LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Cultural Plan for Lafayette/West Lafayette, led by the Tippecanoe Arts Federation, is already listing several successes early in its implementation process.

Papier-mâché art piece 'I Can Has Chainburger?' by Emily Cox, a 17-year-old senior at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana.

TAF officially assumed leadership of implementing the Plan on July 1 of this year, and early accomplishments include:

• The formation of a formal Arts Facility Needs Assessment Committee to oversee an assessment of the community’s cultural venues. The North Central Health Services’ foundation arm has awarded funding toward this study with additional funds from the Barnabas Foundation. A consulting team of will conduct the Facility Needs Assessment, which is scheduled to be completed by January of 2010.
• The communities of Lafayette, West Lafayette, and Tippecanoe County have officially expressed their commitment and support for the implementation of the Cultural Plan.
• TAF launched ASAP, After School Arts Program, in August to create more arts activities for youth, teens and young adults as well as make a meaningful difference in the lives of youth in our community.
• A Cultural Asset Map, designed to provide an inventory of the community’s arts and cultural resources, will be completed in the coming months thanks to a partnership with the Purdue Center for Regional Development.

“Working for tomorrow starts today,” said Tetia Lee, executive director of the Tippecanoe Arts Federation, who is leading implementation of the Cultural Plan for Lafayette/West Lafayette. “The plan, drawn from input from more than 200 local residents and community leaders, is beginning to take shape as a roadmap for action for the next 10 to 15 years and reflects a vision for arts and cultural development in the community.”

The four primary goals and related strategies outlined in the 50-page cultural plan call for:

• Integrating arts and culture more fully into Lafayette and West Lafayette approaches to community economic development.
• Engaging children, teens and young adults more fully in the cultural life of the Lafayette/West Lafayette community.
• Building a broader and deeper countywide audience for arts and culture of all kinds.
• Strengthening the leadership and resources in support of arts and culture.

“This planning process has been inclusive and the strength of that inclusion has grown as the process moved forward,” the WolfBrown report states in its conclusion. “Planning is not an easy process; it requires attention to various viewpoints and overlapping perspectives. It often puts existing systems and structures into the spotlight and that can be uncomfortable. But the willingness to experience this discomfort is the price of developing a road map that has the engagement and input of a broad section of the community.”

During 2008, WolfBrown associate principal consultant Marc Goldring led three formal public presentations — in June, October and December. WolfBrown conducted surveys, hosted community wide meetings, examined funding options, and determined how the local arts venues, programs and events compare with communities similar in size to Lafayette-West Lafayette.

WolfBrown collaborated with the Tippecanoe Cultural Planning Steering Committee, working with broad-based support from TAF and local arts and cultural groups.

The committee was led by community leaders Jim Bodenmiller and Sonya Margerum, and included a diverse group of 40 people from the arts, entertainment, culture, tourism, education, business and industry, government and other groups.

The committee used $75,000 generated with support from the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, arts and cultural organizations and the Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette to hire Massachusetts-based WolfBrown to launch the formal arts assessment process.

Many of Greater Lafayette’s cultural organizations also provided support for the year-long effort including Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, Art Museum of Greater Lafayette Foundation, Bach Chorale Singers, Historic Prophetstown, Lafayette Citizens Band, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Purdue Bands, Purdue Convocation, Friends of Downtown, Round the Fountain Art Fair Committee, Tippecanoe County Historical Association, and Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation.

Building on nearly 500 cultural events held in Lafayette-West Lafayette, the local arts community contributes more than $11 million each year to the economy, drawing visitors from throughout the region to performances and events as well as restaurants and retail outlets. In addition, nearly 1,000 people are employed by the estimated 165 arts-related organizations and businesses in Lafayette-West Lafayette.

The Tippecanoe Arts Federation, which was launched in 1976, is the nonprofit service and advocacy agency for more than 100 local member arts organizations. TAF also is the re-granting agency for state funds to a 14-county area (Region IV) through the Regional Partnership Initiative of the Indiana Arts Commission and regularly hosts, co-sponsors and participates in community events including its annual fundraiser, The Taste of Tippecanoe, a festival of food and fun for the arts held in downtown Lafayette.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Tippecanoe Cultural Planning Steering Committee will seek input from the community in a public forum at 7 p.m. Monday (Dec. 8), as an important next step for assessing the contributions as well as short- and long-term needs for Lafayette-West Lafayette’s arts and cultural community.

Marc Goldring, associate principal of Massachusetts consulting firm WolfBrown, will moderate the forum, which will take place at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation building, 638 North St., in downtown Lafayette. Leading members of the Cultural Planning Steering Committee, which is working with broad-based support from TAF and local arts and cultural groups, also will be on hand.

The format will be similar to the public forums, held in June and October to full houses at TAF’s offices. WolfBrown officials will unveil the final report in mid-January.

“During this third public forum, the community will begin to see the picture being painted of the arts and local culture in Lafayette-West Lafayette,” said Sonya Margerum, co-chairman of the Tippecanoe Cultural Planning Steering Committee. “The discussion from the first two sessions was lively and instructive. We invite more from throughout the community to come forward to help us continue setting short- and long-term priorities for the types of events, types of facilities, and types of education and outreach programs we would place on a wish-list for the arts/cultural community.”

The committee, led by Jim Bodenmiller and Margerum, is using $75,000 generated with support from the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, arts and cultural organizations and the Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette to hire WolfBrown and launch the formal arts assessment process. Tetia Lee, director of TAF, also has provided support for the seven-month assessment process.

The Cultural Planning Steering Committee has met for several months with support from TAF, representatives of the arts and cultural organizations, the Lafayette-West Lafayette Development Corp., local government and other groups to chart what steps are needed to engage a consultant to help develop a plan to ensure local arts/cultural organizations are healthy, vibrant and sustainable for the future.

WolfBrown has led, conducted surveys, hosted communitywide meetings, examined funding options, and determined how the local arts venues, programs and events compare with communities similar in size to Lafayette-West Lafayette, Bodenmiller said.

Building on nearly 500 cultural events held in Lafayette-West Lafayette, the local arts community contributes more than $11 million each year to the economy, drawing visitors from throughout the region to performances and events as well as restaurants and retail outlets.

In addition, nearly 1,000 people are employed by the estimated 165 arts-related organizations and businesses in Lafayette-West Lafayette.

With offices in Cambridge, Mass., San Francisco and Washington, D.C., WolfBrown has worked in the field of arts education and cultural planning for decades. Clients have included national service organizations, local coordinating agencies and individual arts education providers. Services include comprehensive research (including parent and student surveys), program design and the development of community wide systems for service provision involving scores of organizations and agencies.

The Tippecanoe Arts Federation, which was launched in 1976, is the nonprofit service and advocacy agency for more than 100 local member arts organizations.

Working from its offices in the Wells Center in downtown Lafayette, TAF also is the re-granting agency for state funds to a 14-county area (Region IV) through the Regional Partnership Initiative of the Indiana Arts Commission and regularly hosts, co-sponsors and participates in community events including its annual fundraiser, The Taste of Tippecanoe, a festival of food and fun for the arts held in downtown Lafayette.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Tippecanoe Cultural Planning Steering Committee will seek input from the community in a public forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, as an important next step for assessing the contributions as well as short- and long-term needs for Lafayette-West Lafayette’s arts and cultural community.

Marc Goldring, associate principal of Massachusetts consulting firm WolfBrown, will moderate the forum, which will take place at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation building, 638 North St., in downtown Lafayette. Leading members of the Cultural Planning Steering Committee, which is working with broad-based support from TAF and local arts and cultural groups, also will be on hand.

The format will be similar to the initial public forum held June 26 to a full house at TAF’s offices.

“This second public forum is the next important step for this discussion about the arts and local culture with the entire Lafayette-West Lafayette community,” Goldring said. “The discussion from the first session was lively and instructive. And we invite more from throughout the community to come forward to help us continue setting short- and long-term priorities for the types of events, types of facilities, and types of education and outreach programs we would place on a wish-list for the arts/cultural community.”

The Cultural Planning Steering Committee has met for several months with support from TAF, representatives of the arts and cultural organizations, the Lafayette-West Lafayette Development Corp., local government and other groups to chart what steps are needed to engage a consultant to help develop a plan to ensure local arts/cultural organizations are healthy, vibrant and sustainable for the future.

The committee is using $75,000 generated with support from the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, arts and cultural organizations and the Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette to hire WolfBrown and launch the formal arts assessment process.

WolfBrown will lead, will conduct surveys, host communitywide meetings, examine funding options, and determine how the local arts venues, programs and events compare with communities similar in size to Lafayette-West Lafayette, said cultural planning committee co-chair Jim Bodenmiller.

“The arts play an important role in attracting knowledge-based businesses and industry to our community, and this assessment process through this second public forum, will help us determine our future community development,” Bodenmiller said.

Building on nearly 500 cultural events held in Lafayette-West Lafayette, the local arts community contributes more than $11 million each year to the economy, drawing visitors from throughout the region to performances and events as well as restaurants and retail outlets.

In addition, nearly 1,000 people are employed by the estimated 165 arts-related organizations and businesses in Lafayette-West Lafayette.

“Our local arts organizations are critical players in education, economic development and our quality of life,” said Sonya Margerum, co-chair of the committee and former mayor of West Lafayette. “But we need a model that’s sustainable for keeping our organizations and programs fresh and progressive.”
A total of 8,905 arts-related businesses were surveyed in Indiana last year and employed an estimated 53,924 Hoosiers, the Americans for the Arts reported. That represents an increase of 986 arts-related Indiana businesses from 2006 to 2007, and a growth of 4,650 full-time jobs during that same period.
With offices in Cambridge, Mass., San Francisco and Washington, D.C., WolfBrown has worked in the field of arts education and cultural planning for decades. Clients have included national service organizations, local coordinating agencies and individual arts education providers. Services include comprehensive research (including parent and student surveys), program design and the development of community wide systems for service provision involving scores of organizations and agencies.
A recent Money magazine ranking put Lafayette-West Lafayette as No. 2 small city in which to live in the Midwest in its annual listing of best places to live. Lafayette-West Lafayette scored highly on 37 “livability” factors such as clean water, good pubic schools and low property taxes. According to Money’s research, the area also excelled in categories such as low crime, the economy and quality of life.

The Tippecanoe Arts Federation, which was launched in 1976, is the nonprofit service and advocacy agency for more than 100 local member arts organizations.
Working from its offices in the Wells Center in downtown Lafayette, TAF also is the re-granting agency for state funds to a 14-county area (Region IV) through the Regional Partnership Initiative of the Indiana Arts Commission and regularly hosts, co-sponsors and participates in community events including its annual fundraiser, The Taste of Tippecanoe, a festival of food and fun for the arts held in downtown Lafayette.