In an effort to open up opporunities for involvment in the Arts, the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau and Durham Arts Council has unveiled the Durham Cultural Master Plan. Intended to preserve what exists in Durham's cultural landscape, such as Durham's extensive murals, and promote its expansion, the Master Plan will promote cultural festivals and events like the Durham Blues Festival. It's part of the "build it and they will come" philosophy of tourism and promotion.
For the Plan's purposes, "culture" is "a broad range of traditional and non-traditional, commercial and non-profit providers, venues and participant groups in arts, history, sciences and humanities." From the Museum of Life and Science to Manbites Dog Theater, to the Duke Homestead and Tobacco Museum, Durham has a bit of culture for everyone. The key is letting people know about it--and developing even more for people to know about.
Part of the Plan's objective is to make Durham more competitive with the more culturally well-known and well-funded Chapel Hill, with its abundance of galleries, concerts and festivals. Although Chapel Hill has more prominent programming and a more recognizable cultural reputation, Durham's variety of theaters, scientific projects, art spaces and venues could serve as an attraction in North Carolina and provide Durham residents with more ready access to cultural enrichment.
The Plan's steering committee argues that a culturally aware and involved citizen is a more productive one, and that Durham has the potential for a thriving "creative class" of writers, teachers, researchers and even homemakers. Someone actively involved in community culture becomes, de facto, involved in the community. Creative pursuits, because they tend to have an air of fun and relaxation, bring people together in a positive atmosphere.
To maximize the work of the Master Plan, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which works primarily with Durham businesses catering to Durham visitors, has been soliciting resident feedback and encouraging community members to hold their own meetings on what they would like to see in a culturally thriving Durham. The Bureau has been investigating the presence of cultural events in neighborhoods and families, and how people find out about such events. It looks to include the arts in cross-cultural understanding, and in retaining and attracting business to the area.
What, then, will all the focus groups and discussion sessions lead to? The next step is to evaluate the information and make a cultural road map for Durham. Hopefully, that map will put Durham on the map in years to come.
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