Midstate arts organization asks how it can change to better serve area

(Harrisburg) — A midstate arts organization is rethinking the way it serves the community as it approaches its 20th anniversary.

A lot has changed since the Cultural Alliance of York County was founded in 1999, and so the arts fund is working to make sure it’s still relevant.

The Cultural Alliance is now asking for public input in the second phase of a years-long listening project. 

The Alliance’s Kelley Gibson said they’ve spent more than a year gathering feedback through what’s called a design thinking model.

“A great question that design thinking [asks]–and it’s a bit scary–is pretend there’s no history, pretend what you are…pretend it does not exisit. Would you build it? And how?” she said.

Gibson said the first phase found the community wants to see more operational funding for arts organizations, rather than project-specific funding.

There’s also a wish for the alliance to fund individual artists.

“We want to pivot ourselves so we’re not just reacting to our community but we’re actually proactively looking how we’re going to support it as it grows and changes,” Gibson said.

Gibson said they hope to spend the next year figuring out how to address the findings, before unveiling the new Cultural Alliance in 2020.