June / 2007

Issue: 1

Dear Arts Assessment Stakeholder,

The results of the April workshop are in!!

We are writing to share them with you. After all, 75 of the Communtiies Civic and Arts Leaders told us what you want the Cultural Council to focus on - and we can't wait to get started!

This may take a few moments to review. If you are in a hurry, click on the Priority Issues or Next Steps in the red box to the right.

Otherwise, scroll down and read all the results!

About the Process

In case you were not able to stay until the end of the meeting, the high point of the day came during the selection / voting process. All strategies that supported the mission of the Cultural Council were identified and written on post-it sheets. The sheets were then placed all along the auditorium walls. Sherron Long, our facilitator from the Florida Cultural Alliance, gave everyone four orange, sticky "dots". She then directed participants to put one "dot" (or vote) next to each strategy you felt was most important for the council to work on. This exercise forced individuals to think carefully about what which strategies they want the council to concentrate on first.

Before the voting began, Sherron gave two caveats regarding "dot placement". She told everyone "Keep in mind that the Cultural Council, in it's current form is: 1) A small group of volunteers and; 2) Works with extremely limited financial support."

Armed with this advise and four orange dots, after 15 minutes of deliberation participants selected their priorities. Here is what we learned:

Summary of Votes

Strategy to help achieve Cultural Council's Mission	Votes
Become local arts agency for St. Johns County	16
Be a clearing house for all cultural arts related information	12
Create a centralized information system	11
Develop printed materials: directory, calendar, brochure, inserts to promote and advocate the arts community	11
Build a task force for developing a political agenda (coalition)	9
Create an Artist's Guild	9
Create a Cultural Directory	8
Collaboration + group/DHF "Cross-promotion" genre promotion	8
Seek public funding from Government and private sources	7
Paid staff-educate public, issues promotions, ambassador group	7
SJCC becomes an intermediary between local artists and organizations and funding sources	5
Representation at local, state and national levels	5
Presentation to groups	5
Grant writing workshops	5
Cultural presence at all meetings (county and state)	4
SJCC offers individual and organizational professional development	3
Grassroots coalition to proactively advocate for arts and arts education	3
Work with local business people to sponsor and support community activities (broad-based cultural events)	3
SJCC provides consulting services for funding	2
Public Speaking-educating through dialogue	2
Visible coalition	2
Volunteer in schools	2
Education-children's programs	2
Artist registry	2
Advisory BOD-fund raising, art advice	2
With PV Cultural Center (grant writer, resident artist, etc.)	2
Improve newsletter distribution. Cross the board representation. Web site bulletin board	2
Team marketing	2
Education	2
Great Website=interactive	1
Find the $	1
Sharing e-mail lists	1
Annual calendar	1
Continue VIC booth	1
Grant writing	1
Grow Web site/calendar	1
Workshops	0
Grants	0
More meetings	0
Pro-activity	0
Define cultural facets	0
Legislative arm /watchdog-local, state, and federal	0
Arts Awareness Weekend/showcase	0
Money for cultural programs (funds for culture arts)	0
Create buy in for cultural groups to show unity / presence	0
Host monthly mixers	0
Sponsor multi-discipline Arts Festival	0
SJCC member night events	0
Member benefit discount card	0
Sister with other communities	0
Website links	0
Encourage grass roots support	0
Advocacy workshops	0
Encourage broad-based arts experiences and learning opportunities for all age groups and audiences including but not limited to schools	0
Public access TV promo	0
Maximize use of available venues countywide-public or private	0
Find space for artists	0
Marketing promotion workshops	0
Artist registry	0
Hosting meetings and forums-share participant list	0
Art and cultural programs in and after school, seniors, children, underserved and everybody!	0
Link on city and county and media Web sites	0
Master art and cultural map	0
Technical assistance (Web sites)	0
Fund raising	0
Marketing	0
Planning	0
Annual schedules of events	0
Art and cultural resources, venues, grant opportunities, etc. list	0
Sponsor benefits using multiple arts resources	0
With media (record, art and design magazine)	0
Lobbying	0
PR packages for member orgs.	0
Student services	0
Public and private funding volunteers	0
Promote and strengthen the Arts in SJC through networking and communications	0
Advocate for the Arts with local and state officials	0
Try to get more schools to become involved with the Arts through meeting with teachers and parent groups	0
Let the arts organizations be made more aware of how and when the arts are funded and what grants are available	0

Priority Issues

The Cultural Council's Board of Directors reviewed this list at our most recent meeting. We decided that there are only 4 things we can concentrate on at this time, given our current limitations. (Please keep in mind we are still in the process of restoring the Cultural Arts Center at St. Augustine Beach.)

So, given the above votes and, in some cases, redundant nature of strategies, we have decided to concentrate on the following four areas over the next 3 - 6 months.

1) Build a strong base of support throughout all areas of St. Johns County and ask that the BCC recognize the Cultural Council as the Local Arts Agency for St. Johns County.

2) Work to become an effective and powerful clearinghouse for arts and cultural information - especially by developing a strong, user friendly, website.

3) Build a strong arts Cultural Arts Coalition throughout the county in order to help generate public and private financial support for the Cultural Arts.

4) Create an on-line, county-wide, Cultural Arts Directory which will include Artists, Arts Organizations, Arts Presenters and Venues. Once there is sufficient funding, we can design, publish and distribute a print directory.

Next Steps:

Two More Arts Assessment Workshops

To gain a broader understanding of the need for cultural arts in greater St. Johns County, we will conduct additional arts assessment workshops in both Ponte Vedra and Northwest / St. Johns

Once these two workshops are concluded, we will compile a basic outline covering all needs of the county. From there, we can get to work on drafting a Cultural Plan for St. Johns County.

Staying Involved

If there are particular areas that you feel you may want to work on, please let us know so we can contact you when we resume full operations in August. Many of our volunteer board members will be on vacation over the summer so we do not expect to have additional group meetings until the Fall.

Thank You for Supporting The Arts

We deeply appreciate your support and participation. If you are not already a member of the Cultural Council and wish to become one, please click here to complete a membership application.

We have come a long way in a very short period of time. From where we stand, there is great energy and unlimited potential to grow the cultural arts throughout all communities in St. Johns County