DEPARTMENT: Department of Arts & Culture
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Debbie Racca-Sittre
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All Council Districts
SUBJECT: Briefing on the Cul-Tú-Art Plan
SUMMARY:
The Cul-TÚ-Art Cultural Plan is a coordinated planning document that is comprised of six focus areas including: Film, Centro de Artes, Public Art, Arts Funding Guidelines, Music, and the Downtown Cultural Plan. Staff will present an overview and status of the Plan to the Arts, Culture & Heritage City Council Committee.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The department partnered with the Mayor’s Office, San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the SABER Institute, and Texans for the Arts to kick-off the cultural planning process on October 11, 2017. The kick-off included a review of the state of the current creative economy, a visioning session, as well as a workshop on arts advocacy.
A professionally administered survey of a representative sample of residents, visitors and arts patrons has been completed with over 3,000 respondents. The department attended community meetings in each of the ten council districts to collect additional information regarding arts and culture. Additionally, the Cul-TÚ-Art plan is being informed by benchmarking with other cities and outlining a baseline of current art services which has been developed by staff and a consultant. The department hosted community workshops to collect feedback on the community survey, cultural equity, public art strategies, and arts funding guidelines which all go towards informing the plan and its proposed policy guidelines.
ISSUE:
The Cul-TÚ-Art Cultural Plan is a coordinated planning document that is comprised of six focus areas including: Film and Centro de Artes which have already been completed, Public Art and Arts Funding Guidelines which are currently being coordinated, and Music, and Downtown Cultural Plan which will be completed in the summer of 2018. The full plan will be completed in time for the FY19 budget. The Cul-TÚ-Art Plan is intended to guide the City of San Antonio’s investments in arts and culture delegate agencies and public art to provide equitable opportunities that encourage San Antonio’s arts community, residents and visitors to thrive in a culturally inclusive environment that celebrates San Antonio’s identity.
The San Antonio Arts Commission is serving as the Steering Committee for the Plan and, so far, has adopted a Vision Statement, Guiding Principles and a Statement on Cultural Equity.
Strategies being proposed for the City’s public art program, including developing a long-term placement plan, creating a public art garden and touring art initiative, and approving a pre-qualified list of professional artists whose services may be used to implement public art projects established by the public art plan. The Public Art Strategies for the Cul-TÚ-Art Plan will be presented to City Council for consideration in January 2018.
An update on the Arts Funding Guidelines will be presented to the City Council Arts, Culture & Heritage Committee with an additional update in January. The Arts Funding Guidelines will be presented to City Council for consideration in February 2018.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Committee could choose to not move forward with this planning effort. As a result, the department would continue to operate under its current policy guidelines and following a plan that is outdated and does not have a focus on equity.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This item is briefing purposes only.