Marin County Adopts Its First Arts And Culture Master Plan

MARIN COUNTY, CA -- After months of engagement with residents and arts-related groups, Marin County has a new countywide arts and culture master plan called "Arts, Culture, Action, Marin!," that's designed to define the county’s creative future.

In a presentation to the Marin County Board of Supervisors during its May 14 meeting Marin County Department of Cultural Services Director Gabriella Calicchio provided an overview of the plan and the extensive efforts that went into creating it.

Calicchio said the main goals of the master plan are to:

• cultivate and advance Marin as an arts and cultural center;
• ensure the benefits of the arts flow equitably to every member of the community, and;
• sustain and grow resources for artists and arts providers.

The plan was the result of countless stakeholder interviews, discussion group meetings, a statistically valid survey and its responses, a nonprofit arts economic impact survey, supervisorial district forums, and steering committee meetings over the past year.

Arts nonprofits contributed $76.4 million to Marin County’s economy in 2018, according to the County. Those same organizations employed 1,650 full time employees and contributed more than $7 million to local and state taxes according to a study conducted by Americans for the Arts.

Calicchio said Marin faces ongoing challenges such as limited visibility and awareness of arts programming, audiences traveling elsewhere to attend arts events, and local artists being forced to move away due to high housing costs. Research revealed an array of economic, racial and cultural inequities in access to and funding for arts organizations and arts education in our public schools.

The plan details steps to rectify some of the inequities so that arts access in Marin County is for everyone. The Cultural Services Department and its nonprofit, the Marin Cultural Association, will take a leadership role in implementing the plan.

The plan can be read at www.marincultural.org.