Cultural planning is the process of assessing the needs of a community in the area of the arts and humanities. Cultural planning means

• Taking an inventory of the community's arts and humanities resources, both public and nonprofit, and identifying ways to build on those resources;
  
• Consulting with the citizens of a community to ascertain their cultural values and aspirations;
  
• Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of cultural organizations in the community and exploring ways to capitalize on their strengths and minimize their weaknesses;
  
• Finding new or untapped financial resources to support the arts and humanities;
  
• Evaluating the cultural infrastructure, that is, exhibition and performance venues that support growth of arts and humanities organizations;
  
• Reviewing local public art programs and urban design plans and strategies to enhance the aesthetic quality of public spaces;
  
• Determining how to create support systems for local artists and humanities scholars to recognize them as resources critical to the community; and
  
• Developing creative marketing and thoughtful arts and cultural education programs to expand current audiences and grow future consumers.

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 been 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. With 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.

In the late 1990s, requests to the County government to fund new construction and renovation of cultural facilities rose dramatically. While reacting positively to an apparent burgeoning of the arts and humanities in the county, the County Council expressed concern about the ability of the community to support these requests. Not only were the capital funding requests quite large, but it became clear that still unidentified is the amount needed to ensure each organization’s continued viability as it grows into its new facilities. Based on these concerns, the County Council and Executive requested the Arts and Humanities Council to undertake the preparation of the county’s first community cultural plan to examine these and other issues that will impact the future of the arts and humanities in the lives of county residents.