Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, the city wants to hear your opinions about how important the arts are and how much support they should get.
The Mayor’s Task Force on the Arts – still gathering input on where to steer the future of the arts – starts a citizen web survey today.
Its community conversation branch, Envision Arts & Culture Kansas City, will run the web site through March 23.
There are some open ended questions like “What is your vision for Kansas City’s arts and cultural future?” but most of it is simple and all of it can filled out in less than five minutes, officials said.
“We really need feedback,” Porter Arneill, art commission director and administrator, told the Municipal Art Commission on Monday.
“We’ve done a really good job talking to the arts community – we haven’t heard (enough) from the broader community,” he said.
The task force is evaluating city arts policies for the first time since 1997 and is to set plans and ground rules for the arts moving forward. It is to present a report to the city council later this year.
Supporters note that the city has a history of supporting the arts that ranges from the establishment of Midtown’s Kansas City Art Institute in 1885 to the city’s start in 1986 of its 1-percent-for-art program.
Other cities that compete with Kansas City are also evaluating their arts programs and moving forward, Arneill said.
But money and resources are involved and Kansas City officials need input, he said.
He asks that people take a few minutes for the survey.
“They can say, I don’t think we should do anything with arts and culture – that may be what we hear,” Arneill said.
Consultants working on the project will also return in April to conduct more research and interviews with stakeholders and key constituents.
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