To some Duke students, the thought of Durham as a city rife with arts and culture is as credible as the thought of a Blue Devils appearance in a BCS bowl. Outside the University's borders, however, such skepticism is far less prevalent, if this past Tuesday's community planning meeting is at all indicative of Durham residents' visions for the city's cultural future.
Local artists and arts and culture aficionados met Tuesday evening with representatives of Wolf, Keens & Co., a consulting firm hired to create the county-commissioned Durham Cultural Master Plan by spring 2004. At Tuesday's meeting, facilitators from the 62-member DCMP steering committee gathered input on such topics as cultural diversity, education and funding.
More than 100 people filed into the session at the Hayti Heritage Center in downtown Durham - a notable showing for a preliminary planning meeting, said project manager Marc Goldring, vice president of Wolf, Keens & Co. Goldring has worked on similar plans for other cities, including Charlotte, Philadelphia and Birmingham, Ala.
"I was very impressed with how many people showed up, and with how engaged they all were," Goldring said. "It really indicates the high level of interest and commitment there is to the project."
The assemblage was split into smaller groups and rotated through seven stations, each dedicated to a different issue the consultants will have to face in creating the cultural master plan.
One issue that seemed to be on many people's minds was the need for more participation in cultural activities, particularly among the city's youth and college students.
"We have hundreds of young artists in the community," said Ella Fountain Pratt, a member of the steering committee and former director of cultural affairs at Duke. "At Duke, you hardly find anyone who doesn't play guitar or piano, or have a nice voice or an interest in drama. All these people have a yearning for an arts and culture community, and we just have to find a way to really utilize what Durham has."
At the same time that a revamped cultural scene in Durham could benefit the University and its constituents, Goldring said, an arts and culture exchange between university and city is always a two-way street.
"You can't be a great university in a city that's falling apart," Goldring said. "Knitting together town and gown is something that can only benefit both town and gown. It would be great if Duke could have a presence in Durham, other than just through office space."
Many attendees seemed to share Goldring's sentiments, citing a need for the city to take more advantage of the arts and culture programs and classes at Duke, North Carolina Central University and Durham Technical Community College.
The creation of the DCMP comes at a time when Duke is starting to take a closer look at its own arts and culture offerings available to students and other members of the University. With the continued presence of the American Dance Festival each summer and the construction of the new Nasher Museum of Art on Campus Drive, the University is moving toward a more comprehensive cultural experience, said Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta.
Moneta said the synchronicity of arts and culture planning for the city and University is just a "wonderful coincidence." He added, however, that the possibility of future collaboration on cultural planning beyond campus boundaries is an exciting prospect.
"I intend to get involved, but I just don't know when," Moneta said. "My first priority is to start planning within Duke, but I'm thrilled to know there's a constituent group in Durham that we can consult with as we begin to think about arts and culture on campus."
Tuesday's community meeting addressed many other topics, including a need to create a broader cultural audience. One facilitator jotted down attractions that might appeal to wider audiences, including world music, ethnic art and local folk culture. Many noted that the city lacks a cultural hub that consistently holds arts and cultural events.
As with any master plan, funding questions also had to be brought to the forefront of Tuesday's discussions. Attendees seemed to agree that cultural organizations are currently on the way out of Durham due to disappearing corporate funding, among other factors. Particularly hard-hit have been programs requiring intensive use of facilities.
A number of people said joint programming and cross-promotions could help ameliorate the funding situation. Many also pointed to other strategies such as tax breaks for companies contributing to cultural assets, individual support for local artists and the addition of concession sales to arts revenues.
Attendees also addressed more immediate concerns such as public transportation. One man told a facilitator that the city needs evening bus service in order to get people back home after cultural events. A woman in another group told her facilitator that more reliable transportation would help support the economic development needed to foster an arts community in Durham.
Goldring said his planning team will sort through and consider all the input gathered at Tuesday's meeting as they continue work on the DCMP. A second community meeting will be held October 15, at which time representatives from Wolf, Keens & Co. should have more specific issues on which their audience will focus.
The Durham Board of County Commissioners awarded the DCMP contract to Wolf, Keens & Co. in February in order to document the city's cultural strengths and weaknesses and establish a framework for the stabilization of existing cultural institutions and future development.
The DCMP is funded by an occupancy tax passed by the North Carolina Legislature in 2001. About $200,000 has been allocated to the development of the plan, and $500,000 to the implementation of the plan.
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