Livability Initiative: Arts and Culture Pre-Working Group Meeting Summary Host: Community Foundation of the NRV October 14, 2011 Coordinating Bodies: - Explore NRV - Southwestern Virginia Cultural Heritage Commission - Blacksburg Live Music - Crooked Road - Blacksburg Downtown Master Plan - Jacksonville Center for The Arts (JAX) - Arts Council of Blue Ridge - Community Arts Information Office - Round The Mountain - Arts Leadership Lunch - NRV Heritage Coalition - Blacksburg Partnership Collaborative For The Arts - Floyd Artisan Trail - Montgomery County Artisan Trail - Wilderness Road Initiative - Heartwood Funding Sources: - Virginia Commission For Arts - Department of Tourism VTC - Community Foundation of The NRV - VA Foundation of Humanities - Arts Giving Circle - CE Richardson Foundation - ARC - VA Museum of Fine Arts Existing Arts and Cultural Heritage Venues, Organizations, Events & Initiatives: Please help us add to this list – it’s likely that we overlooked a few - 16 Blocks Mag - Art Pannonia - 16 Hands - Artisan Train - Alexander Black House & Cultural Center - Blacksburg Camera Club - Andrew Johnston House Museum in Pearisburg - Blacksburg Children’s Chorale - Art Armory - Blacksburg Fork & Cork – food, wine & art - Art on Parkway festival - Blacksburg Historic Lecture Series - Floyd Youth Theater Company - Blacksburg Live- Work Spaces Concept - Gallery III - Blacksburg Museum & Cultural Foundation - George Gray Gallery - Blacksburg Regional Art Association - Giles Arts Council - Blacksburg Regional Art Association - Giles County Historic Society - Blue Ridge Camera Club - Glade Church Gallery - Brew Do Craft Beer - Glenco Museum - Breweries - Gobble de Art - Calfee Park - Grand Slam Bluegrass Festival - Cambria Train Station - Green Heron - Center For The Arts - Hahn Horticulture Garden - Center of Dance - Halloween Kids Fest - Central Dance Studio - Haymarket Theatre - Children’s Museum Planning Group - Heritage Day - Christiansburg Institute - High School Classes - Civic Spaces - Historic 16 Square - Coffee Depot Christiansburg - Historic Design Review Board - College Avenue Promenade - Huckleberry Trail - Community Artswork - Independent Bookstores - Community Band - Ingles Ferry - Community Classes - June Bug Center - Community Lectures - Kandinsky Trio - Dionysus Players @ Pulaski Theatre - Lion’s Club Craft Show - Discovery Fine arts - Lyric Theater - Discovery Fine Arts Center - Master Chorale - Dora Trail - Master Gardeners - East Montgomery Art Association - Matrix Gallery - Empty Bowls Pottery - Miller Off Main - FC Quilters Show - Minds Wide Open - Fine Arts Center - Montgomery Museum + Lewis Miller Art - Floyd Art Reach Center - Floyd Artisan Market - Montgomery Museum Heritage Day - Floyd Artist Association - Music Institute of SWVA (Margo Easter) - Floyd Country Store - Music on Henderson Lawn - Floyd County Community Chorus - National Music Festival (Floyd) - Floyd County Heritage Festival - New River Arts - Floyd Farmers Market - New River Chorus - Floyd Festival - New River Land Trust - Floyd Historical Society - New River Trail - Floyd Junior Appalachian Music - Newbern Festival - Floyd Radio Hour Show - Newport Community Center - Floyd Town Jubilee - NR State Park - NRCC Banjo and Dance Events - Solitude - NRV Friends of The Roanoke Symphony - Squires Recital Salon Orchestra - Squires Studio Theatre - NRV Stage - St Pierre Gallery - Oktoberfest Mountain Lake - St. Luke & Odd Fellows Hall - Old Church Gallery - Steppin’ Out - Outdoor Recreation tie-ins - Summer Music Enterprises - Perspective Gallery - Sun Music Hall - Pin Tavern Pavilion - Sustain Floyd - Pulaski Farmers Market - The Station Arts Store - Pulaski Festival - Theater 101 - Pulaski Fresh - Troika Gallery - Pulaski Historic Theatre - University Union Student Activities - Pulaski Train Station - Up on The Roof - Quilters Guilt - Virginia Tech Department Appalachian - Radford University Studies - Radford University Theatre & Music Venues - West View Cemetery Walking Tours - Ratcliffe Transportation Museum - Wilderness Road Regional Museum - Renaissance Music Academy - Wilderness Trail Festival - Rural Landscape as Cultural Heritage - Wineries - School of Performing Arts & Cinema, VT - Winterfest - School of Visual Arts, VT - Women’s Club Arts & Crafts Festival - SEEDS Blacksburg - XYZ Gallery - SELU - YMCA Crafts Fair - Sidewalk Stage Program (Blacksburg) - YMCA Open University - Sink Land Farms - Young Actors Co-op - Smithfield Key Discussion Points: - Coordination & Funding dominated by entities out of area - Map the data geographically - Degree of overlap of coordinating and funding bodies? - Spoken word/Poetry/Creative writing lacks representation - Dance - Definition of Arts & Culture - Aesthetics of area o E.g. billboard policy in Sao Paolo - Broaden outdoor recreation - Tourism - Working Group Profile & Outreach to assure comprehensive view - Incorporate/keep local government informed - Multiple-hatter gadfly folks on working group could help bridge to other elements - Restaurants, B&Bs, Lodging Associations - Creative Economy at table - Groups that have artists as members - Successful Artists - Make sure that each segment is represented properly - Working Group o How Often o Where o Organization o Leadership - Fairs & Festivals - What will the outcome/results be? o Integrating art into culture of community o Education o Coordination o Free flow of information o Hyper-Local vision Arts and Culture Working Group NOTES 11/16/2011 Attendees Terry Fisher, Susan Mattingly, Jessica Wirgau, Bob Leonard, Heather Ducote, Diane Akers, Heather Browning, Terry Nicholson, John White, John McEnhill Strengths - Museums working together (new river heritage coalition) - Organizational cooperation (crooked road, round the mountain etc.) - Old time music - High rate of local artists/artisans per capita - Round the mountain/Crooked Road - Emerging institutions to serve younger crowd - Welcome/open arts community - Natural resources-outdoors - Strong cultural heritage/resources - Balance of fine arts versus artisans - Universities bring diverse programming - Art connects “traditional” citizens with new comers - Regional recognition of arts as an economic development tool - Value of arts as a contributor to quality of life, serves economy because the people want to live here - Proximity to Roanoke to benefit from their resources - Regional support for non-profit organizations - Recognition that there is a need to work together to deal with the challenges we have - Bringing in new art forms into area - Growing number of theatres - Great farmers market - Lots of art galleries - Good relationships between government (local) and universities - Promote history well - Including arts and culture in regional planning efforts - Historic movie theatres - Community gathering - Floyd has captured “buzz” and niche of arts and culture - Virginia tech and all universities/ universities as resources Weaknesses 11/16/11 - Need to value art for community building/identity versus purely for economic development - Lack of regional consciousness - Lack of trust across boundaries (towns, counties, groups of artists) - Lack of tourism development (Montgomery county) - Inadequate funding for arts and culture in local schools (budget cuts!)( 1 hour per month in Floyd schools) - Challenging fund raising environment for independent organizations - Confusion about what competition is - Reaching larger audiences - Lack of resources (money specifically) for NRV (instead of broader region) - Lack of collaboration among communities - Limited capacity of venues - College event/venues can be intimidating - No easy way to do calendar listings for local media/ need for a central open source database that gets distributed to all the major outlets. - Lack of arts council (Montgomery county and others) - Not cohesive enough with regulations, planning and coordination - Colleges compete with local nonprofits for money and other resources - Need to merge/collaborate across generations - Primary audiences university versus community - Competition between arts organizations - Small music venues are few - Art is perceived as elite - Spoken, written word not well represented - Not much for children - We don’t promote the arts adequately - Difficulty engaging artists - Limited pool of donors - Perception that NRV is not an arts destination - Struggling to implement the arts as an economic development tool - Lack of communication between universities - Corporate sponsorships(few of them, challenging) - Limited market and marketing for the arts - CFNRV is not yet Robert Wood Johnson- Local funding sources are limited - Private support from the corporate sector is limited Opportunities - Virginia Tech-Arts strategic plan - Update to Blacksburg downtown Master Plan - Center for the Arts - New Website and Community Calendar (Blacksburg) 11/16/11 - Creation of Blacksburg Children’s Museum - More involvement with Crooked road and Round the Mountain - Growing wine trail - Downtown revitalization – college avenue promenade (Blacksburg) - Restoration of Alexander Black House and cultural center - Statewide trend towards highlighting cultural heritage tourism - Exploring how philanthropy might fill the void of public funds - Tap into our region’s role in a local musical style - Deep reserve of self-taught creative work that is not currently exhibited - Improve communication between universities , and between universities and their communities - Strengthen ties between NRV and Roanoke - Participation