Final Bay Cultural Arts Plan to Be Presented at Rotary, Economic Forum
Consultant Louise Stevens Initiated Plan for National Endowment for Arts
March 25, 2004
By: Dave Rogers
Shirley Roberts and Eric Jylha meet with Dr. William Anderson, center, director of the state History, Arts and Libraries department in community cultural planning.
Consultant Louise Stevens of will present the final Cultural Arts Plan for the Bay community Tuesday noon in the Holiday Inn at the regular meeting of the Bay City Rotary Club. The presentation will include an explanation of why arts and culture are important aspects of community economic development.
Stevens is president of ArtsMarket, a Bozeman,Montana, firm that created the nationally recognized concept for cultural assessment and planning for the National Endowment for the Arts. The firm has led cultural planning in dozens of cities across the nation.
She will also present the plan at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to the Bay Area Community Economic Development Forum at the Elks Club, 306 Fifth Ave. That event, sponsored by County Executive Thomas L. Hickner and county government, is entitled "Capitalizing on Cool: A Community Cultural Arts Plan for the Bay Area."
Grant monies from the Rollin M. Gerstacker, Bay Area Community, Smith, and Kantzler Foundations arehelping to support the consultant's assistance in development of the cultural plan through the Bay Arts Council.
"Bay City's great historic architecture is one of its defining cultural assets," says Stevens.
The Bay Arts Council, which conducts summer concert series and youth-oriented "edutainment" programs, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the arts in Bay County.
Stevens has been working as consultant to the Bay Arts Council, headed by TomNiemann, for the past year to help local volunteers create a comprehensive plan for arts and cultural development in the community.