In late 2011, The Priddy Foundation of Wichita Falls, Texas, saw local arts organizations struggling in a city experiencing many challenges, from a weak economy to a shrinking population.
The Foundation had funded arts in the past, along with education, health, social services and youth programs. Now it recognized that – despite ongoing financial support – the arts grantees continued to deal with the same financial and operational challenges year after year. The Foundation aimed to elevate the entire arts community and to do it strategically rather than continue to parcel out funds piecemeal and reactively. Above all, the Foundation prioritized creating a ground-up approach in which arts organizations would help design the plan rather than be handed a directive.
In early 2012 the Foundation began to develop a "strategic arts plan" wherein the local cultural community was extensively involved. Wichita Falls is home to an active set of professional and amateur artists, so particular care was taken to include individual artists. What began as an effort to offer strategic assistance to a few arts organizations became a grassroots mini-movement involving 55 arts and cultural organizations, numerous individual artists, all the major local foundations, governmental agencies, the city manager, mayor and 1,100 individual residents of Wichita Falls.
The result has been a kind of gift – from the Foundation, but by the community – to the people of Wichita Falls in the form of an Arts and Culture Plan for Wichita Falls. The plan was launched in July at an event that had to be moved to a larger venue due to tremendous public response. Already, the Foundation has forged a partnership with four other funders to establish a new umbrella arts entity and is collaborating with the city government on a free concert series.
The Priddy Foundation itself has undergone a transformation. Through skillful diplomacy, transparency and old-fashioned goodwill, the Foundation is working to address deep-seated social, racial and economic divides underlying the audience development, funding and governance challenges faced by local organizations. Now, the Foundation is not only providing financial assistance but also helping shape cultural policy and advocating for the arts.
Whose responsibility is it to plan for arts and culture? Everyone’s – philanthropists, arts organizations and artists, educators, community and business leaders, residents and government. All the players are significant. All have a voice. The opportunity is for each to recognize what role he or she can play and accept the challenge.
Cajun Festival Wichita Falls, TX. Photo by Jake and Jeanette Van Donge.
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