Maine Arts Commission News

Strategic Planning Update

	Maine Arts Commission staff and commission members gather during the 2004 Maine Arts Commission Meeting, which took place at the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset on June 18. Photo: Hannah Brazee Gregory

The Maine Arts Commission is in the midst of strategic planning throughout the summer and fall of this year. The agency updates its plan annually and every three years conducts a thorough assessment and renewal of the five-year plan. This year, Maine Arts Commission members, committee members, staff and planning consultant Dr. Craig Dreeszen are gathering in planning meetings; surveying and meeting with artists, constituent groups and partners; and reviewing the agency's mission, long-range goals and priorities.

The agency creates and maintains a plan so that it is able to adapt to the changing needs of constituents, focus efforts, wisely invest scarce resources and explain its work to the public - all so that the agency can better achieve its mission. Throughout the process, desired outcomes are identified so the agency can evaluate program results.

Here are a few of the issues being considered this year:

• what would Maine be like if arts advocacy was as well organized as the environmental movement, and Maine citizens valued arts and culture as much as our natural environment?
  
  
• how can we integrate into our plans the tremendous interest in the state's Creative Economy and position the agency to advance Maine's creative sector?
  
  
• how can we increase student access to arts education in the face of tight funding and high-stakes testing?
  
  
• what else can be done to encourage Maine artists, tradition bearers and other creative workers?
  
  
• should the agency more assertively seek funds from private sources that are not readily accessible to its constituent organizations?
  
  
• Such planning has shaped the Maine Arts Commission's programs and services and has led to impressive results. A plan to invest in community development through the arts yielded the Discovery Research program, through which 28 communities and regions have so far assessed and documented their arts, culture and heritage resources. This, in turn, stimulated the creation of new local arts agencies in many communities. Discovery Research also led to increased awareness of the abundance of creators, nonprofit arts organizations, cultural facilities and creative businesses in communities across the state. Understanding Maine's cultural resources led to the Governor's call for the Blaine House Conference on Maine's Creative Economy and the current interest in Maine's creative sector.

The Maine Arts Commission will approve a renewed strategic plan at its October 2004 meeting.