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CREATIVE CITY NEWSLETTER: NOVEMBER
2003
ISSUE 9: DESIGN AND PLANNING
ISSUE IN FOCUS
NEWS YOU CAN USE
CREATIVE CORNER
CREATIVE
CITY COMMUNITIES
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
UPCOMING
EVENTS
CREATIVE CITY COMMUNITIES: What HAVE they
been up to?
ST. PAUL
ACE
Plan
Capital
City Education Initiative
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"ACE in the hole"
The Vision...
In promoting Saint Paul as a center for arts, culture and
entertainment we realize that our biggest attraction is not
a museum, concert hall or park, but the city itself, a public
historical space that manages to preserve its charm, yet never
stays static. The City of Saint Paul is undergoing a major
initiative focused on arts, culture and entertainment (ACE).
This initiative is called the ACE Plan.
Mayor Randy Kelly consistently touts Saint Paul has having
some of the greatest theaters, museums and artists in the
region. It is also a well-designed city with a lot more than
simple aesthetics - it evokes a sense of place. The downtown
street scape is bordered by trees and accented by parks. Carefully-planned
development has introduced newer buildings designed to compliment
Saint Paul’s historic architecture. And public art is
integrated into the city’s landscape and edifices.
At the onset of his administration, Kelly was encouraged
to use his political leadership to build upon those great
amenities, talents and artistry in an effort to elevate arts
in the city. The ultimate goal of the ACE Plan is to increase
the benefits of arts and culture for individual growth, community
identity, and local economic strength. Through the development
of a plan that addresses the uniqueness of Saint Paul, Mayor
Kelly believes that more people will be able to identify opportunities
to enhance their lives and souls, and that arts activity will
bring more vitality and energy to Minnesota’s capitol
city.
In a recent address to members of the Saint Paul Convention
and Visitors Bureau Kelly said, "Saint Paul can, and
should become, the Midwest center for off-Broadway productions
— for national dance touring acts — the spot where
young, aspiring actors and actresses come to learn, and to
perform and present their talent. . . Saint Paul can, and
should, expand our arts and cultural districts, improve our
entertainment options and to bring more people to our city
to experience our city in a new and different way."
To support cultural planning, Kelly has reached out to both
the private and public sectors, the art community and the
foundation community, and has challenged them to rise to the
same level of enthusiasm and energy to elevate arts and cultural
agencies, that others brought to establish the Minnesota Wild
Hockey Team and their state-of-the-arts facility, the Xcel
Arena.
The Process...
The process started with a cultural assets inventory for
Saint Paul conducted by a team of consultants including Sutton
and Associates, Schuler & Shook, and Integreat. The inventory
provides a baseline of information about current existing
cultural organizations and facilities in the city. The baseline
is critical to shaping the plans for the cultural future of
Saint Paul and provides a benchmark for evaluation of future
activities, development and programs. The inventory identified
249 Saint Paul-based organizations including performers, presenters
and those that provide cultural services to the public.
The Planning...
The planning and process of assessment and evaluation requires
a combination of observational skill, analytical rigor, field
knowledge, independent judgment, practical experience, and
flexibility in design. It is for this reason that Saint Paul
hired consultants Wolf, Keens & Company to develop the
ACE Plan. Their methodology includes using in-depth interviews,
community meetings, random surveys, studies of cultural economic
activity, comparative community research, strategic framework
budgeting, and the cultural assets inventory, thereby involving
key stakeholders in a variety of ways. The consultants draw
on their national experience and proprietary databases to
help Saint Paul see itself in a larger regional context.
Mayor Kelly appointed an eighty-member advisory committee
to work with the consultants, and several town meetings have
been conducted to help shape the plan. While preliminary findings,
and emerging goals are available for review by the advisory
committee and the general public, the final draft of the ACE
Plan will be unveiled in December 2003.
The planning process has created many networks for interaction
and intercommunication among arts organizations. The final
ACE Plan will be designed to be a guide for the future of
the arts in Saint Paul. The Plan's unique feature will be
that it is representative of opinions from across the spectrum
of Saint Paul's major art institutions, artists, community
arts organizations, community leaders and the public-at-large.
With the Plan in place, the city will move forward, not
on assumptions, but on the basis of knowledge gained through
information gathered across the spectrum. The ACE Plan will
represent good solid documentation about the needs and hopes
of all concerned about the arts in Saint Paul.
Upon completion of the Plan, Mayor Kelly and the community
will have already taken a major step in a process that hopes
to continue addressing Saint Paul's real and relevant needs
for arts, culture and entertainment into the next decade.
For more information about Saint Paul Arts, Culture and
Entertainment log onto:
http://www.wolfkeens.com/BIGPICTURE/pages/saintpaul.html
St. Paul Receives $217,000
grant, 15 VISTA workers to recruit volunteers in area schools
Saint Paul Mayor Randy Kelly today announced that the Capital
City Education Initiative received one of just 13 VISTA grants
given to communities across the country that will provide
$217,855 for 15 VISTA workers in Saint Paul schools.
http://www.ci.stpaul.mn.us/mayor/newsroom/sep2403.html
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