Arts and Culture Plan for Greater Mankato
Envision a district focused on Mankato’s City Center, streets filled with busy shoppers visiting galleries and boutiques or traveling the public art walk, the old historic buildings converted to affordable yet quality housing for artists, regular events showcasing the musical and dramatic talents of the community, maps and brochures pinpointing all these sites for visitors and a web site making ticketing and tourism information easily accessible to everyone, across the state and across the county
This is the plan envisioned by the Arts, Culture and Community Enhancement Committee representing the Mankato area. Assembled at the request of the city of Mankato, the committee, made up of representatives from more than two dozen arts, culture and historical groups, spent six months in 2007 devising a plan to revitalize Mankato’s City Center by capitalizing on the area’s lively arts scene. At the core of the plan are two proposals:
- Develop a physical arts and culture district radiating out from the City Center and filled with venues, studios, shops, rehearsal space, residential and office space that enhance the community and attract visitors.
- Develop a community culture that supports the arts, promoting our existing assets and fostering new ones, encouraging diversity, education and an entrepreneurial spirit that benefits both the community spirit and economic life of the region.
How does this happen? Through support from you. The city has committed to this plan as a key part of Envision 2020, but it will only work through the support and cooperation of business, government, nonprofits, education institutions, the many arts and culture groups in the area, and ultimately all of us. For more information, please contact Timothy Berry at the Twin Rivers Center for the Arts at director@twinriversarts.org or 507-387-1008.
The entire Arts & Culture Plan is available online – click here!