You questions hit right at the heart of one of our toughest challenges.

In Prince George’s County, the arts “office” is part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which itself is unique entity – we’re sort of like a parallel county government that serves two counties, except that we’re not the county government. We only present arts in one county, Prince George’s. There’s no way to explain it in one breath.

In any case, how we talk about it depends on the context. It’s also somewhat determined by our accountability to elected officials and the Planning Board, who like to see our top-level organization recognized. The staff at our arts centers tend to talk about things on the facility level, I think because they get tired of explaining that Parks and Rec does real art.

This is the closest thing we have marketing material that tries to tie it all together http://arts.pgparks.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=396, other than our website itself. But, it doesn’t include probably 1/3 of our programs that happen outside of our arts centers.

If someone does have that sort of strategic plan, I’d love to see it as well.

Phil Davis

Countywide Arts Coordinator, Community Arts Services

Arts and Cultural Heritage Division

Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George's County

Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission

7833 Walker Drive

Greenbelt, MD 20770

301-446-3225

http://arts.pgparks.com

From: midcareer_leaders@americansforthearts.simplelists.com <midcareer_leaders@americansforthearts.simplelists.com> On Behalf Of Alyssa Ross
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2019 5:08 PM
To: midcareer_leaders@americansforthearts.simplelists.com
Subject: [Americans for the Arts] Seeking advice from municipal arts administrators

For people whose arts offices aren’t independent, but part of a local government, I have a few questions for you:

- Is your city’s arts agency an independent department or are you within a larger section? (For example, Alexandria’s is within Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities. Arlington’s is within Economic Development.)

- If your department is not independent, how do you talk about your arts agency?

o Do you call out the arts division?

o Do you only talk about the department?

o Do you do a hybrid and talk about the arts division as part of the larger department?

- Do you have access to a communications or strategic plan that highlights this sort of hierarchy that you would be willing to share with me?

Thanks,

Alyssa

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Alyssa Ross

Marketing and Communications Manager

City of Alexandria, Virginia

Department Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities