April 20, 2003

'Young Creatives' Target OLCC

Earlier this year, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission issued new rules barring entertainers who happen to be minors from performing in adults-only establishments. Those affected by these rules, including musicians, are fighting back:

"What your ruling has done is take away my job," [Josh] Fuchs told commissioners Thursday. "We can't cultivate a fan base. Our livelihood is gone. . . . We're just asking you to reconsider what's happening."

He wasn't the only musician pleading for a change of rule at the commission's monthly meeting. About 20 people showed up to rail against a ban originally aimed at getting underage strippers out of nude dance clubs.

The rule, musicians say, hurts thousands of beginning music-makers in Oregon too young to drink but who must play at such venues to get discovered and become the next Wynton Marsalis or Shania Twain.

I'll let that last characterization pass in order to get on to a more important point. In her recent State of the City address, Mayor Katz made a point of (once again) talking about so-called cultural creatives:

It is in the central city where the pursuit of arts and culture best meets the innovation of creative service firms to produce the new innovation economy.

Richard Florida's book, The Rise of the Creative Class, speaks to why well-educated young workers are the most important component of the innovation economy. His research shows that the presence of creative people in a city leads to innovation that produces urban economic development.

The Portland area is among the top ten areas in the country that enjoys an increase in 18-34 year olds. They are drawn here by many factors, including affordable work and living spaces, easy ways to get around a city, a thriving cultural scene, our diverse population, the city's progressive public policies, our natural beauty, and the city's quality of life.

I'm left to wonder, then, what Mayor Katz thinks of OLCC rules which prevent such creatives from performing in, say, Portland bars simply because they are below the legal drinking age.

Granted, this is a tricky issue, politically speaking, since the rules were originally aimed at preventing strippers under the age of 21 from performing. To come out against the OLCC rules runs the risk of being smeared as some kind of supporter of smut.

However, Portland cannot rightly lay legitimate claim to being a haven for young cultural creatives if OLCC rules prevent many of them from attempting to make a living through their creativity -- whether that creativity be the politically-safe realm of music or the politically-risky realm of exotic dancing.

Now, it could be argued that the City of Portland could express a stand in support of young musicians and simply presume to leave the rules on "underage" (a term which makes no sense, since an 18-year-old performer is not "underage," they simply cannot legally drink) alone.

Problem is, as pointed out by the ACLU (according to the above-cited article), any rules which allowed one type of performance over another would be an unfair content-based restriction of the freedom of expression.

So where does the City of Portland, or at least the Mayor, stand on the OLCC rules? I don't know yet. I am hoping to hear back from the Mayor's office this coming week with a comment on the matter.

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