From the director
We need YOU to help
develop a new state arts plan
The West Virginia
Commission on the Arts and the Arts Staff of the West Virginia
Department of Arts, Culture and History have begun a process that needs an
indispensable ingredient: YOUR PARTICIPATION.
A core planning group
including artists, art educators, arts administrators, West
Virginia Commission on the Arts members, Secretary Kay Goodwin of
the WV Department of Arts, Culture and History, Commissioner Nancy
Herholdt and the Arts Staff has begun the process which will lead
to a new West Virginia state arts plan.
The plan’s
purposes include:
• Developing
programs and services responsive to the needs of West Virginia
artists and arts organizations;
• Identifying methods to increase public participation in the
arts and public interest in the work of the state arts
agency;
• Attending to policy decisions which set priorities for
funding areas and distribution of funds;
• Improving reporting to legislature on effectiveness of
public funding for the arts;
• Developing new resources; and
• Fulfilling planning requirements of WV Code and the National
Endowment for the Arts.
During the next step
in the process, members of the core planning group will visit
communities around the state to solicit public input concerning the
arts and the programs and services of the Commission and Division.
The beginning of this schedule is shown in the box below. More than
20 meetings will be held between April and June.
The meetings
will:
• Explain the who
and why of the WVCA planning process;
• Invite participants to share their aspirations for the
arts;
• Survey arts activities presently available;
• Discuss challenges to having arts in West Virginia’s
communities;
• Share a draft of new mission, vision and value
statements;
• Invite responses to an arts survey; and
• Provide training for a public input
questionnaire.
If you are interested
in attending a state arts plan public input meeting, or in hosting
one in your community, call 304-558-0240 for
information.
Richard
Ressmeyer
Director of Arts
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