Ulster County is launching a new effort to study arts and culture in the region. The public is asked to participate in the Ulster County Arts & Culture Plan effort that launches today.
The initiative is being guided by a 27-member advisory panel, with a goal to submit a final plan to the county legislature in March 2025.
Ulster County legislature chair Peter Criswell (Criz-well) says the plan marks a “historic moment” for the arts and the county.
WAMC’s Lucas Willard spoke with Criswell, who previously worked on developing a cultural plan for the City of Kingston.
For more information visit: https://participate.ulstercountyny.gov/arts-culture-plan
Previous to my serving as an Ulster County legislator, I was on the city of Kingston's Arts Commission. And working with the team on the Arts Commission, we realized that, you know, the arts were such an important part of the city of Kingston, and so, we wanted to actually create some sort of a plan. So, it was a about a year-long process of trying to find the right consultants to work with. And we brought in a really great team from New York City and did a very, very in-depth process in the City of Kingston, where we did lots of interviewing, site visits, online surveys, and came up with a really, really comprehensive arts and culture plan. That was in 2022, that plan happened. And then when I went on to start working with the county, I had that in the back of my head that that would be a really great project. It also happened to coincide with a project that the county had been doing, which is the 2040 Plan, which brought together professionals from a lot of different sectors, and started talking about, what are the economic drivers in Ulster County? And arts and culture came up as one of those drivers. And so those two things really coincided well. So, I thought, Okay, this is the right moment to actually get a plan in place. And so, worked with a team and put together a resolution that was passed unanimously by the entire Ulster County Legislature to support doing this plan. And went through a very similar process that we did with the City of Kingston, where we put out an RFP, got, I think we got at least a dozen different responses from different cultural planning organizations, and we ended up, coincidentally, hiring the same firm that did the City of Kingston plan. So that's a sort of thumbnail background.
What can you tell me about how Ulster County has changed over the years, especially in recent years, with the pandemic and a lot of people moving into the area, has the arts economy grown with the population increase?
You know, I think this, these are the types of questions that we're going to answer. I don't have an answer for you right now on that, but that's what we're going to explore. We're going to try and do a cultural asset study where we're finding out what's here now, and we'll be looking at exactly that, you know, what's grown, what sectors are moving forward? Are there gaps? And so, I think with our analysis, we're going to look at not only what are the assets, but what is the economic impact on the county in terms of arts and culture. And, you know, there's very direct impact. There's also impact that happens, sort of, from tourism…tourism is really at its height with arts and culture, that's bringing in, obviously, people staying in hotels and eating at restaurants. So, there's a sort of an offshoot of support that happens for arts and culture. So, we're going to do a really deep economic analysis.
Are there any aspects of the arts and cultural economy that you're particularly interested in highlighting or elevating, especially related to your work earlier in the City of Kingston?
I don't know if there's one particular area that I'm interested in elevating. I personally come from background as an arts educator, so I'm always interested in what's happening with youth and arts. I think arts are such an important can play in such an important part in the lives of young people, giving them confidence and giving them cultural outlet as well as, you know, potential jobs. I had a career as an artist. I was a performing artist for several years, and so, I think exploring all that in our region is really important. And then there's such a diversity of arts that are happening. I don't know if you've been following, the music scene is really popping up here. You know, there's a lot of visual arts. There's so many different types. There's also a real resurgence of arts manufacturing that's happening. We've got, you know, small studios that are developing and their products are going out regionally and nationally. And so, there's so many different aspects to it that I'm really excited to learn about.
So, the county is seeking public input as it develops this plan. What are you envisioning, as far as public meetings or forums? How can people get involved?
Sure, it's really key. This is going to be the success of our plan, here, is getting as much public input as possible. We have a public launch, which is happening on June 17. We're using a portal, which is called Participate Ulster, very easy to find online, Participate Ulster, just do a do a search for that, and we have a segment on that, which is the arts and culture plan. And you can get put on a list where you can find out what's happening. So, we're going to have this virtual public launch. We're also going to be doing outreaches to different sectors. We're identifying different sectors in the arts, and we're going to do outreach there. We're going to be doing public forums, so town halls in four different areas around the county. One of my goals is to make sure that we're really representing as far-reaching areas in our county as possible. We're going to be having workshops that are going to be happening. We're going to be having community conversations. We're going to be having folks at different cultural events, giving out information about our surveys. The survey also is available in both English and Spanish, so we want to make it accessible. So again, that's going to be the key to the success of this, is getting as much public input as possible.
So, for someone hearing this interview, where can they go to find more information?
Participate Ulster is the home of everything for this, and it's participate.UlsterCountyny.gov.
Peter Criswell is chair of the Ulster County Legislature. Peter, thanks so much for taking the time. I appreciate it.
Thank you. Take care.
