Around and Around Rochester for the Arts and Culture Plan

I am just back from a whirlwind trip to Rochester, N.Y., where I am part of a team working on an arts and culture plan for the city and the surrounding county. My mission this week was to visit inner ring suburbs and outlying communities and learn and the resources, challenges and visions people had there for the cultural life of their communities. I spent time in Brockport, Fairport, Irondequoit and Maplewood (a historic suburb within of Rochester).

What I was reminded of what how passionately people are interested in participating in and experiencing cultural activities in their own backyards, far from the signature downtown institutions. In the past, cultural planning has focused on the challenges and needs of legacy cultural organizations. Today, however, the artistic life of a community also requires attention to how individual artists are supported, and the infrastructure that exists in the neighborhood-by-neighborhood to sustain creative life.

What I learned in Rochester and Monroe County was how much of the creative life of the communities in this area is sustained by volunteer efforts – either volunteer arts boards that do hands-on production of events and programs, or non-incorporated organizations where people come together to participate in activities they love and present them to their neighbors. I have learned about the importance of creative hubs — from recreation centers to coffee shops to bookstores to maker spaces to community arts centers – as places where people can connect with resources and collaborators. I learned that cultural vibrancy is related to social capacity; each depends on the other to thrive.

What I am thinking about is how a cultural plan can identify the building blocks of a healthy cultural ecosystem, such as community capacity, third spaces, libraries, public historians, etc., in addition to supporting artists and organizations, and how resources can be focused on those key
building blocks.

No matter where I went, people were excited and optimistic about how enriching their community cultural life can help strengthen their communities overall. How will this plan help them get there? Stay tuned!