- See the 16-page executive summary of the State of Culture report HERE.
- Read the full 97-page State of Culture report HERE.
- See the 10 opportunities identified in the report near the bottom of this story.
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Rockford region can do more to strengthen awareness about local arts and culture. It can also use the arts to bolster neighborhood development.
Those are two of the recommendations laid out in a State of Culture report presented to about 80 people Wednesday at Veterans Memorial Hall. The report is a check-point of sorts in the development of the Rockford Region Cultural Plan, a process that started earlier this year to develop priorities to support arts and culture in the region.
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Cultural plans like this one are designed to help communities identify and celebrate their unique assets. It can also help devise strategies to raise awareness and otherwise support the local arts scene. The payoff can be both economic — arts and culture generated $1.02 trillion in economic activity across the country in 2021 — and it can raise the quality of living for a community.
“People want an identity for their neighborhood. They want a sense of place. They want to feel proud of where they live, and I really do believe that arts are the vehicle for that,” said Mary McNamara Bernsten, executive director of the Rockford Area Arts Council, which is working with the consulting firm Lord Cultural Resources to develop the plan.
Wednesday’s discussion largely centered around 10 opportunities that have been identified this year as the Arts Council and the consulting group met with various groups to develop its plan. It will continue to collect feedback, both in person and through an online survey, as it works to complete the final action steps by early 2024.
“We recognize these opportunities as the jumping off point,” said Tiffany Lyons, a senior consultant with Lord Cultural Resources. “What we’re really looking for is that community buy-in. It is not just the (Rockford Area Arts Council) that’s going to be implementing this plan.”
The full State of Culture report included findings from a multitude of surveys, town hall meetings and engagement sessions as well as research into cultural plans in comparable cities and national trends.
The report also detailed some of the potential reasons for investing in arts. For example, a March analysis by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis state that arts and cultural activity accounted for 4.4% of gross domestic product in 2021. That’s a larger share of GDP than powerhouse sectors such as construction, transportation and agriculture, according to the BEA’s report.
“People often think that art is a luxury, we can’t quite afford it, but it’s something that does have a return on investment,” Eve Moros Ortega, director of Lord Cultural Resources, said during Wednesday’s presentation. “This really does pay dividends.”
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Lyons said that future steps include building task forces full of residents to create an actionable plan. McNamara Bernsten said she and the Arts Council will continue to work to get people involved in both creating the plan and elevating the arts.
“We want people to be able to plug in to these goals and then create strategies of how we’re going to achieve them,” McNamara Bernsten said.
State of Culture | 10 opportunities
Partners with the Rockford Regional Cultural Plan have collected feedback over the past year on the strengths and challenges the region has surrounding arts and culture. Here are the 10 opportunities for improvement identified in the State of Culture report:
- Tell Rockford’s story better by highlighting the city’s rich and diverse history.
- Provide more inclusive representation of artists and cultural offerings and welcoming environments.
- Increase creative opportunities for youth and arts education.
- Foster collaboration and connection within the cultural sector and with other sectors.
- Leverage and develop underutilized spaces for cultural uses.
- Strengthen funding mechanisms and policy for arts and culture.
- Improve advocacy and data capture around arts and culture.
- Strengthen awareness of arts and culture in Rockford.
- Foster brave conversations through arts and culture.
- Further neighborhood development with arts and culture.
Read the plan | Take the survey
You can read the State of Culture executive summary or the full report at artsforeveryone.com/cultural-plan.
You can take a survey to provide your own input HERE. The survey deadline is midnight Nov. 30.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas