.

Paducah initiated the program after Mark Barone, now its director, and city officials visited the small town of Rising Sun, Ind., having heard about a program there. The mayor and city manager liked what they saw and not only got the community rolling on a similar program, but city government decided to participate financially.

The results should be striking. In the short time the program has been offered, one couple already is participating, and six other artists have committed to it. They include a Maryland physician who also is a painter, a printmaker from San Diego and an art therapist from the Washington, D.C., area.

Paducah has done a good job of advertising the program in art publications, and those ads have generated news stories across the county. The city can expect a burst of interest after airing of a Travel Channel program on the arts in Paducah that will include a spot about the Artist Relocation Program.

The program ranks among the most innovative any city has ever tried in an effort to revitalize its downtown. It is one that many cities might consider, including Cape Girardeau, whose downtown is returning to life with numerous restaurant and entertainment offerings.

Cape Girardeau has an active arts council and its share of artists too. With Southeast Missouri State University planning a River Campus for the performing arts in an area in need of revitalization, an Artist Relocation Program could work wonders here.