City Seeks Task Force Members for Arts, Heritage and Culture Strategy

June 11, 2020 — The City of Wilsonville seeks community members with a strong interest in developing and promoting arts, culture and heritage in Wilsonville to serve on a strategic planning task force.

The Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy Task Force is to be composed of about 20-25 multi-disciplinary stakeholders from the greater Wilsonville community who share an interest in advancing arts, culture and heritage. The Task Force will act as a sounding board for the strategy development, reviewing and commenting on material as it is produced.

The task force is scheduled to convene for a three- to four-month period, June through September of 2020. Because of COVID-19, three virtual meetings are to be held when a majority of task force members are available. Meetings are tentatively scheduled for late June, July and August.

• Click here if you have an interest in applying or learning more

A steering committee composed of task force members is to provide specific, immediate feedback to the City during strategy development. Additional committees may be organized, including a youth advisory group and specialized committees to advise on the cultural inventory.

The Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy, a City Council 2019-21 Goal, seeks to provide recommendations to the City Council for cultivating a sustainable, long-term plan that supports community aspirations for a vibrant cultural scene in Wilsonville. For more information, see ci.wilsonville.or.us/ArtsCultureStrategy.

This effort represents phase two for development of an Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy. The first phase, June-December of 2018, conducted initial fieldwork research, interviews and a community survey and meeting. The initial phase was suspended as two major community proposals advanced:

• The West Linn-Wilsonville School District considered and then placed a $206.8 million capital ballot measure for voters’ consideration that included construction of a $25 million, 600-seat auditorium/performing arts center at Wilsonville High School. The bond measure passed and the school district has formed a committee to assist with design of the auditorium.
• The City issued and conducted interviews of proposers responding to an RFP for a year-round, multi-purpose public-use facility with potential lodging addition. The City suspended the RFP process for the foreseeable future as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Phase two of Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy (ACHS) now benefits by recognizing and dealing with these significant realities that have come to pass, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. A key focus for the ACHS is cultivating greater community support and organizational capacity that results in a more sustainable, long-term set of programs advancing arts, culture and heritage.

The City has retained Community Development / Cultural Planning consultant Bill Flood, who holds a Master of Science degree in Community Systems Planning and Development from Pennsylvania State University and was a 2008 recipient of a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant. Flood has worked with a wide range of public agencies and private organizations to advance cultural programming and development planning, including the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs strategic planning and resource development for The Museum at Warm Springs, financial sustainability strategies for the Maryhill Museum, and development of Molalla Area Vision and Action Plan for the City of Mollala, Ore. Previously, Flood worked for the University of Oregon’s Arts Administration Program and the Oregon Arts Commission.

For more information, contact Mark Ottenad, Public/Government Affairs Director, at 503-570-1505; ottenad@ci.wilsonville.or.us.

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