According to the Americans for the Arts website, one way to instill art and culture into a community is through cultural planning: a community-wide process of creating a vision for cultural programming and future development. Colorado Springs is currently going through that process, calling it Arts Vision 2030.The plan is sponsored by the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region and the Bee Vradenburg Foundation. This is not a new concept; the cultural office, formed in 2006, created the first plan that started in 2010 and ended in 2020. The current process began in March 2021 and will wrap up in October, with regional plans for the next 10 years.At present, there are about 400 arts, cultural groups and organizations in the Pikes Peak region, which includes El Paso and Teller counties and the city of Colorado Springs, according to the cultural office of the Pikes Peak Region website.Andy Vick, executive director of the cultural office of the Pikes Peak Region and co-chair for the project, said cultural planning is done in communities of all sizes across the country. ìThe cultural office, as the regionís local arts agency, is the logical entity to be leading this effort; and, this time around, weíre extremely fortunate to be sharing all the responsibilities (administratively and financially) with the Bee Vradenburg Foundation,î he said.A steering committee of 24 artists and community members from across the region have been assembled to advise and support the public engagement process, synthesize the findings and celebrate the plan’s release during Arts Month in October, Vick said. ìDavid Siegel, Angela Seals (project manager for the cultural office) and I curated the steering committee very thoughtfully for inclusiveness and a diversity of voices and perspectives,î he said.ìEverything has been going great so far. I encourage everyone to give their input if they havenít already and save the date, Oct. 28, when there will be an in-person public event to reveal the new 10-year cultural plan.îDavid Siegel, chief executive officer of the Bee Vradenburg Foundation and co-chair for the project, said, ìThe plan originally started in March 2020, but with COVID gearing up, we realized very quickly that the community was not going to be in the right head space to think about this plan.î Hence, they relaunched the plan and the process post-pandemic in March 2021.They are presently in the phase of community input and engagement. Siegel said because of COVID-19, they had to shift to a hybrid of online tools, including virtual stakeholder interviews, focus groups, panels, roundtables and surveys; as well as some in-person gatherings.ìWeíre trying to be intentional that this is not just a Colorado Springs plan, but a plan for the entire Pikes Peak region,î Siegel said. ìWe are one big ecosystem, so the goal to engage as many people as possible through the process, whether they are into the arts or not, is important to us; maybe even more so for those who are not necessarily into the arts.îThe goal of Arts Vision 2030 is to understand what the community needs are and how the arts can best serve the community, he said. ìItís a living process; our consultants, ThereSquared, will take the input from the community, synthesize that input, create goals and plans and then go back to the community for their continued input,î Siegel said. ìWeíll continue to tweak it until we release the final plan.ìBee Vradenburg instinctively realized that art not only needs to be a part of a broader community but creates a thriving community.î Arts Vision 2030 is Bee Vradenburgís belief embodied in this project, he said.Falcon artist weighs inRita Scafidi, artist and resident of Falcon, has a long history and passion of not only sharing her love of art with others, but also bringing artists together.Scalfidi taught watercolor painting to Alzheimerís residents and created her Watercolor Workshop to extend her classes to senior facilities and centers.She reached out to senior facilities across the country and coordinated classes with artists living in each area. Several artists were involved with the program until COVID-19 hit, she said.ìIt was a lot to coordinate, but it was satisfying. The teachers would send me pictures of the residentís paintings, and just spreading the love of art was worth it,î Scafidi said.Last summer, she coordinated weekly plein-air sessions with about 20 other artists; they continue to meet this summer.ìWhen Iím with other artists, I tend to focus more, be more detailed and careful; itís a good feeling; a magical feeling really,î she said.In alliance with the goals of Arts Vision 2030, Scafidi said she would like to have a place for artists to gather in Falcon. ìThat would be my request to the universe, to meet other artists in the Falcon area that would like to gather together,î she said.Visit http://www.ArtsVision2030.com†website for more details and to get involved.
