VISION STATEMENT
The Arts Council of Johnson County is recognized for its effectiveness in promoting the economic and cultural development of Johnson County through the arts.

MISSION STATEMENT
The Arts Council of Johnson County enhances the quality of life in the community by strengthening the arts.

FOCUS AREAS
Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Policy.

Approximately 50% of the nation’s population lives is suburbia and The Arts Council of Johnson County, KS, is on the leading edge of ensuring the arts are a part of the future economic development of suburban Johnson County, KS and metropolitan Kansas City.

There is an emerging new economic development model! Changes in the economy have pushed creative assets to the center of economic life, resulting in a higher demand for a more robust cultural life and high profile arts! To ensure Johnson County continues to be a community of choice in the new economic development model, the Arts Council of Johnson County, as a suburban agency, is taking a leadership role in advocating for and educating community leaders about art policies and sponsoring initiatives that will raise our County’s arts image and profile within a metropolitan context.

The agency’s primary initiative over the last four years has been an annual arts and economic development symposia. The annual symposium has

• championed and advocated for more public art programs which are based on scale and excellence and helps to define the cultural profile of the metro area
• explored the new economic development model which puts people first
• analyzed public funding issues as they relate to Johnson County and the metropolitan area
• explored a museum of suburbia and policy institute in partnership with the Johnson County Museum and The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

Each symposium is a beginning of a community dialogue with the intent of additional symposia and/or advocating as it relates to the focus areas of the symposia. To date, we have been successful in being the lead advocate for a Johnson County Government 1% public art program. With help of over 200 individuals, the Board of County Commissioners established a 1% public art program in December 2006.

In addition to our key focus areas, we annually celebrate the artistic talents of high school seniors who live in Johnson County through the Shooting Stars Recognition and Scholarship program. The program showcases the arts education curriculum in the county’s five public school districts and numerous parochial and private schools. Shooting Stars annually recognizes a total of 85-90 finalists in nine different artistic categories who have been nominated by their high school fine art faculty and awards $27,000 in college scholarships and $4,500 in teacher awards.

Our key strategies for the next three years are

• Build future support for the arts by supporting and developing policies that stimulate demand for the art, not just supply.
• Persuade government and business sector leaders that supporting the arts advances the region’s broader goals in the area of economic development.
• Convene and work collaboratively with community institutions to raise the cultural profile of Johnson County within a metropolitan context.
• Educate, build social capital and advocate for support of the arts.

Our key customers/stakeholders are

• Civic Organizations, e.g., Chambers of Commerce, Rotary
• Policymakers
• Corporations/Business Partners

As we look to the future, we will continue to sponsor at least one symposium a year and the Shooting Stars program. We are also exploring an annual arts congress and a cooperative website with the county’s 40 plus cultural organizations.

HISTORY
In 1992, the Arts and Humanities Association of Johnson County (original name of the agency) was formed as a non-profit agency to service the area of Johnson County, KS which is a suburban county in the Kansas City metropolitan area. As a county-wide organization with a strong, active Board of Directors, the agency grew in capacity and community support. Key initiatives in the early years centered around building partnerships within the Johnson County cultural community and underwriting partnership programs such as the early childhood arts education program aha!

In approximately 2003 the agency undertook the development of a county arts business plan and changed the agency name to the Arts Council of Johnson County. The Suburban Arts Initiative Arts Business Plan was launched in 2004, and The Arts Council of Johnson County is the managing agency for the plan.

As the official arts agency for Johnson County, Kansas, the Arts Council of Johnson County:

• Sponsors the annual Shooting Stars Recognition and Scholarship Awards Program for graduating high school seniors who are residents of Johnson County, KS. College scholarships range between $1,000 to $2,000.
• Sponsors an annual symposium with specific topics that relate to arts and economic development. In 2008, we sponsored the fourth symposium in partnership with the Johnson County Museum entitled A National Museum & Policy Institute of Suburbia: History for Tomorrow's Policies.
• Convenes the community to advance the arts as a key component in the future economic development of Johnson County.
  
• Advocates for the establishment of arts policies as it related to the future economic development of Johnson County.

ARTS COUNCIL OF
JOHNSON COUNTY
P.O. Box 12543
Shawnee Mission, KS
66282-2543

913-345-2720

FAX 913.345.1161

Email Sarah VanLanduyt
Executive Director
Arts Council of Johnson County

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