Valentine's parents, Hans and Marion Valentine, were some of the original artists who created the art colony in what is now the National Historic District in Old Town Tubac.

"Back in the 1950's and 1960's a whole community of artists settled in Old Town Tubac, restored old historic adobe buildings, and created the reputation of Tubac being a center for art,"Valentine said.

This process was enhanced by people like Will Rogers Jr. and his wife Collier, who devoted enormous amounts of time and money to making the Tubac art community possible.

Tubac's original art colony development paralleled that of Santa Fe, Taos and other historic communities where major patrons funded restoration of old buildings and supported struggling artists -- many of whom subsequently became famous.

Tubac's original art colony artists followed the same path and did become famous, such as Ross Stefan, giving rise to the reputation of Tubac as an art destination. Other artists, with established reputations, moved to Tubac, such as Hugh Cabot, which firmly implanted the concept of Tubac as a major art community nation-wide.

Even in more recent times, Tubac has attracted major artists who wanted to live and work here, such as Nicholas Wilson, whose first residence and studio was in the Historic Lowe House, owned by Valentine.

In early 2006, Valentine met with the few remaining Old Town Tubac working artist property owners.

"Members of the group expressed concerns about the health of Tubac's working artist community, and, expressed fears about their ability to continue to live and sustain themselves here due to escalating costs and, sadly, the loss of their fellow working artist residents," Valentine said.

The lack of affordable living, studio and exhibition space was identified as a major cause for these losses. The high costs of rents, land and buildings are making it difficult for professional, as well as up and coming artists to consider relocating to Tubac.

"The growing lack of affordable living/studio/gallery space is minimizing the opportunity for new artists to replenish the artist colony and jeopardizing the community's future, noted Valentine.

Originally the Tubac art colony was founded on the model of the resident artist living, working and exhibiting in one space.

Starting in the 1980's this gave way to focusing on new construction primarily for commercial or retail use, diminishing space for affordable housing for working artists.

As a result, costs for housing, studio space and exhibition space increased dramatically and grew out of reach for most professional working artists who want to be in Tubac.

Today, there are few active working artists living in Old Town Tubac, including Virginia Hall,  and writers Nancy Valentine, myself, and Jim Fergus. In addition, there are working artist studios at the El Presidito complex in Old Town such as Linda Boylan, Crystal Johnson and Russell Thompson.>

"The ability of the Tubac working artist sector to survive and to be contributory to the economic viability , panache and uniqueness of the broader community is seriously marginalized," said Valentine.

The plight of Tubac's working artists is not unlike that of many established artist colonies and districts across the country and closer to home such as Sedona.

A 2004 article entitled "Building Roots: The Installation of Chicago Artists Community" by Abby Glogower, identified the chronology that has plagued existing artist colonies >

"It's a familiar pattern: energetic artists seeking work space and cheap rent disperse into devalued communities. With them they bring an attractive cultural wealth. As people rediscover these areas through art openings and other events, the landscape begins to change. An organic grocery, a coffee shop and a bookstore spring up. The neighborhood gains a reputation as young and vibrant and the market responds one incremental rent rise at a time. Within a few years, the very artists who carved out the niche find themselves financially squeezed, but they are not the only ones; the preexisting communities, often comprised of families far less mobile than young artists, are also pushed from their homes. Unable to keep up with soaring rents and the influx of newcomers, the cycle of gentrification and forced migration haunts urban existence."

(http://www.Fnewsmagazine.com/2004-Nov/current/2004-nov/pages/1.shtml)

"While Tubac is by no means urban, the track of its artist community unfortunately fits the description," Valentine said.

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTIST SECTOR

In an economic impact study of the importance of the artist sector to the economic well-being of the state of Montana it was determined that the state derived $233 million and 4,274 jobs as a direct or indirect result of the state"s 5,840 working artists. 1

Phoenix acknowledged that arts and cultural organizations are an economic driver ith a $361 million annual economic impact. They confirmed that artist activity generates state and city tax revenue, and pumps vital income into local restaurants, hotels, retail stores and other businesses. 2

For the 15, 500 residents of Brown County, Indiana their 100-year old art colony,  with 240 resident artists and more than 300 art studios, galleries and specialty shops, and their state park attract over 3.5 million visitors a year.3

With all these findings confirming the economic impacts of their artist sectors, it is no wonder community leaders are revving up their marketing strategies to both hold on to existing their artist communities.

For the most part, it's been the sound fiscal choices of municipalities and states who have taken the lead in economic development measures to provide affordable live/work ownership opportunities and bolster artist-friendly options.

In Santa Cruz, County, Arizona, there do not appear to be governmental financial resources available to try and sustain, let alone enhance Tubac's status as an art community.

Actually, the high end development that has been approved in and around Tubac, much of it promoting Tubac’s identity as an art colony, has actually worked to make it even more difficult to sustain the art community by further increasing land costs, rental values, and property taxes. Tubac is now out of reach for artists to live and work there.

In recent times, support for artist communities in the context of broader economic development has leapt the fence to private sector development. Milepost 5 in Portland, Oregon, Acme Artists Housing in Chicago, and SurrealEstates in Sacramento are a few private sector artists' villages that are leading the way. 5,6,7

In 2006 Valentine launched Aldea de Artisticas -- a working artists village -- in Old Town Tubac. This is one of the few such projects in the nation.

WHAT IS THE ALDEA DEVELOPMENT PROJECT?

"Aldea is an intentional working artists village committed to preserving and enhancing the tradition, the sense of place, and the economic viability and vitality of the artistic and historic assets of Tubac," Valentine said.