By Elizabeth Brannon
After several years in the making, the Town of Flower Mound now has a plan and road map for cultural arts. On October 1, the Town Council unanimously approved the plan as submitted by the Cultural Arts Commission in conjunction with the consulting group it worked with. When the council approved the proposal, the members of the Cultural Arts Commission stepped out into the lobby area to cheer. In fact, the members were so excited at the outcome of the vote they were asked to be quiet. That moment to savor and celebrate was too noisy for the Town Council meeting still going on in the chambers!
The celebratory moment happened because of the efforts of Sue Ridnour, town librarian and leader of the master plan project, the external consultant, and the many residents, seniors, artists, business people, town youth, arts organizations and town employees who participated in discussions, meetings and survey opportunities. In the end, the collective voices of these residents provided the plan for the arts in Flower Mound. The next phases will be to move forward with implementation.
The collective input focused on using the cultural arts to build a ‘vibrant town’, to enhance the economic development of Flower Mound through the arts, to expand the town infrastructure for cultural development and to create an inclusive arts environment in Flower Mound. As one of the steering committee members said, let’s provide more opportunities for non-residents to visit Flower Mound and leave tax dollars with us. The plan addresses things like events, locations, programs, cultural diversity and community participation.
The master plan offers a guide and a strategy, with no hard deadlines, and it has flexibility that will allow the plan to be implemented as budget is available. The plan has immediate, short-term, long-term and visionary goals.
- An immediate goal is to develop a signature arts festival.
- A short-term goal is to hire a person who will focus on arts policies and programming. There is also interest in creating a cultural arts center.
- A long-term goal is to consider developing a public arts master plan.
- A visionary goal is to create a location or website to capture the full range of arts offerings available within Flower Mound and the surrounding area.
In addition to the approval of the new arts master plan, Flower Mound will have several new arts offerings coming soon. The bronze animals in Heritage Park will be a wonderful public arts addition to Flower Mound. In the soon-to-be-completed Town Hall, there will be a large wall to display art. A project to add art to some of the electrical boxes in town will be underway this year.
The approval of the Arts Master Plan and the new public arts offerings will provide momentum for Flower Mound to grow and develop in a new area. For those who participated in the process to develop the arts master plan, the result is positive and exciting and has allowed individuals with a passion for the arts to come together to start writing a new chapter for the future of Flower Mound.
Elizabeth Brannon serves on the Flower Mound Cultural Arts Commission.
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