Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

OGDEN — Art isn’t just about painting, blending colors and creative expression.

Those are key, but art can also play a bigger role in a community according to Thaine Fischer, managing partner of The Monarch Ogden, which contains space for artists and hosts regular arts activities in Ogden. “It’s about the economic and community impact it has,” he said, noting the power of art in fostering a sense of community, promoting downtown vibrancy and “breaking down walls.”

With that in mind, Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson traveled to Ogden on Thursday, visiting The Monarch, Dumke Arts Plaza and Ogden Contemporary Arts, all of which are in the 400 block of 25th Street. She also met with Fischer, city officials and other representatives from the arts community, seeking a better understanding of the efforts put forward to develop the Nine Rails Creative District, which radiates out from the 25th Street arts entities.

The “powerful story here that needs to be told and replicated,” Henderson said, centers on the role the development of an arts district can have in boosting a community’s economy and quality of life. Such redevelopment — pushed here via creation of Nine Rails by the city, but also involving the local arts community — can also aid in fighting crime.

“That impact with the community, I think, is underrated,” Henderson said. In seeking public funding, particularly state money, arts boosters should focus on the positive community impact possible with development of arts districts.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Jill Love, director of the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement, also took part in Thursday’s visit.

“We wanted to highlight how the creative sector is a catalyst to economic development. We think Ogden has really done that well,” she said. She particularly noted the role of local developers, like Fischer, “who have had the vision that the creative sector will spur redevelopment.”

The Nine Rails Creative District is envisioned as an arts epicenter in Ogden, extending north and south from 23rd to 28th streets and, going east and west, from Washington Boulevard to Jefferson Avenue. The Monarch, Ogden Contemporary Arts and Dumke Arts Plaza are within the footprint and have taken shape on property that was once run-down and regarded an eyesore.

A dilapidated motel that was a magnet for police sat where Dumke Arts Plaza is now located and Fischer noted that the structure now housing The Monarch and Ogden Contemporary Arts, a museum, was in a sorry state before it was redeveloped.

“There were literally pigeons and raccoons and homeless people,” he told Henderson and the rest of the group taking part in Thursday’s tour.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Lorie Buckley, arts coordinator for Ogden, noted the extensive community involvement in getting the Nine Rails vision off the ground. “It’s all community driven. We collected so much information from artists and community members,” she said.

The end result has been a 180-degree turn — a big dip in crime in the area around The Monarch and conversion of the area into a draw. “It’s active. There are people,” she said, and with the help of large donors, it’s all materialized much more quickly than she anticipated.

Ogden Contemporary Arts and other officials are now preparing a document outlining the efforts to create the district, meant as a blueprint for other communities striving for the same sort of thing, among other things.

Henderson met earlier during her visit Tuesday with Ogden School District and United Way of Northern Utah officials to discuss a range of local education initiatives.