Council begins strategic campaign

The Bloomington Area Arts Council, in conjunction with the Indiana Arts Commission, is launching a regional cultural planning program for Monroe, Brown, Owen, Greene and Lawrence Counties. The project, which began with an online survey that ended March 20, will help boost culture and arts in the five-county area. Sally Gaskill, the executive director of the BAAC, said the organization is happy with the number of responses it received.\n"Statewide we received 2,500 responses. Our consultants, who live in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., respectively, told us they never managed a statewide arts survey with so much participation," Gaskill said. "We are very impressed." \nDiana Corrigan, the development and marketing director of the BAAC, said the survey was the best way for the public to participate in the project. \n"The survey asked questions like, 'How many art events have you participated in the past few months?' 'What kind of arts events would you like to have that you don't have access to?'" Corrigan said. "I think Bloomington in specific has so many arts and cultural opportunities, but outside counties definitely need a boost in arts and culture." \nCorrigan said the BAAC's definition of the arts is very broad. The arts spans a vast area, and the BAAC has included many facets into the planning. \n"We define both arts and culture fairly broadly -- performing arts, dance, theater, visual arts from painting and sculpture and in between," Corrigan said. "Also the literal arts, culture museums, natural history museums, children's museums and organizations." \nThe BAAC will take the survey results and use them at a focus groups in April in Monroe County.\n"That focus group meeting is one of nine region-wide. We will take what we have learned on the surveys and tailor questions to the people in the focus group," Gaskill said. "Everyone is invited."\nAccording to the BAAC Web site, the organization's goals are to develop, strengthen and promote artists and arts organizations in the five-county area; serve as a catalyst for economic and community development through the arts; raise the visibility and increase public awareness of Bloomington's cultural resources; develop access to the arts for all young people; and serve as the community's major source for life-long learning in the arts. \nCorrigan said the focus groups, combined with the surveys, will give the BAAC a sense of the Indiana arts community.\n"We want to get the sense of what people feel the role of local government should be in supporting arts and culture," Corrigan said. "We want to see what kind of partnership local artists and organizations feel we should have with the local government." \nThe cultural planning survey is not new to Indiana nor to the BAAC. Because the organization is a partner of the Indiana Arts Commission, it is required to conduct the survey every five years. Corrigan said cultural planning has been occurring in the arts world for several decades. Usually an arts council will bring people together to plan. Corrigan said the BAAC first did the cultural planning five years ago, and it now will be a regular part of its agenda. \n"It's also part of our strategic plan that we do this every five years. As we work with the Indiana Arts Commission, they require all the regional service providers to do this every five years," Corrigan said. "What's great about it is the entire state is doing at the same time we are." \nAll 12 of the BAAC's sister organizations are conducting cultural planning for their areas, which include 92 counties.\n"Once we look at the survey, then we take a look at the big picture," Corrigan said. "Then we will analyze results and come up with a plan." \nCorrigan said it is always good to go back to constituents and ask what the BAAC can do to bring the community what they want. \n"It's an ongoing process that any organization needs to do whether you are an arts organization or not," Corrigan said. "We look at our goals and try to align them with the cultural goals of the state because that's what makes most sense." \nBoth Corrigan and Gaskill said they do not know what the result of the focus groups will be, but they are looking forward to the responses. \n"That's the exciting thing about planning -- we are really in the first phase," Gaskill said. "We hope we are better equipped to deliver services that people want and need, especially artists and arts organizations." \n-- Contact Asst. Arts Editor Patrice Worthy at pworthy@indiana.edu.