Cultural planning is the practice of creating place-based plans that identify priorities, guide investment, and inform local policies concerning arts and culture. Cultural plans help guide how a locality (in this case, Montgomery County) should:

• Spend public and private dollars
• Develop facilities
• Establish or change regulations
• Use public spaces and government buildings
• Promote economic development and tourism
• Support educational or artistic programs
• Make other decisions that affect arts and culture in the county

In framing how the County makes decisions on such matters, cultural plans can also influence the outcomes of county funding and policy decisions. They can help promote equitable access to arts and culture programming for all residents. They can map out how arts, culture, and the humanities can intersect with the work of the government in non-traditional ways, bringing innovation and fresh perspective to the County’s efforts in housing, economic development, health, and education. Cultural plans, like Belonging in Oakland: A Cultural Development Plan can also lay the groundwork for local areas to increase cultural and racial equity and inclusion and advance anti-racist policies.

Montgomery County’s last cultural plan was created in 2002.
Since that time:

• Montgomery County has grown rapidly and become much more diverse. The County’s overall population grew by about 20 percent from 2000 to 2020. Further, the County’s non-white population grew by approximately 80 percent in that same timeframe. Approximately 60 percent of the County’s population now is non-white.
• COVID-19 pandemic impacted all of us. In addition to the broader economic and social changes from the pandemic and lockdown, artists and arts and culture organizations suffered losses of income and were forced to make changes in how they carry out their projects and programs and serve their customers and communities.
• Our vision and values have evolved. Both AHCMC and the County Council have adopted pledges to increase racial equity in funding, programming, and decision making.
• The discipline of cultural planning itself has changed. Traditional cultural planning focused on serving artists and cultural institutions and capturing economic benefit from arts and culture activities. These notions are still central to the effort, but the focus of cultural planning is much broader today. Modern cultural planning considers how art and culture intersect with and can advance the other business of the county and important aspects of residents’ lives, such as housing, health and well-being, and community building.
• The County is already investing in arts and culture, including planning for the Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center. This project demonstrates an opportunity to extend investment to communities and organizations that traditionally have not received County support for arts and culture.

We recognize that arts and culture are essential elements of our expression, our health, and our sense of belonging to our communities and one another. We believe art is for everyone and culture is all around us, every day. In creating a new cultural plan for the County, we will bring together our updated knowledge, principles, and priorities in a framework that increases access to art and cultural experience and expression for all residents.

AHCMC’s priorities for the new Montgomery County Cultural Plan include:

Broaden Our Understanding of Arts and Culture:

• Understand the historical, conventional, and appreciative ways that people engage in creative activity as a means of sustaining their cultures, living their lives, and expressing themselves personally
• Ensure that resources are available for all communities, particularly those that are historically under-resourced, to pursue their cultural lives
• Bridge gaps between communities and cultures through understanding and problem solving
• Leverage resources for broader purposes, such as equity, social justice, and sustainability, though the arts and humanities

Expand the Intersectionality of Arts and Culture with County Government:

• Establish an overarching cultural policy for Montgomery County government
• Align the County’s resources across all its agencies – its funding, facilities and land; its programming and educational activities; its management of community planning and land development – with this cultural policy
• Build on the arts, culture and community planning recommendations in Thrive 2050
• Increase people’s recognition of themselves, their communities and their cultures in County initiatives
• Create an ethos of stewardship of the County’s creativity and diversity

Find a New Normal and Build on It

• Continue to stabilize the arts, culture, and humanities sector in the face of pandemic-related, economic, and political instability; identify new parameters of stability and the resources necessary to support capacity, facilitate mission achievement, and pursue new opportunities
• Continue to address inequities in access to and funding for arts, humanities, and cultural activities
• Define a shared vision of inclusion in arts and culture, among arts organizations and the broader community
• Ensure the County’s resources for arts and culture keep pace with the size of the County’s population and the needs of its increasingly diverse communities

Chart Clear Paths

• Provide specific, actionable steps for AHCMC, County agencies, and arts, culture, and humanities organizations to accomplish our shared goals and the recommendations within the Cultural Plan
• Recommend new policy, operational, organizational, or structural frameworks to address capacity or structural gaps in the arts, culture, and humanities ecosystem
• Identify opportunities and partnerships for catalytic projects that reflect equitable development practices and community-centered arts and culture

AHCMC engaged Metris Arts Consulting to lead the County’s cultural planning process. Metris launched its work in September 2024 and will conduct outreach to residents, artists and culture bearers, arts and culture organizations, county government agencies, and other important voices. Metris will conduct engagement and knowledge gathering activities throughout 2025 and draft an equitable, inclusive, and forward-looking plan shaped by the diverse community input they gather. We intend to present the plan for adoption by County Council and the AHCMC Board by the end of 2025. AHCMC staff and board, an advisory committee with representatives from a range of County departments, and a broader community advisory group will work with Metris throughout the process.

Check this website for additional information on engagement opportunities as the process continues.