The Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee, an organization dedicated to strengthening the advancement and representation of arts and culture organizations in the community, conducted a Cultural Asset Inventory of the Milwaukee 7 region for the Greater Milwaukee Committee. The results of that study have been published.
"Throughout that study, we confirmed that the Milwaukee 7 region has a rich heritage of cultural assets," said Christine Harris, president and executive director of the Cultural Alliance.
The study also indicated however, that the infrastructure of that asset base is under severe strain from the recession.
"We discovered that a lot of these organizations were operating in break-even or deficit balances, and that the funding for those organizations was disintegrating due to increased pressure to support them all," Harris said.
As a result of the study, The Greater Milwaukee Committee approved the Cultural Alliance request to begin developing a Creative Community planning process that would build the creative capital of the city into a sustainable regional asset.
"The study showed what the arts and culture organizations in this region were already doing for the community," Harris said. "What the Creative Community effort would do is include the for-profit creative business community and the creative individuals within the region and see how we can best add investment value."
The Cultural Alliance is in the process of selecting a consulting firm to assist them, and will begin collecting data as early as January. For more information or to help with the cause visit: www.creativecoalitionmke.org
