Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs' 
Dallas Cultural Plan 2018

Planning

DALLAS, TX

2017 - 2018

As a partner on a team with Lord Cultural Resources, HR&A Advisors, and Idyllic Interactive, we worked to engage the community to understand how Dallas residents experience culture in their daily lives and how the city can continue to stay arts-friendly. The process was designed to be inclusive, transparent, and sustainable to support the continued growth of the arts scene in Dallas.

Community Conversations were held in all 14 districts within the City along with a series of discussions focused on specific art mediums, cultural institutions, and practicing artists.

Over the course of two years and 150 meetings in every zip code in the city, as well as through online surveys, residents were invited to share their thoughts, hopes, and wishes for the Dallas arts and culture community. Nearly 9,000 city residents took the opportunity to make their voice heard, ultimately developing hundreds of arts initiatives and strategies together.

The end result, approved by the City Council and published in November 2018, identified six arts priorities for the City of Dallas, including increasing equity, finding more arts spaces, and making the arts more sustainable throughout the city.

Partners:

Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA)

Lord Cultural Resources

HR&A Advisors

Idyllic Interactive

[bc] Contributors:

Lizzie MacWillie

Owen Wilson-Chavez

Lisa Neergaard

Hafsa Ambreen

UPDATES

Dallas Cultural Plan Public Engagement

January 24, 2018

As a partner in the team with Lord Cultural Resources, HR&A Advisors, and Idyllic Interactive, [bc] is working to engage Dallas's residents for the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs' Dallas Cultural Plan 2018. Through a year-long process, the Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA) seeks to gather community input on how residents experience culture in their daily lives and how the city can continue to stay arts-friendly. 

The public engagement process for the Dallas Cultural Plan kicked off with a series of four events this September. At the Dallas Museum of Art, the Dallas Children's Theatre, Walnut Hill Recreation Center, and Southwest Center Mall, attendees participated in a series of activities which included realtime digital mapping, drawing stories of cultural experiences, and building ideal cultural communities. 

Through October and November, Community Conversations at South Dallas Cultural Center, Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Fretz Park Recreation Center, Bath House Cultural Center, Pleasant Grove Branch Library, West Dallas Multipurpose Center, and Moody Performance Hall provided forums for residents to share their visions for arts in their neighborhoods.

The Community Conversations will engage residents of all 14 districts within the City of Dallas. The series resumed for the new year at the Grauwyler Park Branch Library on January 11, 2018. In January/February 2018, we'll continue engaging residents through Community Conversations at:

This phase of outreach also includes a series of discussions focused on specific art mediums, cultural institutions, and practicing artists. Upcoming opportunities include:

Don't miss your chance to share your thoughts, hopes, and dreams for Dallas's cultural future through this once-in-a-decade opportunity. Be on the lookout for future events on the Dallas Cultural Plan event calendar. 

Even if you can't make it to an event, there are other ways that you can get involved! Take the Dallas Cultural Plan Survey to help us understand the diversity of arts and cultural activity occurring across Dallas and in your neighborhood.

You can also contribute to Dallas’ Arts & Culture Ecosystem Map by entering locations where you go to to create, experience, or learn about arts and culture in Dallas here—please enter only one location at a time, but you can submit as many responses as you'd like.

The Neighborhood Toolkit can be used to facilitate a conversation with friends, neighbors or co-workers on your own time. Email engage@dallasculturalplan.com to tell us about the date, time and location of your meeting!

Check out photos from Dallas Cultural Plan activities that have taken place thus far in the gallery below!