What Is Cultural Planning?

Cultural planning is the process of assessing the needs of a community in the areas of the arts and humanities. It involves taking an inventory of the community’s arts and humanities resources, both public and nonprofit, and identifying ways to build on those resources. Cultural planning means consulting with the citizens of a community to ascertain their cultural values and aspirations. It means assessing the strengths and weaknesses of arts and humanities organizations in the community and exploring ways to capitalize on their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Ultimately, cultural planning is about giving a community a range of choices about how they will express themselves and understand the society of which they are a part.

Why Plan?
Montgomery County has seen dramatic growth in its arts and humanities offerings in recent years. This growth has manifested itself not only in the number of offerings, but in the quality as well, with an increasing number of cultural institutions that are gaining recognition both regionally and nationally. Along with this growth has come an increasing demand on County government funding for the arts and humanities and a greater need to enhance the capacities of the cultural institutions to develop artistically and organizationally. In response to these demands has come the recognition that the path and speed of cultural growth must be assessed and managed and that it is time for Montgomery County to have its first cultural plan.

The Planning Context

Montgomery County is Maryland's most populated jurisdiction, with a population in 2000 of 873,341. County population is projected to grow to more than 975,000 by 2015. The diversity of the population also is increasing. In 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau reports, the county’s population is 15.1% Black and 11.3% Asian, with 11.5% who are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Montgomery County is home to a wide variety of nonprofit arts and humanities organizations that offer cultural events and educational opportunities to county residents. Many of them are newly created and/or newly discovered through the planning process. Directories published before this plan was undertaken listed about 80-100 cultural organizations in the county. During the planning process, it became evident that there are more than 280 arts and humanities organizations that contribute to the county’s cultural life.

In November 1999, the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County was selected to be included in a national research project to review local support for the arts and humanities in the county. The research found that

• Half of all currently existing arts and humanities groups in Montgomery County were founded since the mid-1980's.
  
• Total attendance at programs and events of dedicated arts and humanities groups was close to 1.2 million.
  
• More than 11,000 volunteers contributed close to 800,000 hours at a value of $11.2 million.
  
• Total revenues amounted to $25.2 million and total expenditures to $22.5 million in 1998. The total economic impact can be estimated at $40 million.
  
• The shares of both private giving and public support in the revenue composition of arts and humanities organizations in Montgomery County appear to be below the national average, based on available national data.

  The Planning Process
  

To ensure broad community participation in the planning process, AHCMC appointed a Cultural Plan Steering Committee consisting of 35 representatives of arts and humanities organizations of varying sizes, county and city governments, Montgomery County Public Schools, businesses and community groups, and individual artists and scholars. The Steering Committee identified critical issues to be addressed in the plan, provided feedback to the consultants as they began to draw conclusions, and reviewed and reached agreement on the final recommendations.

Each of the consultants on the team made several visits to Montgomery County. They received community comments at a public forum, conducted numerous interviews and heard from several focus groups. As a result, more than 200 people participated in the planning process.

On March 15, 2000, the Draft Recommendations for the Cultural Plan for Montgomery County were presented to the Arts and Humanities Council. This document contained more than 50 recommendations related to the future of the arts and humanities in the county along with a matrix of costs associated with implementation. The Draft was presented to the County Executive and the County Council. It then was presented to the
community along with an invitation to participate in a series of six community forums to solicit reaction to and comments on the Draft recommendations. Extensive media coverage of the Draft resulted in more comments being sent by mail and e-mail.

Critical Issues
At their first meeting, the Steering Committee identified and prioritized issues of concern that would become the focus of the plan. They identified eight critical issues:

1) Funding and sustainability
2) Cultural facilities
3) Arts and cultural education
4) Ethnic diversity
5) Transportation and access
6) Marketing and visibility
7) Heritage and preservation
8) Support for individual artists and humanities scholars

Values Guiding the Planning Process

At a later meeting, the Steering Committee put into words the values they had heard throughout the process that they felt were most important to the plan. They agreed that we value

• A vibrant arts and humanities presence visibly woven into the fabric of our everyday lives.
  
• An inclusive community with opportunities for all to meet their potential, to understand others, and to express themselves creatively.
  
• Our diversity and the sharing of that diversity.
  
• Creativity as an integral part of everyday living.
• An environment where creative and scholarly excellence can flourish.

Key Findings and Recommendations

Funding and Sustainability

• Revise grants process to support both arts and humanities.
  
• Raise level of operating grants for arts and humanities organizations.
  
• Explore ways to encourage corporate and individual giving.

Cultural Facilities

• Continue annual funding of capital grants and enhance accountability.
  
• Build a mid-sized theater and a visual arts exhibition facility.
  
• Create incubator spaces for emerging arts and humanities groups.
  
• Create incentives for private developers to build cultural venues as part of their developments.

Arts and Cultural Education

• Develop five-year plan for arts education in the schools and in the community.
  
• Restore the school system’s arts staff coordinators.
  
• Organize an arts education advocacy effort.

Ethnic Diversity

• Promote the role and visibility of culturally specific organizations.
  
• Award incentive grant funds to develop relationships with culturally specific organizations.
  
• Work with cultural institutions to implement a commitment to diversity.

Transportation and Access