PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

 

Community advisers and respondents to the public survey helped the planning committee identify six priorities for shaping a more favorable cultural climate in Marion County. Goals are declared to address each priority, and some strategies are suggested to achieve the goals. Ways of measuring the effectiveness of the strategies are suggested also.

 

            Promote AWARENESS of Marion County’s cultural assets and their value.

 

            Strengthen COMMUNITIES by upholding diverse cultural traditions as well as vital urban centers and the distinctive, often historic character of small towns    and neighborhoods.

 

            Inspire YOUTH to engage in creative expression and heritage activities and support their efforts to develop cultural awareness and proficiency.

 

            Develop LEADERSHIP for maintaining vigorous cultural organizations.

 

            Support EXCELLENCE among the stewards of cultural assets and the presenters of cultural experiences.

 

            Encourage INVESTMENT in the arts, heritage, and humanities as a means of timulating cultural and economic vitality.

 

            The priority:                  PROMOTE AWARENESS

                                                The challenge:   Cultural life in Marion County has tended to be overshadowed by that of the nearby Portland metropolitan                                                    area. Salem, the county seat and state capital, is Oregon’s second largest city. Nevertheless, many are unaware of the                                                                    area’s outstanding cultural offerings in music, theater, visual and performing arts, and museums. In Marion County, even the leading                                                 presenting organizations have difficulty gaining audiences in numbers that are consistent with the size of the area’s growing                                                    population.

 

            Primary goal:                Increase public support and appreciation of local cultural offerings. Promote pride in the caliber of the county’s   cultural offerings to                                            overcome lack of awareness on the one hand and, on the other, an unjustified perception that local offerings are less than the first-                                      rate opportunities offered elsewhere.

 

            Strategies:                     Develop and maintain a county-wide inventory of stewards and providers of culture in Marion County. Encourage coordinated                                                            advertising and promotions within the county. Encourage information sharing and cooperative advertising among the allied                                                       organizations in neighboring counties.

            Measuring progress:      Track ongoing public use of the online cultural resource inventory. Invite feedback from registered organizations, individuals, and                                                culture-oriented businesses with regard to increased patronage.        Track attendance figures of local cultural organizations over a five-                                             year period. Watch for trends indicating rises in participation corresponding to the timing of coordinated        media advertising and other                                                 promotions.

 

            The priority:      STRENGTHEN COMMUNITIES

 

                                                The challenges: Marion County has a culturally diverse   makeup within its population of 284,000, of which the Latino population                                                now represents 17 percent. Within the Salem-Keizer School District, the state’s second largest educational district, native speakers                                         of thirty different languages are enrolled. Salem’s World Beat Festival and the annual festival presented by students of Tokyo                                                      International University are among events aimed at promoting greater appreciation among cultural groups. Still, audiences for                                                         mainstream exhibitions and concerts contain relatively few representatives of local ethnic populations. By the same token,                                                      mainstream audiences lack scheduling information about all but the best known, longestablished ethnic celebrations. Language is the                                     main barrier to communication between presenting organizations and ethnic groups of the area.Historic rural communities that lack                                                protective zoning are open to encroachment from non-conforming development. Without thoughtful planning, such development can                                              erode the distinctive, authentic character that makes a town livable for its residents and attractive to tourists who will patronize local                                                 businesses. Downtowns that once were busy trading centers are now in competition with suburban shopping malls and large-scale                                                outlets on the periphery. Vacant, underutilized, and sometimes poorly maintained buildings are signs of an unwanted decline.

 

            Primary goals:               Promote mutual understanding between cultural groups by developing avenues of communication and information sharing. Strive for                                              participation in the mainstream culturalopportunities of Marion County by a more diverse segment of the population. Raise pride in                                            individual cultural identity by supporting festivals and other events that celebrate the county’s small towns and cohesive ethnic                                                             communities. Support community planning efforts that balance planning            for growth with the goals of historic preservation.

 

            Strategies:                    Encourage partnerships between local cultural groups and their parallel or affinity organizations throughout the county to share                                                      information, expertise, services, and strengthen programs. Identify and work to eliminate barriers preventing minority cultural                                                             groups from participating in cultural programs. Promote documentary projects, traveling exhibitions, and touring performances that                                             focus on diverse cultural groups. Encourage sponsorship of cultural programs that reach rural communities. Encourage recruitment                                       of those having foreign language skills to act as intermediaries between arts organizations and ethnic communities and serve as                                                     museum guides, interpreters, and writers of exhibit texts and concert program notes. Encourage preservation and enhancement of                                                 community identity through formation of historic districts and support of model rehabilitation projects. Support cultural ventures that                                            occupy suitable but otherwise underutilized space in downtownbusiness districts. Advocate economic incentives and zoning                                                     favorable to such occupancy.

 

            Measuring progress:      Maintain statistics on start-up cultural ventures in downtown areas over a five-year period. Track the number of cultural programs                                     traveling to towns with populations of 3,000. Watch for more arts features in Spanish language newspapers that indicate increased                                              awareness of and participation in mainstream cultural offerings. Track the number of historic district ordinances adopted over a five-                                              year period. Watch for emerging adaptive-use rehabilitation projects in community centers that have the potential to stimulate                                                            business and trigger additional renovation in the area. Monitor occupancy of previously unleased space in downtown buildings

 

            The priority: INSPIRE YOUTH

 

                                                The challenge: Ongoing public school curriculum development in music, the arts, and cultural heritage is hampered by current budget                                     deficits and drastic cuts in funding for education. In some school districts in Marion County, the arts curriculum may be less well                                       supported than the more visible programs for music. Children of low-income families can be especially disadvantaged in terms of                                     their exposure to art, music, and narrative arts in such an economic climate. Absorption in media entertainment is a distraction to                                         many young people, and commitment to sports and after-school jobs may leave little time for cultural involvement for others. Many                                        parents are unaware of cultural opportunities or do not have time or resources to help their children participate in extracurricular                                          opportunities.

 

            Primary goal:                Support efforts to provide all children, grades K-12, with opportunities for self-expression,confidence building, and cultural                                                       literacy through curriculum development and enhancements. Increase the number of young participants in the arts, heritage and                                                           humanities programs outside the school setting.

 

            Strategies:                     Advocate retention and strengthening of art education in the public schools. Support community organizations that sponsor reading                                        mentors, artist or architect-in-the schools programs and traveling performers and heritage interpreters as a means of supple-

                                                menting publicly-funded cultural curriculum offerings. Give public recognition to those organizations. Support non-profit                                                                      organizations that provide extracurricular training and mentoring opportunities to youths in music, the arts, and heritage activities.                                       Give public recognition to those organizations. Encourage partnerships between libraries, historical agencies and arts organizations                                        and youth groups such as Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, YWCA for the purpose of reaching out to actively engage youths.

 

            Measuring progress:      Track the number of cultural programs traveling to public schools having large numbers of students from low-income families.

                                                Over a five-year period, watch for increase in the number of art exhibitions, concerts and theater productions devoted to youths and                                             track audience attendance of such offerings.

 

            The priority: DEVELOP LEADERSHIP

 

            The challenge:               Over the years, the communities of Marion County have produced leaders to finance the restoration of heritage sites, organize                                                     cultural organizations, and promote the arts. As new projects arise and         more cultural organizations are formed, a given generation of                                          leaders becomes over extended. If the talent pool is finite, growth and development of both existing and new cultural enterprises                                                 cannot be sustained. Cultural organizations in small towns typically have limited resources. They are most in need of strong leaders                                                 to promote enthusiasm, coordinate volunteer efforts, and direct fund-raising efforts.

 

            Primary goal:                To keep the county’s arts and cultural organizations strong and viable into the future, plan strategically for the ongoing transition                                                     of leadership and promote periodic training for volunteers and staff.

 

            Strategies:                     Encourage programs aimed at attracting young professionals to take active part in governing boards of cultural organizations.                                                            Promote commitment to the arts, heritage and humanities both as civic responsibility and as fulfilling avocation. Give public                                                       recognition to corporations that encourage such involvement on the part of their executives and employees as a public service.

                                                Expand opportunities for groups and individuals to learn the mechanics of successful leadership, networking, grant writing, and                                                          volunteer coordination. Sponsor participation in conferences and training workshops for young talent recruited for positions on                                                    boards of directors of cultural organizations. Strengthen  partnerships with area colleges and universities for internship opportunities                                                 with the county’s cultural organizations.

 

            Measuring progress:      Over a period of five years, track placement of trained young talent on the boards of directors of cultural organizations in Marion                                           County. Track the participation in training opportunities by staff and citizen boards of cultural organizations of the county through                                       periodic surveys. Track the number of intern-trainees used by cultural organizations of the county over a five-year period.

 

            The priority: SUPPORT EXCELLENCE

 

                                                The challenge: Many of the leading cultural organizations in Marion County have achieved an air of permanence and public                                                     acceptance after years of careful planning and dedicated work on the part of volunteers and managers. The public has indicated                                       protecting the investment in thecounty’s existing cultural assets         should have high priority. At the same time, to ensure growth in                                                 the arts, heritage and humanities, it is important to foster the promising emerging cultural ventures and provide a showcase for                                                             the providers of culture who are some distance from the centers of population.

 

            Primary goal:                Uphold institutions and programs that have proven their value to the community in terms of attendance, critical acclaim, and other                                        measurable indicators. At the same time, develop additional assets hat keep pace with the potential for a growing audience.

 

            Strategies:                     Expand opportunities for distant communities in the county to experience excellence in cultural offerings. Expand opportunities                                                 for marketing emerging talent. Support grants to sustain or enhance programs that are recognized for their excellence. Support                                                    collaborative ventures and sharing of collections among cultural organizations within the county and affinity organizations                                                     elsewhere.

 

            Measuring progress:      Track the number of new cultural ventures that emerge and are sustained for two or more years. Track the number of cultural                                                        programs in the county that are recognized by peer awards.

 

            The priority: ENCOURAGE INVESTMENT

 

                                                The challenge:   The public is presented with a growing number of cultural organizations seeking member support. In certain cases,                                             the distinctions between one non-profit cultural coordinating body and another are unclear. As a result, the public can become less                                            responsive to annual fund-raising appeals and committed patronage is spread thin.

 

            Primary goal:                Generate sufficient public support of cultural organizations and services in Marion County to sustain core operations in the long                                                         term. At the same time, strive for reasonable growth in the number and variety of cultural offerings. Ensure that the distinctive roles                                         and responsibilities of culture-coordinating agencies within the county are clearly defined and expressed.

 

            Strategies:                     Promote private sector contributions to the Oregon Cultural Trust and concurrent contributions to local cultural organizations,                                                        including the planning committee’s successor body, the Marion          Cultural Development Corporation. Advocate retention of the tax                                              credit as an incentive for contributors. Encourage the leveraging of challenge and matching grants to restore or upgrade cultural                                                            facilities, enhance cultural programs, and rehabilitate historic buildings. Produce public information that clearly defines the                                                      distinctive roles and responsibilities of culture-coordinating agencies within the county. Produce public information that celebrates                                          the community benefit of projects accomplished with grant funds.

 

            Measuring progress:      Watch for upward trend in the number of contributions to the Oregon Cultural Trust and the Marion Cultural Development                                                   Corporation from residents of Marion County over a five-year period. Track the number of new or restored cultural facilities                                                         opened over the period of five years.      Document signs of new enterprise and revitalization in areas anchored by cultural facilities

                                                in Marion County. Periodically collect information from the county’s cultural organizations, especially past grant recipients, to                                                          determine the arc of attendance and overall vigor.