Your Voice: Reflections From Our Community

Friends and Artists,

We’ve shared our commitment to building community through the arts, but we can’t do it without you. Your unique voice and perspective will guide us in how best to provide Southwest Washington’s missing piece: a state-of-the-art Center for the Arts. 

2021 is a year of careful listening, and we have been inspired by your thoughtful responses so far. Earlier this week, we hosted our 6th successful round of community focus groups to explore your vision on the community’s needs and the next steps to move this incredible project forward. Today we’d like to highlight a few key takeaways from our focus groups. Thank you to everyone who participated!

• “We are best when we are authentic to ourselves. I don’t think that means we should try and be ‘Portland North’; We should be what we are… I love the idea of a community that is thriving with individual creative souls who feel like this is a town that welcomes their uniqueness.”
  

• “Vancouver is the fourth largest city in the State of Washington and the only one without an arts center. The community has waited for this dream long enough, and we are ready!” 
  

• “I believe that staying inclusive and providing arts opportunities for all cultures in our community is really important. And providing artists and workshops that are in different languages as well.”
  

• “Clark County and its residents want to have their own identity. We are a regional powerhouse with an amazing arts community here in Clark County. Here’s our opportunity to shine, and to carve out a distinct difference from Seattle, Spokane, and Portland.”
  

• “The future of the arts in Vancouver is quite bright. That’s underscored by the community efforts recently in the downtown core… With Vancouver’s community-centered values we have a great opportunity to leverage the culture here to really differentiate ourselves from the greater metropolitan area.”
  

• “More and more people will be inclined to focus here for cultural entertainment as Portland becomes harder to navigate.”

Interested in participating in an upcoming focus group this spring? We welcome all stakeholders, leaders, artists, and community members. Reply to this email with your first and last name and preferred email to join our guest list!

Unable to attend a focus group but still have ideas? Share your thoughts by emailing us!

For more information about our mission, visit our website, or contact us at info@centerforartswwa.org.Together we can set the stage for a future where the arts are always growing and thriving for everyone. Thank you for helping us keep the arts accessible, thought-provoking, and vibrant… Keep the dialogue flowing!

Sincerely,
The CFA Team