Cultural master plan process eyed for Carson City

A master plan for culture in Carson City is on the radar screen if the Board of Supervisors agrees with the Cultural Commission.

The commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend that the board direct commissioners to take the lead, with city staff help in finding Nevada Arts Council grants and other grant funding to pursue a Cultural Master Plan for the capital city eventually. Support was voiced from the arts community in various ways.

“I don’t really have a comment, except let’s do this,” Sharon Rosse of the Capital City Arts Initiative testified when the commission sought public comment. “It’s overdue.”

Earlier, as David Bugli of the Carson City Arts and Culture Coalition was reporting on that organization’s work, he alluded to the master plan item coming up on the agenda.

“We think this is very promising,” he said, pointing to prospects for coordinating arts and encouraging more events like the Jazz & Beyond music festival he and his spouse, Elinor, spearhead each August. “There’s a lot of potential.”

Elinor Bugli, a member of the commission, commented on a peripheral but pertinent aspect during a discussion regarding a trip the commission took earlier to Reno to learn about that city’s public art program. She said there are still people in Reno who question the wisdom of public money going into art, but the official there in charge fields such complaints by pulling out 18 cents and saying offering it as a return of that citizen’s share.

Two city staff members and Mary Works Covington, the Nevada Arts Council’s community arts development coordinator, made a presentation and fielded questions from the commission before the vote. Covington said culture already is in the city’s strategic plan and much is in place already.

“You’ve already done a great job of laying the groundwork for this,” she said, noting there are state arts council grants available to help defray startup expenses. Parks Planner Vern Krahn said he would write the grant application if the board goes along with the commission when it takes up the question on Jan. 15, 2015. Parks and Recreation Director Roger Moellendorf talked of a positive offshoot from forging ahead.

He used Reno’s 20 year move toward enhancing culture there, saying it’s “not just art for art’s sake, but for the economic impact.”