Georgetown Cultural District Update!

As readers of the blog may well know, the Art Department at GC has been involved in the planning of a cultural district designation for Georgetown and Scott County. The KAC defines a cultural district as a "well-recognized, labeled, mixed-use area of a community featuring a high concentration of cultural amenities that attract local residents and visitors alike." The program is aimed at revitalizing downtowns and rural areas, promoting tourism destinations and connecting such diverse fields as art, historic preservation and agriculture.

Feeling as though we meet these criteria and have what it takes to continue as a district, members of the Georgetown-Scott County arts community began meeting in the fall 2011 (August 23) and reached the conclusion early on that we wanted to apply for Cultural District Certification. We completed a hefty project application and submitted this to the Kentucky Arts Council on November 1. The four organizing coordinators for the application have been Historic Georgetown (Kitty), Cardome Center (Allison), and G-SC Planning Commission (Brian) in addition to yours truly. But, we have a whole community of partners -- Art Gal, Jan at SCAC, Annie, Judy, Earlene, Artie, and so many others.

The Arts Council has alerted us to the date when the announcement of CD status will be granted. It's February 9 and Governor Beshear will make the announcement. We're hoping to caravan to Frankfort to hear the news (and hopefully, it's good news!).

One accomplishment has been the City of Georgetown's declaration of our Cultural District. So, we are taking the name and running with it. WE ARE a CULTURAL DISTRICT already. To this end, we are implementing one of our objectives, that is, the creation of a central calendar to share news of the cultural events in our community. We've begun that process already. Click here to see our beginnings of our Georgetown Cultural District Calendar!

Note: Image at top was taken by Jan at our recent meeting of the GCD. Image to the left visualizes only one of our many cultural events throughout the year. Here, Marjorie Guyon is talking with students from the Landover Nation during her exhibition "Nation of Nations" in the Cochenour Gallery of the LRC.