The Strategic Recommendations listed under each Collective Priority in this section are solutions that, when accomplished, will further improve Arts and Culture in our community. The Strategic Recommendations are intentionally written to allow for flexibility in implementation. In no instance is it expected that there be only one implementer of any given Strategic Recommendation. Timelines and financial implications have been purposefully omitted to allow for flexibility. What may be a short-term and low-dollar project for one stakeholder may be a long-term and high-dollar project for another, even though both fall under the same Strategic Recommendation.
Spaces
Develop, support, and protect facilities and venues for the creation, cultivation, and exhibition of Arts and Culture countywide.
Strategic Recommendations
• Create accessible, community-level, locals’-focused venues for the performance and exhibition of Arts and Culture.
• Build or set aside affordable live/work housing for artists who live and work in Summit County, and enact local policy to ensure long-term availability and affordability of artist live/work space.
• Identify policies, funding mechanisms, and other approaches to protect current and future Arts and Culture spaces in perpetuity to avoid the loss of creative spaces over time.
• Expand, maintain, or develop outdoor public-gathering spaces countywide that enable creative expression and provide opportunities to display and perform.
• Ensure facilities are available or accessible for small and emerging nonprofits and events, not just the anchors.
• Build additional indoor and outdoor venues for large, world-class performances.
• Develop collaborative studio facilities for artists working in a variety of fields that provide workspace, storage, and equipment.
Data
Develop systems and tools that use data to drive decision-making and track the future of Arts and Culture in Summit County
Strategic Recommendations
• Launch a Summit County public granting portal and database that allows for:
- Reports on funding allocation by type, size, and reach of grantee.
- Reports on impact of granting (attendance, ticket sales, staffing, audience, programming).
• Conduct annual economic impact analysis of the creative economy in Summit County. Develop and implement an accurate and defendable system of quantifying Arts and Culture attendance to support ongoing economic impact quantification.
• Build and maintain a Summit County creative asset directory.
• Develop a Project ABC implementation dashboard to monitor the ongoing progress and impact of Project ABC initiatives.
• Publish an annual report on the state of Arts and Culture in Summit County that includes review of economic impact data, funding, and progress toward implementation of Project ABC recommendations.
• Support and expand existing centralized calendaring systems for Arts and Culture programming, events, and education.
Places
SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONNECTION OF PLACES FOR ARTS AND CULTURE ACROSS SUMMIT COUNTY GEOGRAPHIES.
Strategic Recommendations
• Focus on building Arts and Culture facilities and hubs across Summit County that serve the unique needs and interests of each community and its residents. Facilities and/or hubs should include work, performance, exhibition, and education spaces.
• Focus on connecting existing and new Arts and Culture hubs across the county and building a network for promotion, support, and creative activation.
• Further develop local public art.
- Integrate public art into trails and open space.
- Create interactive and temporary public art experiences.
- Develop an accessible map or web-based tool to better highlight the collection.
- Combine locally produced artwork with internationally known, iconic artist installations.
- Use public art to highlight the cultural and ethnic diversity of Summit County.
- Integrate functional public art (wayfinding, benches, landscape art, etc.).
- Incentivize private developers to invest in and install public art.
- Look for additional funding sources for public art projects.
• Prioritize mindful real-estate development that incorporates curated Arts and Culture elements into master-planning proposals.
Funding
DEVELOP DIVERSE AND SUSTAINABLE FUNDING MECHANISMS TO ENSURE LONG-TERM SUCCESS AND VIBRANCY FOR ARTS AND CULTURE IN SUMMIT COUNTY.
Strategic Recommendations
• Develop creative and flexible community-wide funding mechanisms that are not reliant on traditional donations and/or local public funding.
• Create a new granting program for individual artists and creative projects that does not require nonprofit status.
• Continue Percent for Art funding for public art but explore opportunities to use funds for smaller, temporary projects in addition to bigger permanent installations.
• Establish a collective and collaborative funding pool to support capital expenditures, programming, subsidized commercial space, and unrestricted operating expenses for Arts and Culture organizations.
• Evaluate how cultural public grants are made and disbursed to ensure support for small and emerging organizations in addition to large anchor organizations.
• Seek state and federal grant support for Arts and Culture.
• Prioritize funding arts education within schools and at the community level.
• Identify new sources of public and private funding for Arts and Culture.
• Subsidize tickets to ensure access to audiences of all income levels.
• Allocate additional funding for coordinated and dedicated cultural tourism marketing.
Governance & Policy
CREATE ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURES, SYSTEMS, AND POLICIES TO SUPPORT THE SUSTAINED VITALITY AND GROWTH OF ARTS AND CULTURE IN SUMMIT COUNTY.
Strategic Recommendations
• Sustainably fund a new or existing local organization to:
- Cultivate, manage, and distribute new sources of public and private funding.
- Advocate on behalf of creatives and Arts and Culture organizations locally and statewide.
- Promote Arts and Culture countywide to locals and destination visitors.
- Support and connect places for Arts and Culture throughout the county in a unified effort that includes a designation program, wayfinding, creative activations, and marketing.
• Create a dedicated, official Arts and Culture liaison position or department in local government (e.g., Summit County, Park City, etc.).
• Establish or identify an organization or individual to serve as liaison/coordinator to advocate for inclusion, programming, and outreach to diverse populations throughout Summit County.
• Conduct ongoing research of existing local Arts and Culture funding policies and consider renegotiation of or amendments to those policies to ensure alignment of funding with community need.
• Form a countywide Citizen Advisory Group for Arts and Culture to advocate for Arts and Culture and hold local government and other key stakeholders accountable.
Faces
SUPPORT THE NEEDS OF PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH ARTS AND CULTURE IN SUMMIT COUNTY.
Strategic Recommendations
• Prioritize programming, outreach, and talent development for diverse groups.
• Hire more artists from Summit County for performance, public art, private installations in commercial spaces, etc.
• Invest in developing local artists and creatives, particularly youth.
- Become a net exporter of talent as opposed to a net importer.
- Show commitment to and investment in arts education and mentorship.
• Create regular networking and collaboration opportunities for creatives, businesses, and nonprofit Arts and Culture organizations.
• Support the organizational development of local Arts and Culture nonprofits and businesses.
• Build capacity for teachers to integrate Arts and Culture into teaching curriculum.
• Integrate Arts and Culture into senior services.
Programming
BUILD CREATIVE PROGRAMS THAT RESPOND TO OUR DIVERSE COMMUNITY NEEDS, INTERESTS, AND DREAMS.
Strategic Recommendations
• Expand integrated arts education within schools.
• Offer additional community-based creative classes for youth.
• Create public media campaigns to tell the Arts and Culture story of Summit County.
• Organize and implement an annual summit and regular convenings to bring the Arts and Culture community together, celebrate accomplishments,
and brainstorm improvements.
• Identify opportunities to infuse more progressive art into some Arts and Culture programs.
• Build new programs in a variety of creative disciplines to ensure access across geographies and demographic groups.
• Implement an Artist-in-Residence program that brings artists from outside the community to learn, work, and teach.
• Offer business development support to artists, makers, and emerging creatives, including youth.
• Develop and support programming that connects Arts and Culture to other community priorities or uses Arts and Culture as a platform for advancement.
- Recreation/sport
- Mental health
- Aging
- Open space
- Sustainability
- Cultural heritage