The New Price Hill Arts Council

In 2014, hundreds of residents of Price Hill participated in a neighborhood planning process. The process led to seven focus areas, and implementation teams were created to work on the goals within each focus area. One of those areas that emerged was Arts and Culture, and one of the goals was to create a Price Hill Arts Council. In my role at Price Hill Will, I have been helping coordinate the meetings (scheduling, recruiting, hosting) as the Arts Council gets off the ground, and I’ve been learning a lot in the process. It’s interesting to see how it’s developing; it’s so new, and I hope that it can become a strong, positive force in the neighborhood.

The Arts Council had it’s first meeting in September, 2015, and included many members from the Arts and Culture Implementation Team, as well as leaders of arts organizations in the community, and neighborhood artists. There have been about 20 people at each meeting. So far, this group has met four times. This past meeting, Daniel Hughes, a pastor at a local church, led part one of what will be a two part visioning session.

During the visioning session, we split into five groups, and Daniel asked us to think about who we are. Two words that kept coming up were “connections” and “opportunities.” Next month, we’ll discuss the “why.” Through this process we hope to get a little closer to dreaming big and then formulating a plan to action.

Are you part of an arts council where you live? If so, please share with us any of your successes, or what you have learned. I am excited to see where this group of engaged art-enthusiasts, artists, and arts-leaders will go.