Project Overview
Cultural Asset Mapping is a tool for understanding the cultural and creative value of specific community resources: theaters, museums and galleries, public art, artist studios, music venues, historic sites, education and maker spaces, murals, and more. By charting the geography of arts and culture, we can better understand the economic, social, and public health benefits of these assets for our neighborhoods. This concept is a component of “social infrastructure”: the potential of arts and culture to improve the stable foundations of our community and advance important initiatives such as climate change, public safety, and resilience.
In this first phase we will work with City of Boulder departments and community leaders to build a base map. Then, the project is open to the community as unique neighborhood directory of the most meaningful cultural experiences at the most local level. Eventually, the detailed map can be overlayed with different data such as public safety, economic resilience, and racial equity, in answer some critical questions:
- What parts of town are seeing the most benefit from cultural investment? Where are the gaps?
- Does the presence of a cultural asset improve “attachment” or pride in a neighborhood?
- Does the presence of a cultural asset improve the connection between neighbors? Is there a correlation with public safety and public health?
- What affect do those cultural assets have on activism, community resilience, and the actions needed to adapt to climate change?
- Are their race or income inequalities in the distribution of, and access to, cultural experiences?
We are currently in the first phase of this research. For information contact culturalplan@bouldercolorado.gov.
Photo: Grupo Folklórico Sabor Latino performing at the Boulder Bandshell as part of BMoCA’s Día del Niño program, 2022.