CultureSpark News

Speakers Mary Ellen Dahlkemper, CultureSpark steering committee chair and Stairways Behavioral Health chief administrative officer; Char Mashyna, ArtsErie executive director and CultureSpark facilitator; Tom Ferraro, CultureSpark working committee member and NPAA co-director; Bob Wooler, The Nonprofit Partnership director; and Barry Grossman, Erie County Executive, provided an overview of the planning process and the recommendations from the community, as well as a preview of implementation plans.

"We're already seeing the impact that the CultureSpark planning process and the Erie County Cultural Master Plan will have on our region — from new grant opportunities to new partnerships between community organizations and officials," said Char Mashyna, executive director of ArtsErie, one of the lead sponsors of CultureSpark.

The final 88-page report, prepared by consultant Bill Bulick of Creative Planning, Portland, Ore., who has been involved with cultural planning for over 20 years, contains 35 individual recommendations. The recommendations fall under six categories of critical issues chosen by the CultureSpark Steering Committee as offering the best opportunities for strategy development: Joint Marketing; Countywide Services; Cultural Education; Individual Artists and Creators; Community Development; and Resources and Information.

The 6-page Executive Summary highlights nine key recommendations that have the greatest potential impact on the 10-year CultureSpark vision for cultural development in Erie County and which are, in brief:

1. Launch a joint marketing initiative.
2. Create a Central Cultural Website.
3. Countywide Cultural Development.
4. Increase cultural education opportunities in K-12.
5. Enhance professional development, marketing and support for individual artists and creators.
6. Develop a Cultural Center, or centers.
7. Increase private fundraising.
8. Secure a sustainable government/public dedicated funding source.
9. Develop new partnerships that improve and enhance the relationship among community leadership, governments, civic organizations, colleges/universities and arts, culture and heritage.

The final documents will serve as a ten-year plan for arts, culture and heritage in Erie County. An action team is forming to implement the cultural plan's recommendations. Erie County residents interested in participating in the implementation of the cultural plan should contact Char Mashyna at 814-452-3427 or char@artserie.org to learn more.

CultureSpark received funding from ArtsErie, The Erie Community Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Erie County, through a grant from the Unrestricted Gaming Revenue. The Erie Community Foundation has donated an additional $10,000 to ArtsErie to help with administration and implementation costs.

For additional information about CultureSpark and to review the executive summary and final plan in their entirety, visit www.CultureSparkErie.org.

About CultureSpark

CultureSpark is a year-long cultural planning process, implemented by ArtsErie and The Nonprofit Partnership, which is designed to identify the issues, strengths and challenges for cultural development throughout Erie County. Bill Bulick of Creative Planning, Portland, Ore. is facilitating the process, assisted by Surale Phillips of Decision Support Partners, Bozeman, Mont.