Groups Seek Council OK of Cultural Plan

After years of working with city officials, local cultural and arts groups are hoping to get the City Council’s blessing for their Cultural Plan next week. The document would help them operate and publicize their programs, network with each other and apply for state and federal grants.

The Cultural Arts Council, a group of about 100 representatives from schools, businesses, performing and other arts and volunteer groups, has been working with city officials to develop the plan, which outlines common goals among nonprofit groups and a plan for how to encourage more culture and arts in the community.

“They have been really striving for many, many years to have this happen,” arts council member Carol Latham said. “This goes back some 20 odd years.”

Many organizations based in the city don’t even know one another, she said. The plan will help groups and even visitors get a bigger picture of the city’s cultural and arts offerings.

Local arts and cultural groups are unable to apply for many grants without city-approved documentation that outlines the goals of the group and community in terms of culture and art.

If the arts council wanted to apply for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, it couldn’t, Latham said. The city eventually agreed to pay for the development of the Cultural Plan with $100,000, which included hiring consultants who conducted workshops throughout Anaheim.

“Culture is important to businesses too,” said Community Services Department Director Chris Jarvi, “particularly to a city that’s visited by people from all over the world.”