October 15, 2012

Poetry by kids, Cello by Yo-Yo Ma, Song by Renée Fleming - What a way to launch a Cultural Plan!

October 15, 2012 - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Culture Commissioner Michelle Boone chose Manuel Perez Elementary School as the place to launch the city's cultural plan. "This plan puts Culture in our neighborhoods and our schools," said the Mayor to a crowded atrium of students, artists and the public. Michelle Boone thanked more than 40,000 Chicagoans who participated in the plan. She also thanked Joy Bailey Bryant and Gail Lord and our Chicago team of consultants for helping to facilitate and prepare the Chicago Cultural Plan.

Today, the City of Chicago and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) launched the Chicago Cultural Plan 2012. The Cultural Plan charts a roadmap for Chicago’s cultural and economic growth and will become the centerpiece for building Chicago’s reputation as a global destination for creativity, innovation and excellence in the arts. The new vision of the cultural life for Chicago comes from the creative ideas, thoughts and concerns of the citizens of the city.

Lord Cultural Resources under the leadership of Joy Bailey Bryant, Principal Consultant, facilitated this cultural plan — involving thousands of people who shared their visionary thinking in a series of community conversations, social media exchanges, arts sector workshops, priority-setting forums and town hall meetings. The journey undertaken to arrive at this vision has been a dynamic process of co-creation by a team of City staff and an advisory council, working with communities and cultural groups under the leadership of Michelle T. Boone, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. It was Mayor Rahm Emanuel's inspiration to make a new Cultural Plan a key element in his transition plan. The Cultural Plan gave Chicago the opportunity to use our collective Imagination to construct a city based on arts and culture.

The Chicago Cultural Plan was presented by Rahm Emanuel, Mayor, City of Chicago, and Michelle T. Boone, Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, who encourage the Chicagoans to read the Plan, get inspired, and get involved:

"The Chicago Cultural Plan 2012 is filled with your recommendations on how we can continue to strengthen and expand Chicago’s cultural and creative capital. It’s bold, filled with actionable items that can be realized quickly and those that are aspirational and may take decades to complete. All are intended to support the breadth of arts and culture in Chicago from garage bands to symphonies; storefront theaters to mainstages; novelists to poetry slam performers; ballet to hip hop dance; world class museums to independent galleries; architecture to interior design; fashion to photography; culinary arts to sculpture; filmmaking to electronic media; neighborhood festivals to downtown spectacles; and the thousands of artists that make Chicago their home."

The DRAFT Cultural Plan released to the public in July 2012 was downloaded over 17,000 times. Arts leaders applauded the plan, with National Endowment for the Arts Chair, Rocco Landesman saying,

"It really is a visionary plan. It really is a focuses on the relationship of the arts and the real world. It's about the integration of the arts and neighborhoods. It's about collaboration among the various city agencies that might have an effect on the arts."

The Chicago Cultural Plan 2012 can be downloaded at www.chicagoculturalplan2012.com orwww.cityofchicago.org/dcase. Chicagoans can join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter @ChiCulturalPlan.

Joy Bailey Bryant, Principal Consultant, Lord Cultural Resources, states, "Our team was inspired by the residents of Chicago, stakeholders and City staff to develop Chicago’s cultural plan reflecting the innovative spirit and global reach of this world city." Gail Lord, Co-President, adds, "This is the first Cultural Master Plan for Chicago in 25 years! Lord was truly honoured to work with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his cultural team on a visionary strategy that will establish this waterfront city as a global destination for creativity, innovation and excellence." The Lord Cultural Resources team included Lisa McDonald, Research Explorers; Carly Cannell and Jorge Orozco-Cordero, Weetu; Amina Dickerson, Dickerson Global Advisors; and Nick Rabkin, a former Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for Chicago.

Lord Cultural Resources, founded in 1981, is the world’s largest global professional practice dedicated to creating cultural capital worldwide having conducted over 2,000 cultural projects in over 50 countries on 6 continents. We collaborate with people and organizations to plan and manage cultural places, programs and resources that deliver excellence in the service of society. The firm has led dozens of cultural planning assignments for cities all over the world. Click here to see our cultural planning brochure.

For more information on Lord Cultural Resources, please visit our website at www.lord.ca.

For media information, contact Andrea Ott, Director, Marketing and Client Relations at aott@lord.ca.