Yes, Charles County can look forward to a better quality of life which comes from a flourishing arts culture. In recent months The Bay Net has noticed a broad range of talent lurking about in Charles County. Now the organization to properly promote those artists and venues is well underway.
The future for the arts in Charles County began to shine a bit brighter in October 2006 when the Charles County Arts Alliance (CCAA) hosted its first county Arts Summit. Prior to the summit, the CCAA conducted two public-outreach, data-gathering activities in 2005. After that all interested citizens were invited to sign up for participation in the Arts Summit. More than seventy artists and patrons attended that six-hour event; a brainstorming workshop led by professional facilitator Sherwood Shankland of Shankland and Associates.
In a previous Bay Net interview of CCAA President Diane Rausch, she had this to say about the Vision 2020 Plan:
“Arts Vision 2020 is an ambitious project to bring together the arts community to develop a shared, long-term vision for the future of the arts and arts infrastructure in Charles County. It is a three-phase, multi-year, professional effort to brainstorm, vision, prioritize, research, assess and report our recommendations in ALL the arts for the next 13 years. The goal is to help make Charles County a better, more interesting, more dynamic, more culturally-diverse place in which to live, work and play.
“Our final report, Arts Vision 2020: A Strategic Plan for the Arts in Charles County will be presented to the Charles County Government later this year. As Charles County continues to grow economically, we believe the presence of a thriving arts scene plays a key role in this economic development, by making our county more attractive for companies, corporations, young professionals and families to locate here. It is clearly a quality of life issue, and the business community recognizes this.”
In February of this year the first summit follow-up meeting took place in the United Way building in La Plata. There the obvious need for arts within the greater plan for Charles County came into sharp focus. Participants at the follow-up were divided into action teams—Arts Development, Arts Education, Arts Programming, and Venues & Facilities. This offered participants a chance to work in focused areas where they felt they would be most helpful.
As of this month’s meeting on May 12th, those groups have now reached the half-way point of their projects. They are researching for a first draft of the document which will blend their combined efforts: the Vision 2020 Plan. When completed later this year, the comprehensive plan for arts in Charles County will be formally presented to the County Commissioners.
The plan will focus on both short-term and long-term goals. Some of the short term goals are arts integration with the Charles County Public School system, public art, a county-wide arts registry, a black box dramatic theatre and indie film house in Waldorf as well as much less complex goals such as acquiring a Wenger Showmob