'Creative Montgomery' Presented To Montgomery County Executive And Council

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For Immediate Release: 14 May 2001

Contact: Terri Thomas
tel : 301.215.7227
fax: 301.215.7118
communications@ahcmc.org
www.ahcmc.org

Creative Montgomery Presented to Montgomery County
Executive and Council

Bethesda, MD, USA--William Mooney, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, representing County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and Council President Blair Ewing were presented today with the County’s first long-term strategic cultural plan. Entitled Creative Montgomery: A Vision for the Arts and Humanities in Montgomery County, MD, the plan assesses local needs and recommends steps to guide future growth. It was released today at an afternoon reception in Rockville. The plan was prepared by the consulting firm of Jerry Allen and Associates under the guidance of a 35-member Steering Committee of individuals and representatives of organizations from throughout the county.

“We have made extraordinary investments in the arts over the past few years,” Duncan said in prepared remarks, “increasing funding 17-fold and putting more than $75 million into construction projects to benefit the cultural arts. Today, we have been presented with a plan that will serve as a blueprint for future decisions and help take our arts and humanities programs to the next level.”

Ewing stated, “Montgomery County enjoys a high quality of life due in part to the wonderful events and activities provided by our local arts and humanities groups. We are glad to receive Creative Montgomery as a guidebook to what we as a government and you as the citizens of our community can do to ensure the continued vitality of the arts and humanities in Montgomery County.”

Also attending the program at Glenview Mansion were local arts and humanities advocates, members of the Steering Committee, consultant Allen, the Board of Directors of the Arts and Humanities Council, and Terri Lee Freeman, president of the Community Foundation of the National Capital Region, who contributed funding for this project.

Among the recommendations presented in Creative Montgomery are to:

Raise the level of operating grants for arts and humanities organizations;
Explore ways to encourage corporate and individual giving to arts and humanities organizations;
Build a mid-sized theater and a visual arts exhibition facility;
Develop a five-year plan for arts education in the schools and in the community; to promote the role and visibility of culturally specific organizations;
Preserve local historic sites; and
Develop spaces that support the work of artists and humanities scholars.

These recommendations resulted from studying the eight critical issues identified by the Steering Committee: funding and sustainability; cultural facilities; arts and cultural education; ethnic diversity; transportation and access; marketing and visibility; heritage and preservation; and support for individual artists and scholars.

Community participation was a key factor in developing the plan. In addition to the input of the Steering Committee, the consultants received community comments at a public forum, conducted numerous interviews and heard from several focus groups. Following publication of the Draft Recommendations in March 2000, six community forums held around the county elicited further comments. As a result, more than 200 people participated in the planning process.

Allen called Creative Montgomery “a community cultural plan that will rely on the support of Montgomery County’s citizens for its implementation.”

Over the past five years, County funding for the arts has increased from $175,500 in FY’96 to more than $3.8 million in the current fiscal year. Among local programs receiving funding have been Rockville Arts Place, Hyattstown Mill Arts Project, Maryland Youth Ballet, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, The Writers Centers, in addition to many other organizations.

The County also has funded more than $75 million in construction projects to benefit the cultural arts. These include the Music and Education Center at Strathmore, Olney Theatre, Bethesda Academy of Performing Arts, Round House Theatre, and BlackRock Center for the Arts.

Copies of the Executive Summary and the full text of Creative Montgomery are available from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, 4405 East West Highway, Suite 401, Bethesda, MD (301-215-7227) and will be available shortly at their web site at www.ahcmc.org.

The mission of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County is to promote, support and expand cultural activities in the county and to help integrate them into the lives of all residents. For more information, please contact the Arts and Humanities Council at 301-215-7227.

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