Ulster County Arts and Culture Plan

In 2024, the Ulster County Legislature engaged Lord Cultural Resources to facilitate an arts and culture plan. The Chair of the Legislature had previously served on the Project Advisory Council for the arts and culture plan created by Lord in the County seat of Kingston, New York. After seeing the tremendous benefits of the Kingston plan, the legislature created an RFP and budget to devise a plan for the full County.

The planning process took place over the course of a year, with rigorous public engagement including extensive site visits, in person town halls throughout the County, sector-specific workshops, stakeholder interviews, community conversations, and a cultural participation survey. Each community engagement touchpoint addressed the needs and challenges faced by various groups, such as individual artists, creative businesses, cultural organizations, arts education professionals, and the general public with the aim to ensure that diverse voices throughout Ulster County contributed to the plan. In addition to the robust public participation, the planning process included an analysis of the economic impact of arts and culture in Ulster County, a cultural asset inventory, an assessment of displacement, and specific economic development recommendations.

The resulting plan, presented to the Legislature and the public in spring 2025, is named IMAGINE Ulster to reflect the themes that emerged from the extensive research and engagement: Investment, Mobilization, Advocacy, Growth, Infrastructure , Networking, Education. These seven concepts were in turn collapsed into four high-level ambitious but achievable priorities for the plan, with a robust implementation plan devised in collaboration with community taskforces.

A ground-breaking impact of IMAGINE Ulster is the County’s decision to hire its first ever Director of Arts, Culture, and Open Spaces. In doing so, they are the only county in New York state to have a County-level position dedicated to arts and culture. The position aligns with the outcomes of the planning process, which found that Ulster County’s nature and open spaces have historically been a huge draw for artists and creatives, and that, in the identity of the County, arts and nature are deeply interconnected, as well as being a huge economic driver of tourism. 

For more detailed information on the plan, including presentations and updates, visit Ulster County's Arts & Culture Plan page. https://participate.ulstercountyny.gov/arts-culture-plan