Laserfiche WebLink
Santa Ana Arts Future <br />Cornmunity Arts and Cultural Master Plan <br />Introduction <br />Santa Ana's First Arts and Cultural Master Plan <br />Arts and culture are among a community's most powerful assets. They distinguish each <br />community and allow residents to better understand and celebrate the uniqueness of their <br />lives. Arts and culture are a competitive tool, strengthening many elements of civic life, <br />including the economy, workforce development, education, youth development, neighborhood <br />development, redevelopment projects, sustainability, and cultural equity. An increasing body of <br />research documents how thoughtful cultural policy is essential to civic health and to personal <br />health. <br />Cultural planning is a primary tool for organizing the best use of this critical asset. Cultural <br />planning is an integrated, place -based approach to planning and development taking into <br />account the arts and cultural landscape of a community, social and cultural equity, youth <br />development, and other areas. <br />This plan exists because of Santa Ana's dedication to the goal of creating a vibrant community <br />through arts and creativity. The community demonstrated in many ways its commitment to a <br />visionary and effective first arts and cultural plan for the city. This commitment is reflected in <br />diverse community input, rigorous data collection, and thoughtful engagement by the entire <br />planning team throughout the process, and it informs the heart of this plan. <br />Santa Ana: Arts History <br />The following is a summary of Santa Ana's Arts History developed by Santa Ana native Manuel "Manny" <br />Escamilla, local historian and Archivist for the Santa Ana History Room at the Santa Ana Public Library. <br />The full document is in the Appendix. <br />Santa Ana's history and future revolve around arts and creativity. The City was founded in 1869 <br />shortly after the end of the American Civil War. The community transformed from a ranch <br />economy into an agriculturally based society. Merchant -farmers utilized sketches and <br />lithographs to `convey the image of a prosperous and established town.i5 Crate label art <br />promoted the nascent Orange County region as a land of abundance free from harsh Eastern <br />winters. In the 1890s, the increasing ease of travel to Southern California began to encourage a <br />greater number of artists to settle, explore, and create their own interpretations of movements <br />within the global art community, and the region's pristine natural resources and stunning <br />landscapes gave rise to the California Impressionist movement. <br />In 1936, in the middle of The Great Depression, the Bowers Museum opened with public <br />support and Santa Ana City Hall was built. In the 1960s, the tectonic shifts in society set into <br />motion the beginning of Santa Ana's growing art scene. The most critically productive decade <br />of art in Santa Ana came next, with numerous emerging artists and places such as the Floating <br />Wall Gallery at the Santora Building. Santa Ana's emerging Latino majority reflected the larger <br />changes the 1970s had on the City's artistic legacy. Many professional artists were <br />experimenting with cultural symbols, and others created some of Santa Ana's oldest <br />community-based murals. <br />s Bricken, Gordon. The Civil War Legacy in Santa Ana. Santa Ana, Calif., Wilson/Barnett Publishing, 2002. Pg. 10 <br />11 <br />65B-15 <br />