Six findings from Amplify Columbia
From ColaToday (10/1/2018):
Back in January, the City + One Columbia announced that they were enacting a cultural arts planning process called Amplify in Columbia: an 18-month project that would kick off with focus groups + surveys to discover how the arts could better serve our city – and vice versa – and end with a formalized draft of a cultural section of the City Planning Department’s Comprehensive Plan in-the-making, Columbia Compass: Envision 2036.
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Now, Amplify is in its tenth month of its 18-month planning process. So – what has the Amplify team found out about cultural needs, wants, barriers + opportunities in Columbia? And how can that be written into Columbia Compass as future public policy for our city?
Data collected from 70 public meetings in 59 places across Columbia has uncovered a few things, and identified six themes that have come from people who attended. (The S.C. Arts Commission was the site of one such meeting, and Amplify’s lead consultant served on the panel that reviewed applicants to our biggest grant program: General Operating Support for Organizations.)
- 96% of survey-takers feel Columbia needs more arts activities and events
- 50% feel that increasing public space for interactive experiences is a top priority
- Other top priorities included focusing on the preservation and support of Columbia history and continuing to add more public art
- Columbia has artists who are willing to teach in their communities
- Columbia’s citizens define culture + art beyond visual creations, including food, festivals and more
Additionally, six themes emerged from the public hearings, discussions + forums:
- Leadership
- Investment
- Spaces
- Valuing Artists
- Art Learning and Mastery
- History
Head over to ColaToday to read more about the process and the findings to this point.