Communities in Conversation: Cultural Asset Mapping in Sheboygan
In collaboration with Green Bicycle Co. and the City of Sheboygan, the Arts Center has embarked on a process of cultural asset mapping.
Cultural asset mapping is a method of identifying the resources in an area that make it unique. These assets include the people, places, and organizations that make valuable contributions to the community. Both tangible and intangible, they influence the cultural fabric of a region.
Through many different avenues, this project attempts to grasp the diversity of voices among Sheboygan residents, acknowledge their personal perspectives, and discover their various needs. The process has included conversations around the themes of community, culture, representation, and investment. Help from our community has included one-on-one interviews, surveys, and discussions. Identifying existing resources as well as wants, we have created recommendations for investment and tools for collaboration where the people of the City of Sheboygan believe they are most necessary, beneficial, and sustainable.
The project began several months ago, and it is still a work in progress. We intended for this exhibition to be the culmination of the project; however, we now realize that it is only the beginning.
Here, we share what we heard from residents of Sheboygan. It is clear that intangible assets are more important to people than tangible ones. Having a sense of belonging, feeling heard, holding connection to the community might be connected to physical places or organizations, but the physical location—the tangible asset—wasn’t the whole story. Our information and recommendations are organized into three categories for maximum short- and long-term impact: youth education, participation and engagement, and representation. All are intertwined, and we believe one leads to another. You can expect to see more: community conversations, surveys, presentations, and other engagement. We hope you join us for the journey.
Major funding for Communities in Conversation comes from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bert L. and Patricia S. Steigleder Charitable Trust. Additional support comes from the Kohler Trust for Arts and Education, the Frederic Cornell Kohler Charitable Trust, and Kohler Foundation, Inc.
