The City's Cultural Arts Divisions billed the evening meeting at the Mexican-American Cultural Center as a chance to "be a part of Imagine Austin, Austin's comprehensive plan providing broad-level guidance for the city's future growth and development."
That was fair and truthful billing. About 30 persons turned up for the event, which in structure and appearance resembled pretty closely the image you see here.
Some clarifications, however:
- - Imagine Austin (the long-term plan) is not Create Austin (the study and phased action plan aimed at the many creative sectors of this town). Coordinator Janice Siebert, working for the Cultural Arts Divison, was straightforward about that. "The city planning officials say that they intend to take Create Austin into account at some future date."
- - Imagine Austin will replace the City's previous master plan, written twenty years ago.
- - Austin theatre wasn't particularly well represented. The City had about 25 pre-registrations with names printed out on sticky labels. I found my own name. I recognized the names of two of Austin's workingyoung theatre artists and did not see either of them at the meeting.
- - The tasks assigned were of such scope and vagueness as to have little direct relation with the creative sector. This was a "meeting-in-a-box" consultative process.
After the obligatory explanations and exhortations, attendees gathered around the tables, each with a facilitator from the planning process. The procedure was straightforward:
(1) Austin's strong points/advantages: discuss. Encourage each person to participate (10-15 minutes total).
(2) Austin's challenges (code word for "weak points"): discuss. Encourage each person to participate (10-15 minutes total).
(3) Brainstorm (on schedule and within time-limits announced and monitored by Siebert). Each attendee gets three Post-It Notes and a pen. On each Note, attendee writes a brief description of an initiative vital to Austin's next 30 years, out to the year 2039.
(4) Discuss. Facilitator puts down a large blank piece of poster paper, then goes around the table, soliciting one idea/Post-It Note and a brief explanation from each participant. Facilitator takes the Post-It Notes and affixes them to the poster in related groups, continuing the polling and delivery until all the Notes have been delivered. Participants discuss the facilitator's classifications. At our table we agreed that the principal clumps were "transportation infrastructure," and "central city density." My blue sticky about "greater support for the arts" sat unaccompanied in a blank paper wilderness.
(5) Facilitator thanks participants, folds up poster with stickies, says "We're done, now." She engages in conversation with the young man sitting next to her, rep from an arts NGO.
No, it wasn't a total bust. We were 30 persons, providing views to be assimilated with the 1700 others polled in this way in order to build a semblance of the opinion of the 750,000 or so citizens currently inhabiting the greater Austin area.
You might say that each of those polled was speaking for about 430 fellow Austinites.
Or you might say that we spent an hour and a half in a secular prayer meeting, providing data points so that the planners and consultants can justify the recommendations that they're already well on their way to formulating.
A comment from a contact in the Planning Department at University of California, Berkeley: "Yeah. Planners just love that process. They take coursework in obtaining citizen participation and buy-in, and they really believe in it. It's neat and it's clean. It's obvious big-picture stuff with little to do with the messy political process."
So, Austin creatives: you've been consulted. That box has been checked off, and TV-8 was there to video and report the process. (Click to watch. Grit your teeth through the 10-sec advertising intro for Louis Shanks furniture. Or just click here for a partial transcript. )
And eventually the planners will get around to seeing if they can find space to consider Create Austin.
Received directly from the Cultural Affairs Division, City of Austin:
Imagine Austin "Meeting-in-a-Box" for Austin Creatives & Their Supporters Monday, January 25, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River Street Come be a part of Imagine Austin, Austin's comprehensive plan providing broad-level guidance for the city's future growth and development. The planning team wants your input! Together we will tackle the question: "What do we aspire to be as a community in 10, 20, 25 years and beyond?" This meeting is your opportunity to ensure that the creative community has a voice in shaping the future of Austin and to integrate CreateAustin recommendations into the Comprehensive Plan. Please register to attend: cadmeetinginabox.eventbrite.com.
Visit the Imagine Austin website for more information about the Comprehensive Plan: www.ci.austin.tx.us/compplan. Sponsored by the Cultural Arts Division and the CreateAustin Community Leadership Team
Click logo on right to go to website for CreateAustin.
The City of Austin funded the visit the past week of arts thinker and consultant Andrew Taylor, in connection with its 94-page Create Austin report and its 20-page executive summary. Taylor opened a public meeting and discussion on Wednesday, June 24, with slides and thoughts about creative eco-systems.
As he understands it, CreateAustin and the creative community are focusing on "connecting, advancing and celebrating Austin's creative life."
Taylor uses the metaphor of a garden to make points about all complex systems, including that of Austin's creative life, and he offers observations for four necessary questions, which are
- - Doesn't collaborating threaten our individual impact and ideals?
- - How can we find common ground, when we're all so different in our creative work?
- - I'm already overclocked. How can I take time to connect beyond my immediate needs?
and
- - Seems huge. Where can we begin?
Click here or on the image above to link Taylor's 43-minute slide show with audio track at SlideShare.com.
Andrew Taylor is the director of the Bolz Center of Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. His arts blog The Artful Manageris published by artsjournal.com.
Summary at SlideShare.com: A speech by Andrew Taylor in Austin, Texas, on June 24, 2009, on 'creative ecology' and approaches to advancing Austin's creative life. The speech was invited and hosted by the Austin Circle of Theaters, the Create Austin committee, and the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division.
The City of Austin's CreateAustin program announces summer 2009 Business and Professional Development Seminars for "Creatives." Seminars are generally limited to the first 30 who sign up. There is no charge to participate.
The City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division offers the Take it to the Next Level professional development workshops to enhance the management capacity of nonprofit creative organizations and to grow jobs, wealth, and the economic impact of the creative economy. Now in its second year (fourth year for the Art in Public Places Program), the Next Level identified workshop topics for 2009 by surveying previous participants in order to respond to the needs of the creative sector.
These workshops are offered free of charge; however, most have a class limit of 30 participants and fill up quickly. If the class is full, you can put your name on the waiting list. Included in the registration are two questions that will enable our presenters to tailor their presentation to your needs, please take the time to answer them. If you have any questions regarding registration, please call 512-974-7875.
NON-PROFIT TRACK
Bring it on “Board” – The Perfect Board of Directors Date: Monday, June 15, 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. Location: Austin Community College, Highland Business Center, Room 407 (5930 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin 78752),
Fundraising Fundamentals – Beginner to Advanced Date: Part 1: Monday, June 29, 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. Part 2: Tuesday, June 30, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Location: Austin City Hall, Boards & Commissions Room 1101
Successful Grants Write Now: A Two-Part Intensive Date: Part 1: Wednesday, July 8, 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. Part 2: Wednesday, July 29, 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. Location: Austin City Hall, Boards & Commissions Room 1101 (301 W. 2nd St. Austin 78701)
Volunteer Management – Your Stepladder to Success Date: Thursday, August 13, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Location: Austin City Hall, Boards & Commissions Room 1101 (301 W. 2nd St. Austin 78701)
BUSINESS SKILLS TRACK
Can You Hear Me Now? A Public Relations Strategy Date: Thursday, July 16, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Location: Austin City Hall, Boards & Commissions Room 1101 (301 W. 2nd St. Austin 78701)
Intellectual Property for Creative Organizations and Individuals Date: Wednesday, August 5, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. Location: Austin City Hall, Boards & Commissions Room 1101 (301 W. 2nd St. Austin 78701)
PUBLIC ART TRACK
Public Art Crawl – Artists at Work Date: Saturday, July 25, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Location: Tour leaves from Austin City Hall (301 W. 2nd St. Austin 78701)
Discovery and Dialogue in Public Art: A Full-Day Symposium Date: Saturday, September 12 (tentative date) Location: TBD
- - The tasks assigned were of such scope and vagueness as to have little direct relation with the creative sector. This was a "meeting-in-a-box" consultative process. 
