Chicago Cultural Plan Discussions Come To Chicago's Neighborhoods
By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 23, 2012 7:20PM
Attendees from last night's Chicago Cultural Plan 2012 meeting in their breakout sessions. (Chicagoist/Chuck Sudo)
Julie Burros, director of cultural planning for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, looked out at the crowd of around 100 people who gathered at the Zhou B Center in Bridgeport and expressed what seemed to be genuine surprise at the multi-use art facility that served as the setting for her department's continuing series of neighborhood "conversations" regarding Chicago Cultural Plan 2012.
The surprise, Burros said, was for the center itself, housed in the old Spiegel building at 1029 W. 35th St., which she and other DCASE employees said "raised the bar" for future meeting locales. But the surprise could be just as much for the realization that Bridgeport has an actual arts scene. It may not be as thriving or as well attended by casual arts fans as, say, River North, Bucktown, or Ravenswood. But it does exist and is growing by the day. If it's happening here (and, as a Bridgeport resident for nearly 13 year, I'll admit to some boosterism), then it's happening in other neighborhoods.
The purpose of last night's meeting—the 11th of 18 scheduled through April 4—is to bring the discussion for Chicago Cultural Plan 2012 to neighborhoods in order for local residents to offer their input into the plan.
"What we're trying to do" with these meetings, Burros said, is to "get people to be engaged in the future of their communities. Part of it is to inspire people, when they meet, to keep on meeting, so that they aren't waiting for the city."
"The city wants to support what they're doing, but our resources are very limited. The hope with these meetings, is that we can get groups to band together so there's a more organized entity for us to work with in an even better way."
It reads well as a quote, but can it hold up when action is required. DCASE staffers, after a brief presentation on the Cultural plans overview and objectives, narrowed the focus of the meetings to six action items:
- Increased cultural participation leading to greater access to a neighborhood's cultural institutions.
- Securing arts education in schools.
- Cross-pollinating neighborhood cultural scenes citywide and working better to connect cultural scenes between neighborhoods.
- Strengthening the ability of cultural organizations to grow and setting them up for long-term success.
- Ensuring vibrant cultural spaces across the city
- Attracting and maintaining homegrown artists.
These action items are put to a vote, with the top three divided into breakout sessions to discuss among those attending the meetings. People who attended last night's meeting were most concerned about securing arts education, attracting and maintaining artists, and ensuring vibrant cultural spaces.
The last item is of paramount importance to the people who helped develop Bridgeport's arts scene. Friends of South Halsted executive Director Maureen Sullivan told her breakout group, "I'm tired of traveling to the North side for plays and concerts, making those neighborhoods better, when South Halsted street rots." Others talked with vivid clarity about the arts education they received in school, and wondered what would happen when the artists who came to Bridgeport seeking cheap rents for living and work spaces are eventually priced out of the neighborhood.
The results of these breakout session discussions were presented to the entire group. The problem areas and action items did serve to inspire some, but it remains to be seen if it will lead to the further engagement Burros hopes to achieve with these meetings. She said that, midway through these scheduled meetings, they've been civil and informative.
"These meetings are designed to let the community define what culture is in Chicago," Burros said. "We're not coming from downtown and saying, 'culture has to be this.'"
Ultimately, it appeared to me that Burros and her fellow DCASE employees are discovering as much about the city's cultural diversity as residents are about the plan itself.
The Chicago Cultural Center is holding two full day meetings for Chicago Cultural plan 2012 today and tomorrow called the Creative Chicago Expo. Hours are 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. For more information on Chicago Cultural Plan 2012 and upcoming neighborhood meetings, visit chicagoculturalplan2012.com.