On Tuesday, Oct 26th, Star City Fame attended the Arts and Cultural Public Forum at the Roanoke Civic Center, representing itself as part of the public, as well as the local independent media for the Arts.
A brief description to our readers, the Roanoke Arts Commission (RAC) has been surveying and facilitating the public through an online questionaire and meetings held at several local venues to gather data on the direction to move as an Arts and Cultural city – and region.
In fact, a lot of the discussion going forward is aimed at pulling the surrounding areas into the mix as a whole, with Roanoke as the likely hub of the Arts community.
First, let’s look at the two key elements presented by RAC:
Vision Statement – We envision a vibrant and prosperous community where innovation in arts and culture engages people in all aspects of life while providing a base for sustained economic growth and development.
Purpose – The City of Roanoke is engaging in an arts and cultural planning process to identify policies and strategies that will make “Roanoke” synonymous with “arts and culture.”
The meetings are led by various departments of the City of Roanoke. While Susan Jennings, the Arts and Cultural Coordinator for the city, opened the meetings with a welcome and introductions, the key people leading and moderating were Tom Carr, Director of Planning, Building & Development, and Dan Merenda, VP of Planning & Consultation at Council of Community Services.
Tuesday’s Public Forum invloved three questions asked of attendees, many of whom were officers and board members of local Arts organizations. Also participating were a number of city school educators.
1. What should the community start doing?
2. What should the community stop doing?
3. What should the community continue doing?
The answers were discussed after three groups formed to brainstorm. Most who came had thoughts they brought with them. You can watch the video we taped to see whether perhaps some of your thoughts were mentioned. There were some vocal agreements from the crowd on a good number of things, especially bringing more communities together – and more often.
The city has indeed been involved generously with the arts and cultural organizations in Roanoke, showing $4M total in support for 2009 between downtown orgs and the Roanoke Civic Center. One key element for success of ideas cultivated – which will be interpreted by the RAC – is the economic value.
The study, with the public being part of the process as “consultants,” finalizes as a Plan, which can then be adopted after a public hearing. It was vital to get the message out to anyone who is for the arts, and the city did a great job going on Facebook, as did the arts community.
Roanoke Arts And Cultural Plan – Public Forum
The next meeting scheduled was for an artists’ forum (10/28/10) held at Eureka Park Center.
