Virginia: Conference for Creating Arts and Cultural Districts

The Virginia Commission for the Arts, in partnership with the Virginia Alliance of Local Arts Agencies, Virginia Main Street Program, Virginia Municipal League and The Arts & Cultural Council of Rappahannock, is sponsoring a statewide leadership conference for creating arts and cultural districts in communities across Virginia. The Virginia state legislature recently amended existing legislation to provide the opportunity for every community in Virginia to create an arts and cultural district. The conference will focus on how cultural districts are created and how they can serve as catalysts for economic development and community building. Conference sessions will discuss the practices of successful cultural districts in the region, how cultural districts can attract tourism, legal issues specific to the creation of cultural districts, and the opportunities available when overlaying a cultural district with zoning programs such as local Main Street programs and historic districts. Attendees of the conference will be given a “hands-on” toolkit containing specific information about how to begin the process of starting a cultural district in their own community, and access to an on-line database for file sharing, networking and session handouts. For more information about the conference, contact the Virginia Commission for the Arts, 804-225-3132.