Fayetteville, Arkansas Cultural Plan
Keeping Fayetteville funky, engaged, and resourced
“Keep Fayetteville Funky” has long been the credo of this laid-back, outdoorsy, highly-educated city in the Ozarks. Its college town vibe resonates with everyone from elite mountain cyclists to tech entrepreneurs to folk singers. As newcomers relocate to this rapidly growing region, however, its defining “funk” is in need of being redefined and strengthened.
The City of Fayetteville contracted Public Sphere Projects to understand and document its dynamic cultural ecosystem. We structured an inclusive, citywide community engagement process — a way to foster a strong network of constituents, allies, and partners. And to help situate Fayetteville in a broader regional context, we partnered with CACHE, the Creative Arkansas Community Hub and Exchange.
Location
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Client
The City of Fayetteville, Arkansas and the Creative Arkansas Community Hub and Exchange (CACHE)
Partners
Local artists, business owners, residents, and academics
Year
2023
Together with the City of Fayetteville, PSP convened more than a dozen stakeholders, including artists, business owners, residents, and academics, to advise the cultural planning process. Their feedback is captured in “Culture Belongs to Everyone,” a cultural brief that is being used as a roadmap in Fayetteville’s first-ever cultural planning effort.
In consultation with the City’s arts and culture leadership, our team led an engagement process intended to inventory community organizations, civic leaders, and culture-bearers across Fayetteville. We convened a cross-sectoral steering committee that offered insights into the cultural scene, and conducted outreach to audiences that have been historically underrepresented in civic dialogue.
The Fayetteville Cultural Planning Committee included artists like Olivia Trimble, whose mural (pictured here) is located in the heart of downtown Fayetteville.
Our work culminated in a comprehensive “cultural brief” that describes both assets and gaps in the cultural ecosystem — and that provides a framework for further planning and policy decisions. The brief encompasses a body of research, drawn from multiple national and regional studies, that gives policymakers a wide perspective on topics such as creative workforce development, artist housing, and music and performing arts landscape. It suggests outreach venues and modalities to multiple audience segments. As importantly, the brief emphasizes areas of greatest need within the cultural ecosystem, and suggests ways to direct municipal resources.
The cultural brief is being used as a roadmap in Fayetteville’s first-ever cultural planning effort.
“We invite you to read this brief as a provocation — a portal to what the city can become.”