What We've Done.
A representative selection of Creative Planning's past projects:
- • City of Austin Cultural Master Plan
- • Portland Office of Sustainable Development
- • Hillsboro Arts and Culture Council Development
- • Portland Bureau of Housing & Community Development: Program Assessment & Planning
- • Tucson/Pima Arts Council Cultural Master Plan
- • Cultural Planning Coalitions of Clackamas/Washington Counties
- • Portland Arts Plan 2000+
City of Austin Cultural Master Plan
Bill assembled a planning team that included Metropolitan Group, a national social change, public affairs and branding firm, and Austin based Greenlights for NonProfit Success. As lead consultant, he designed and facilitated a comprehensive, 18 month planning process that “branded” the project and encompassed extensive public and stakeholder engagement, surveying, qualitative research and exploration of comparable cities programs and models. The Cultural Master Plan suggests a bold new public/private partnership to steward Austin’s “culture of creativity” to its next stage of development through innovative cultural space development policies, organizational capacity building, increased private philanthropy, enhanced public awareness of the role and value of arts and creativity, formation of a new Creative Alliance to foster collaborations, joint marketing, services for creators and advocacy, and formation of a new Department of Cultural Affairs to coalesce and focus City of Austin leadership, services and support. CreateAustin was recently honored by LiveableCity Austin with a Vision Award for civic engagement. More info @: CreateAustin
Portland Office of Sustainable Development
Bill and Carol worked together to assess opportunities and obstacles for OSD and facilitate the redevelopment of their Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals. The process started with dialog with staff members, stakeholders and partners, and then we facilitated two all-staff meetings to engage the entire staff with the planning process. Inclusive planning built consensus around the strategic plan elements in an office that had previously felt divided. This positioned the agency for its growing role and international reputation in the sustainability field.
Hillsboro Arts and Culture Council Development
Comprehensive planning to guide formation of a Hillsboro Arts and Culture Council, involving key interviews and focus groups, community meeting, comparable community research, and ongoing dialogue with a Steering Committee and City staff over a nine month time frame. The Final Report details the vision, mission, roles, structure, governance, principal initial activities and funding needs for the Arts Council, in addition to its relationship with the Cultural Arts Center, a recently developed cultural facility operated by the Parks and Recreation Department. As a result of this planning the Hillsboro Arts and Cultural Council was formally created, funded and staffed by the City of Hillsboro in 2007 and is operating grantmaking, technical assistance and public forum and awareness programs.
Portland Bureau of Housing & Community Development: Program Assessment & Planning
Carol and Bill worked together to develop and facilitate a participant-driven planning process to identify neighborhood residential rehabilitation priorities and outline a community-oriented delivery system to provide federally funded rehab programs. The community partner organizations participated with BHCD in an assessment of each program’s strengths and challenges, and a plan was crafted to help formulate a strengthened system for prioritization and allocation of BHCD funding.
Tucson/Pima Arts Council Cultural Master Plan
Bill assembled a team, designed and facilitated a year long planning projects encompassing extensive qualitative research, community surveying, creative economy analysis and work with multiple task forces and advisory committees. The Plan highlights the value of community stewardship of place, heritage and imagination, the need to preserve and increase cultural space, promising sub-sectors and strategies for creative economy development and opportunities for public and private investment in the next phase of cultural development.
Cultural Planning Coalitions of Clackamas/Washington Counties
Bill designed and facilitated yearlong planning projects, simultaneously, for two of Oregon’s largest counties under the auspices of the Oregon Cultural Trust, a new funding mechanism and agency created in 2002 by civic, business and cultural leaders and the Oregon legislature to preserve and strengthen every aspect of Oregon’s culture, statewide. Planning involved qualitative and quantitative research and robust public and stakeholder involvement in developing recommendations for future roles and opportunities for arts, culture, heritage and humanities. The plans established new, permanent cultural coalitions in each county to lead implementation and disperse funding according to criteria established in the plans. The plans reflect a broad definition of culture tied to sense of place and quality of life in addressing heritage preservation, creative support, lifelong learning, facilities and cultural participation.
Portland Arts Plan 2000+
As Director of the Metropolitan Arts Commission, Bill Bulick initiated the nation’s first regional cultural planning process in 1989. The 18-month planning process, with research and analysis facilitated by the Wolf Organization, involved thousands of citizens, artists and arts organizations and community leaders in setting a comprehensive agenda for cultural development. During nearly a decade of implementation under Bill’s leadership, the agency quadrupled in size to a budget of more than $4 million and 20 full-time staff, launched major, nationally recognized arts in education, neighborhood arts, youth at risk, stabilization, public art and cultural tourism initiatives and completed a historic "reinvention" from a City bureau to an autonomous non-profit organization serving the entire three-county Portland metropolitan region. Other major successes included development of a strong business leadership group for arts advocacy, dedication of hotel/motel tax to support publicly owned facilities and substantially increased private sector funding. Three detailed reports to the community were produced during Bill’s tenure, until 1999 (available on request), outlining implementation progress. Of the 75 recommendations, 47 were fully or substantially implemented; progress was made on another 25 and only three remain un-implemented.