CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF EXISTING PROGRAMMING Cultural Affairs Division The city of Clearwater has a long legacy of investing in arts and culture. In 2002 the most recent Clearwater Cultural Plan was completed and it identified community needs, defined goals, and recommended strategies to develop the arts and culture sector for citizens and visitors. The adoption of this plan established the Cultural Affairs Division, created the Public Art and Design Program, and increased opportunities for the community to participate in the visual, literary, and performing arts. The 6 specific goals from the 2002 Clearwater Cultural Plan are below: Goal 1: Stimulate local cultural development to benefit Clearwater’s citizens and visitors. Goal 2: Create a Public Art and Design Program to enhance the look of the City with works of art and design that create a sense of place and increase the quality of life for residents and visitors. Goal 3: Enhance and cultivate opportunities for the community to participate in the visual, literary, and performing arts. Goal 4: Establish Clearwater as an artist-friendly City where artists prosper. Goal 5: Promote opportunities for all community members to engage in lifelong learning in and through the visual, literary, and performing arts. Goal 6: Recognize and achieve the cultural industry’s potential to contribute significantly to the economic wellbeing of Clearwater. The vision of the Cultural Plan was to create a climate where arts and culture thrives through a variety of strategies. Many of the goals and objectives were completed and support a thriving arts and culture scene in Clearwater, while others are still major objectives today.
In 2020, during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Clearwater sought to understand the community’s vision for the future as it relates to arts and culture. To understand the future direction of the Cultural Affairs Division and its many programs, a review of current programming was undertaken. Various stakeholders offered input into the state of the Division and its programming as well as provided their vision for the future of the Program. 4
