Item B: City Council Priority Issue - Strengthen and Promote Community's Arts and Outdoors Assets

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ATTACHMENT A Strengthen and Promote Community Arts and Outdoors Assets City Council Priority Issue – Action Plan Update November 2006 This goal of this priority issue, identified by the City Council in February 2005, is to strengthen and promote Eugene’s arts and outdoors assets together as a community-wide sustainable economic development strategy, both increasing tourism and commerce, and enhancing community livability through expanded access to arts and outdoors amenities and events. The Council approved the action plan to address the issue in July 2005. The following updates are organized within the five elements outlined in that action plan. ELEMENT I – Project Initiation The staff team was formed, determined roles and responsibilities, and established the City as a key partner in the local and regional discussion by providing leadership in the efforts outlined in the other action plan elements. ELEMENT II – Resource Assessment The resource inventory is currently underway through activities in existing LRCS, POS and PDD work plans. ELEMENT III – Arts and Outdoors Identity This component is to develop and implement a marketing plan, in cooperation with community partners, which strongly aligns Eugene’s identity with arts and outdoors. ? Marketing Plan The City hired a marketing consultant, Funk/Levis & Associates, to lead development of a collaborative marketing plan to further develop arts and outdoors offerings and to effectively market the community identity locally and to external audiences. One hundred fifty arts and outdoors stakeholders, including key partners identified in the action plan, were invited to one of two community forums held in March 2006; approximately 50 participated. Based on the input, the consultant developed a draft of the marketing plan, which was reviewed and refined by the staff team and participants. The marketing plan recommends first focusing on organizational steps necessary to increase the likelihood of success and ensure the longevity of the endeavor. The five main strategies recommended in the plan are: 1) secure funding for the effort; 2) create a steering committee of key partners to spearhead collaborative implementation of the plan; 3) build alliances between arts and outdoors organizations; 4) develop an inventory of community arts and outdoor resources; and, 5) implement coordinated use of a “World’s Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors” logo and other marketing techniques. Copies of the marketing plan have been placed in the Council office, and on the Council Priority Issue web page.