Community Art: An Eagan Dialogue

A small group of Eagan residents with an interest in the arts gathered at City Hall Sunday evening for a community arts dialogue hosted by the .

The meeting began with a meal, compliments of .  Julia Anderson, the head of the Eagan Art House, then provided background for why this dialogue was happening.

The city applied for, and received, an $8000 grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council to promote community art.  This meeting, and several other similar forums with the business community, middle school representatives and other Eagan residents, will result in a 3 to 5-year Arts Plan presented to the Eagan City Council. Included in that plan will be a concept for a large community art display.

What that display should be and where it should reside were primary topics of discussion for the evening, along with ideas to achieve better integration of all forms of art into the community.

After Anderson's introduction attendees were divided into three smaller groups for brainstorming and discussion with four questions guiding the dialogue:

• What is your vision for the arts in Eagan?
• What resources do you think it would take to accomplish that vision?
• What would need to happen to keep you active in the arts?
• Where would you like to see community art in Eagan?

At the end of the brainstorming sessions, a spokesperson from each small group reported their top ideas to the larger group.  The ideas were a mix of very ambitious dreams and small changes that could be easily implemented.

Suggestions included better communication of what was happening in the Eagan arts community, more places to display visual arts, incorporating visual and performing arts into more events that happen in the community, and ensuring that immigrant communities and their cultural heritage are included in the community art project. Some of the more ambitious ideas included starting a coffee house or even an arts complex involving studio space, performance space, and retail shops selling products produced by local artists.

As the evening progressed there was a growing sense of energy and excitement in the room about the ideas that were generated, even if not all of them can be implemented.

If you would like to provide input to the Art House staff and others involved in setting the direction for community art, go to the Art ... Be a Part! page and take the survey embedded in the page.