The West Virginia Division of Culture and History in collaboration with the West Virginia Commission on the Arts (WVCA) will be conducting statewide listening tours throughout the month of August. The arts section of the Division will host a series of free meetings to listen to the needs and comments of any interested community members. The information gathered will be used to help prepare the state application to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as well as develop new programs and review policies for grants available to communities, schools and individual artists with state and federal funding.
Arts administrators, arts educators, artists, art patrons and interested members of the general public are invited to participate in these informal conversations. The arts staff will provide discussion starter questions to begin the conversation at each listening tour stop. The comments will be used to help develop the State Arts Plan for 2011-2013. A complete list of the tour stops is attached.
The Division will post the State Arts Plan on its Web site at www.wvculture.org for public comment sometime in October.
Jeff Pierson, director of arts for the Division, says “We are very appreciative of the assistance given by local arts groups in convening community members to help us gather the important information necessary to continue to provide support for arts experiences important to West Virginians. Each person’s thoughts and ideas are valuable as we develop our next state arts plan. We thank community members for joining us for this conversation.”
For more information about the State Arts Plan and the programs and services of the WVCA, contact Pierson at (304) 558-0240, ext. 717, or by e-mail at [email protected].
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Its administrative offices are located at the Culture Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Culture Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about the Division’s programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
