At the January 20, 2001
City Council Priority Setting Workshop, the development
of an Arts and Cultural Needs Assessment received a high
ranking by the Council.
In
March 2001, the City Council approved a request for an appropriation
of $25,000 for an Arts and Cultural Needs Assessment. The
purpose of the project was to assess Menlo Park's community
needs in the area of arts and culture. This included documenting
the strength and characteristics of those needs, and framing
choices about "next steps" for arts development
in Menlo Park. This project was seen as the first phase
of a two-phase process to create a community cultural plan.
The final Arts and Cultural
Needs Assessment Report was presented to the City Council
in November 2001. In March 2002, the City Council gave final
approval for the Arts Commission to move forward with Phase
II of the Cultural Plan.
A cultural
plan report was presented to the City Council for review
at the October 22, 2002 City Council Study Session.
Phase II will create a
community Cultural Plan for Menlo Park based on the 2001
Arts and Cultural Needs Assessment Report. The cultural
"master plan" will provide overall strategies
and more detailed tactical plans for increased arts and
culture programming in Menlo Park.
The
plan will focus specifically on program planning in the
areas of:
