Cultural Plan Action Update

Chicago Cultural Plan  >  Action Update

 

The City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) has identified four areas of focus for implementation of the Chicago Cultural Plan in 2013: Arts Education, Creative Industries, Cultural Districts and Tourism. Following is our most recent Action Update with initiatives accomplished to date by DCASE, other City departments, our community and cultural partners – and by you! Roughly 20 percent of the 241 initiatives in the Cultural Plan are done or nearly done (as of January 31, 2013). An additional 46 percent are near-term items anticipated to be completed by the end of 2013.

 

as of January 31, 2013

PEOPLE: FOSTER ARTS EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING

POLICIES: STRENGTHEN CAPACITY OF THE CULTURAL SECTOR

Recommendation 1. Make equal access to arts education a reality.

  • Development and implementation of a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district-wide plan for arts education
  • Development and implementation of arts education curriculum in all schools
  • Mandate from Mayor, School Board and CPS CEO regarding arts education in all schools
  • Arts education as a core subject within CPS
  • Application of national best practices in comprehensive arts education
  • Adoption of new state standards for arts education in Illinois

Recommendation 3. Advocate for high-quality arts education.

  • Professional development programs and lifelong learning for CPS teachers, early childhood educators, administrators, and teaching artists
  • Citywide school arts exhibitions and performances

Recommendation 4. Grow and support opportunities for the lifelong learner.

  • Expansion of existing arts drop-in hours at community centers, libraries, parks, schools and recreation centers in collaboration with artists-in-residence or organizations-in-residence
  • Growth of arts after school programs for all P-12 and out-of-school populations
  • Expansion of Park District arts-partners in-residence program

Recommendation 5. Focus private/public/non-profit collaborations on arts education.

  • Arts education plan cross-sectoral implementation task force

Recommendation 18. Advocate for funding strategies among philanthropic, private, and public sector that respond to cultural sector's operating realities.

  • Coordination among major grant makers on a standard application and reporting format and types of data collected

Recommendation 19.  Strengthen all cultural organizations, big and small.

  • Multi-year mentor relationships among arts organizations

Recommendation 20. Encourage cultural and non-cultural sectors to work together.

  • Grants for initiatives focused on public outreach (including neighborhoods, schools, underserved communities)

PEOPLE: ATTRACT AND RETAIN ARTISTS AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

POLICIES: OPTIMIZE CITY POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

Recommendation 6. Tackle space needs for artists and creative professionals.

  • Guidelines and incentive programs to convert underutilized spaces for cultural uses

Recommendation 9. Grow and diversify sources and methods of support

  • Maintain City of Chicago (DCASE) grants for artists and leverage public funds fully

Recommendation 21.  Build a pro-culture government.

  • Balance of community/neighborhood and global/downtown representation on DCASE advisory board
  • Ensure plans created by City departments explore how culture can be incorporated into their work

PLACES: ELEVATE AND EXPAND NEIGHBORHOOD CULTURAL ASSSETS

PLANNING CULTURALLY: PROMOTE THE VALUE AND IMPACT OF CULTURE

Recommendation 10. Link neighborhoods to each other and to downtown.

  • Neighborhood connections with downtown festivals: marketing, programming, partnership with local cultural initiatives that link major festivals with neighborhood initiatives

Recommendation 11. Maximize people's opportunity to participate in arts and culture.

  • Youth arts conferences: convening of teenage residents to learn, express, plan for, and appreciate cultural arts

Recommendation 13. Expand art in public places.

  • Identify specific sites like bridges, side walls of public buildings, and transit structures, that are programmed with changing exhibitions or can accommodate permanent installations

Recommendation 24. Communicate culture's broad civic impacts.

  • Mayor's endorsement of culture as a "public good": all of Chicago is entitled to cultural enrichment and expression
  • Robust cultural communications staff at DCASE

PLACES: FACILITATE NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING OF CULTURAL ACTIVITY

PLANNING CULTURALLY: STRENGTHEN CHICAGO AS A GLOBAL CULTURAL DESTINATION

Recommendation 14. Support grassroots cultural planning in the neighborhoods.

  • Action list for Chicago residents to support and help implement the Chicago Cultural Plan 2012Toolkit for cultural planning, participation, and place making

Recommendation 15. Fund neighborhood cultural planning.

  • Neighborhood cultural grants to help implement programs and projects
  • Connect chambers of commerce to growing neighborhood cultural capacity

Recommendation 16. Increase cultural spaces in every neighborhood.

  • Pop-Up cultural spaces in underutilized storefronts
  • Incentives to develop garden patches in underutilized, under populated areas
  • Collaboration among neighborhood spaces and parks and local cultural organization responsible for activating the space with cultural initiatives

Recommendation 27. Market Chicago as a global cultural destination.

  • Large-scale major cultural festival that attracts global attention and highlights Chicago's renowned cultural assets and heritage
  • Satellite international tourism offices that promote Chicago's culture worldwide

Recommendation 28. Sustain global cultural exchanges.

  • Pop-up installations in collaboration with Chicago cultural organizations and international designers, architects, thinkers, and artists

Recommendation 29. Develop a comprehensive cultural tourism plan.

  • Self guided itineraries integrating Chicago's neighborhood cultural assets
  • Collaborations among tourism partners and cultural organizations to offer packages and itineraries to cultural tourists around major anchor events
  • Collaboration among cultural organizations and major non-cultural events to coordinate scheduling, cross-marketing opportunities and packages
 

PLANNING CULTURALLY: FOSTER CULTURAL INNOVATION
 

Recommendation 30. Focus citywide spaces and events on cultural innovation.

  • Higher education spaces for arts incubators linked to major accelerator center
 

PLANNING CULTURALLY: INTEGRATE CULTURE INTO DAILY LIFE
 

Recommendation 33. Follow up the Chicago Cultural Plan 2012 with an implementation strategy

  • Mayor's endorsement and advocacy of the Chicago Cultural Plan 2012's vision and initiatives

Recommendation 34. Integrate culture across all that the City does and how it does it.

  • Concurrency of Chicago Cultural Plan 2012 initiatives with other departmental and agency plans

Recommendation 36. Integrate culture throughout nonprofit sector.

  • "University/College Cultural Coalition": regular convening of Chicago's universities and colleges around supporting, sharing, and benefiting from citywide cultural assets
  • Use of college and university facilities, public spaces by cultural organizations, artists
  • Cultural uses within nonprofit facilities (exhibition spaces in hospitals, choir rehearsal at adult activity centers)
  • "Discover ChicagoU": orientation of cultural citywide to new post-secondary students
  • Cultural activities at area public facilities (hospitals, public aid offices, social security office)
 
 

Supporting Information Facts

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Additional Information

Action Update (PDF)