Havre de Grace To Expand Arts & Entertainment District

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — The Havre de Grace Arts & Entertainment District may be growing. The state of Maryland is reviewing a proposal that would increase the parts of the city included in the designated district.

Every 10 years, the city has to re-apply with the state for its designation as a Maryland Arts & Entertainment District. Now as it seeks to renew its status for the first time, Havre de Grace has proposed expanding the boundaries.

“Simply put, we have included the parks and the Lock House,” said Bill Price, chair of the board of directors for the Havre de Grace Arts Collective, the nonprofit organization that made the proposal. The Havre de Grace Colored School and area museums would also be included, he said.

“We are Havre de Grace, and we like to do things from one end to the other end” of the city, Price said, “to offer artists the same benefits.”

Expanding the Arts & Entertainment District beyond the merchant areas downtown into the parks would allow for artists at festivals such as the Havre de Grace Art Show and events such as the Havre de Grace Farmers Market to reap the financial benefits.

About 25 artists and business owners turned out Thursday afternoon for a presentation in the Havre de Grace Cultural Center at the Opera House to find out more about what expanding the Arts & Entertainment District would mean for them.

In essence, more artists could qualify for tax breaks for creating and selling their art within a state-designated Arts & Entertainment District.

Maryland has 24 arts and entertainment districts, according to Steven Skeritt-Davis, the program director of Arts & Entertainment Districts for the Maryland State Arts Council, who reviews applications for the districts. The designation delineates "communities that are unique in character," Skeritt-Davis said.

Once districts have been designated, the state promotes them in and outside of Maryland through the commerce and tourism departments.

“This is really about economic development” that is arts-based, Skeritt-Davis said.

He said the following tax breaks accompany the Arts & Entertainment District designation:

• Income tax subtraction modification: Artists may subtract some tax if they own or rent property in Maryland, create work within any Arts & Entertainment District and earn income from the sale or performance of creative work within any Arts & Entertainment District in Maryland.
• Real property credit: This is given to renovation/new construction of living or work space for artists or visual arts, based on original property value assessment, determined by the city for up to 10 years.
• Admissions and amusement tax abatement: Enterprises dedicated to visual or performing arts that are in an Arts & Entertainment District pay no admission and amusement tax on tickets.

"The intent is for people to come and sell in our Arts & Entertainment District," Price said. "That’s the idea — it's to stimulate people to come."

The Havre de Grace Arts Collective will learn June 1 whether the city has been approved for re-designation.

"We'll see what the committee says," Havre de Grace Arts Collective Executive Director Rebecca Jessop said Thursday, regarding the proposed expansion of the district's boundaries. "They're meeting this weekend."

Artists with questions should contact the Havre de Grace Arts Collective.

Photos by Elizabeth Janney. Main photo is of the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum, which would be included in the proposed Arts & Entertainment District.