Sarah VanLanduyt

How does a county arts council better serve the arts sector segment of its constituency? This is a question that began a two year conversation for the Arts Council of Johnson County (ACJC) and ended with this answer: a new website.

At first glance it’s a fairly simplistic solution; however for a small arts agency working within the greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area it’s a way to reach more constituents, connect them to regional resources and build a foundation for future ACJC initiatives and partnerships.

First a little background on the Arts Council of Johnson County.

ACJC is predominantly an advocacy organization who works with community leaders to promote the cultural and economic development of the county through the arts. Some of our previous work has included developing the Arts Business Plan and serving as lead advocate for Johnson County’s One Percent for Public Art Program. Through these projects and other initiatives ACJC has developed a good working relationship with the county government but in doing so we allowed our relationship with the arts community to weaken.

In 2010, ACJC held a series of forums for arts educators, organizations, and artists, to gain a better understanding of how to support their work in the community. It also gave us a chance to learn about their concerns and challenges within the current economic and political climate.

From those conversations four general trends emerged: a need for a central source for arts related information; a desire to share resources and ideas; a need to create a sense of community within the suburban arts sector; and the existence of a significant disconnection between the suburban and urban arts community.

The forums also sparked a partnership that would eventually become a gathering place for artists and a catalyst for small business development -- more on that in my next blog post.

With limited resources and a staff of one full-time and one part-time person, developing additional traditional programming in the short-term was not a viable option for us and it didn’t need to be.

Johnson County, KS, is located within the Kansas City Metropolitan Region, as such numerous region serving arts and nonprofit resources offering support services and workshops are located right in our regional backyard.

ACJC could become a virtual central hub of information, a connector among our different constituencies, and a link between urban and suburban arts communities, as well as local and regional resources (and vice versa).

Developed by Braley Consulting, whose team includes JMMarketing Solutions and Reactor Design Studio, Phase I of the new artsjoco.org website is scheduled to go live in early December 2011.

The first phase will include information about regional professional development and grant opportunities, a directory of arts resources, a weekly blog discussing arts related issues, and will connect to the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City’s ARTunities (resource exchange for arts organizations) page.

While still in development, Phase II of the website will feature an artist directory, arts calendar, and the capability to present webinars and podcasts.

The most important function of the website will be to share information with a wider audience however an additional benefit will be better communication with the arts sector; something that will help us support their work and speak to the value they bring to our community.