Eric Clapton, accordion classes and more: Task force wants public wish lists, issues in Collier County arts

You want a blues festival, with Eric Clapton as the headliner; an ethnic dance weekend, with world music, professional teachers and a costume show; and accordion classes and a music center in which to attend them.

Go ahead and ask for all of it. Local groups, including Collier County commissioners, want to hear what’s on your dream list for arts and culture here.

And they want to hear it soon, because they’re building a plan that is meant to guide the arts in Collier County for the next 10 years and beyond.

Three arts summits are set for Sept. 17 and 18 around Naples. Three more are being incubated for elsewhere in Collier, in the Marco Island, Immokalee-Ave Maria and Everglades City areas, say its planners.

A second round of meetings will begin in November, when part-time residents are more likely to be in town, according to Laura Burns, United Arts Council executive director and chair of the task force. A survey is planned, too, in English, Spanish and Creole. 

In short, this group wants to blanket Collier County with opportunities to be heard, she said.

Participants who will be talking in September don't represent winter residents and tourism. Still, they're an informational storehouse of what is happening year-round here, Burns said.

"The whole idea of the plan is to come up a holistic idea of what's going on in Collier County to make Collier County a cultural destination, and part of that — a big part of that — is going on a listening campaign to find out what is actually happening at this time or any other time of the year,"

"We've all committed to a long-term relationship to get this plan developed, and, ultimately, approved by our commission. There will be a five-year implementation period to deliver the plan that our community is now giving input (to)."

The "we" is a collaboration of county commissioners, the Naples-Marco Island-Everglades City Tourism and Convention Bureau and the United Arts Council. Representatives of each group will be at the meetings in September, which will also include researchers from the the external consulting company it has hired, The Cultural Planning Group.

The California-based group, with a partner office in Wilton Manor, Florida, is collecting and tabulating the information. The group was chosen for the $100,981 contract, paid through fundraising, including $50,000 from Collier County commissioners.

The Cultural Planning Group is expected to offer a draft plan for review, both by the task force and the public, in January. A final plan will come to the commissioners for more discussion and approval.

This plan isn't meant only as a wish list, Burns said. The group wants questions, complaints and comments: What's missing? What are arts groups doing wrong in Collier County?

Some of those observations may reflect the frustration that lighted this match, when the county's Community Redevelopment Agency passed a question on mural guidelines to the county. Before it could proceed with approvals in the growing Bayshore Arts District, its leaders agreed, the county should offer a guiding force for its arts. 

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Commissioner Penny Taylor picked up the idea, and with arts leaders like Burns, proposed a strategic vision to commissioners to get financial participation in fundraising . At the time, Taylor said she had her own frustrations that an arts strategic vision could address. 

"We have things here. Why is in Sarasota known for the arts? They’re here," Taylor asked, shortly after she proposed the county involvement  last June. "We've got a lot of spaces we could use. Why don’t we have a clearinghouse that would pair people with the places they need?"

Her comments reflect the major impact the arts have here. A standardized survey the national group Americans for the Arts conducted in 2015 with Collier County input found the arts a potent force. It learned 61.7% of visitors from outside Collier came with a specific cultural or arts event in mind.

Employment around the arts drove 2,923 full-time equivalent jobs and bought $57.4 million to household income in Collier County. Audience expenditures, apart from ticket costs, for Collier County nonprofit arts were $44.7 million.

The task force sees those figures as part of the reason to harness the power of the arts here. But it can't be done without community participation.

"If we don't have community input, we don't have a community vision," Burns said.

Speak up

Arts and Culture  Community Forum

Tuesday, Sept. 17: 5:30-7 p.m. Headquarters branch, Collier County Public Library,  2385 Orange Blossom Drive, Naples. Attending commissioner, Any Solis

Wednesday, Sept. 18: 5:30-7 p.m. Collier County commissioners board room, Government Center, 3299 U.S. 41 E., Suite 303, Naples. Attending commissioner, Donna Fiala

Wednesday, Sept. 18: 5:30-7 p.m. Naples Art Association, 585 Park St., Naples. Attending commissioner, Penny Taylor

For more information: https://www.uaccollier.com/programs/strategic-plan/ or call 239-254-8242

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