Sarah Cantrell

This strategic plan outlines the Tennessee Arts Commission's direction from 2025 to 2030, aiming to cultivate the arts for the benefit of all Tennesseans and their communities. It is guided by a vision where the arts inspire, connect, and enhance everyday lives. The plan focuses on four key goals: investing in arts and creativity to strengthen communities, stimulating learning, prosperity, health, and well-being through the arts, enhancing public awareness and support for the arts sector, and driving agency innovation to maximize public benefit and accountability. The overall objective is to increase the Commission's impact and position the arts as valued partners for strong Tennessee communities.

The conversation revolves around the Tennessee Arts Commission's next five-year strategic plan. Key discussion points include the importance of a vision-based, constituent-driven, and adaptable plan in changing times. The discussion also covers programs and services, public engagement, resource efficiency, the license plate program, and the need for consistent and trustworthy measures. The agenda includes national and state perspectives on the arts, roundtable discussions to gather feedback, and a review of the current strategic plan, which was assembled in 2007 and is due to expire in 2013. The commission is interested in input regarding opportunities and challenges in communities, and how the arts can address community needs.

The 2020-2025 Strategic Plan for the Tennessee Arts Commission outlines five key goals: Thriving Tennessee Arts and Culture; Arts as Engines of Growth and Vitality; Arts Essential to Learning; A Champion for the Arts; and Effective and Accountable Agency. The plan aims to cultivate the arts for the benefit of all Tennesseans by investing in arts and cultural assets, preserving Tennessee's heritage, expanding accessibility and participation, fostering innovation, and building engagement with stakeholders. Specific strategies include supporting arts activities across the state, promoting professional development for artists, expanding arts opportunities in rural communities, preserving Tennessee's folklife, increasing arts participation for underserved communities, and advancing the arts as a driver of economic growth and creative placemaking. The plan also emphasizes leveraging arts and cultural assets to improve arts learning for children and youth, preparing students for success through arts education, and facilitating community arts learning for all Tennesseans. Finally, the plan focuses on building understanding of the arts' contributions to communities, strengthening the agency's efficiency and transparency, and developing partnerships to leverage resources.