The Plan and the Planning Process From the start, the City of Sandpoint and its Historic Preservation and Arts Commissions defined the critical objectives for the Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation Plan: • Identify opportunities to expand and grow Sandpoint’s arts and culture sector by leveraging existing assets and forging new partnerships and collaborations with local creatives and organizations. • Understand the essential moments in Sandpoint history that make its buildings and places significant and worthy of recognition and preservation. • Explore the transformational possibilities of arts and historic preservation in sparking creative activity and animating buildings and places. • Understand the barriers to advancing preservation and the arts in Sandpoint. • Convey a clear vision on how the arts and historic preservation engages new audiences, nurtures new leadership, and fosters a shared community well-being and local quality of life. DOWNTOWN SA N
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OI NT These objectives guided the overall planning © C IT Y process and approach, consisting of multiple points of interaction with Sandpoint’s arts and preservation community, the analysis and assessment of key issues and concerns, and the creation of planning actions and initiatives. Beginning in June 2020, the first phase of the planning process — the State of the City — included a summertime “engagement week” of stakeholder listening sessions and conversations with Sandpoint residents, artists and preservationists, downtown merchants and property owners, civic and elected leaders, and key organizations and entities. Following engagement week in August 2020, the City of Sandpoint released a community survey to garner additional feedback from Sandpoint residents. These discussions helped clarify the issues and mapped the underlying cultural arts and preservation planning themes summarized in a State of the City interim report. The State of the City Report assesses the general state of arts, culture and historic preservation in Sandpoint, not the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020.
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S A N D P O I N T A R T S , C U LT U R E & H I S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N P L A N
