Envisioning Lakewood’s Future
Heritage, Culture and the Arts through 2028

In 2008, the City of Lakewood was selected as one of eight communities to participate in a Collaborative Community Planning Program through Colorado Citizens for Culture, an affiliate of Arts for Colorado. This innovative project helped communities across Colorado integrate arts and culture into long-term community planning.

A team consisting of Lakewood residents, business people, artists, art administrators, historians and educators have been leading Lakewood’s long-term cultural planning process.

  • Michelle Nierling, Heritage, Culture & the Arts Manager, City of Lakewood
  • Doug Dalton, Music Curriculum Coordinator, Jeffco Public School
  • Kristin Edwards, former Music Curriculum Coordinator, Jeffco Public Schools
  • Lorene Joos, Arts Programming Curator, City of Lakewood
  • Susan Martin, Cultural Center Administrator, City of Lakewood
  • Shannon May, Visual Arts Curriculum Coordinator, Jeffco Public Schools
  • Andrea Miller, Heritage Center Administrator, City of Lakewood
  • Donald Tallman, Executive Director, Colorado Railroad Museum
  • George Valuck, Executive Director, AGCA/ACBID
  • Bob Zachman, Chair/Music Educator, HCA Alliance

UPDATE!

January 2010
Several things have been happening behind the scenes since our focus group meetings last spring. As you know from previous communication, Lakewood was selected as one of eight communities to participate in a state-wide Collaborative Community Planning Program through Arts for Colorado. The goal over the past year was to begin soliciting input to design a long term vision for heritage, culture and the arts in Lakewood through 2028. Information and feedback was gathered through community surveys, focus groups, research and trends analysis. This particular state-wide effort concluded in June and Lakewood's one page overview is posted below.
 
After taking the summer off, the Lakewood Community Cultural Planning committee reconvened and committed to the next step of Lakewood's cultural vision. One of the areas that needed more attention was input from youth. The committee has focused their recent efforts on reaching out to local youth through surveys and meetings and integrating their feedback into the broader vision.

The next step is a reality check with all of you. We will be holding two Cultural Forums in February to test our findings and see how they resonate with all of you. The focus will be on how local, regional and national trends may impact heritage, culture and the arts in Lakewood in the years to come. We’re planning a fun and interactive forum that will guide Lakewood’s long-term cultural vision through 2028.  Come join us!

SAVE THE DATE!
Lakewood Cultural Forums

Thursday, February 4, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway
OR
Saturday, February 6, 9:00am - 11:00am
Lakewood's Heritage Center, 801 S. Yarrow Street

Please RSVP by February 1, 2010 by email or at 303-987-7800

July 2009
We recently completed our community input process utilizing a survey and focus groups. Thank you to all who participated and gave great input.  The next step is to combine and integrate the community feedback into the cultural vision 2028 plan and further refine the long-term vision over the next few months.

Read the 2028 Summary as presented to Arts for Colorado.

We appreciate your feedback and questions. If you would like more information please send us an email.


The Collaborative Community Planning Program is sponsored by