Participation in the arts has undisputed positive effects on the academic, social, and economic health of youth. Lane Arts Council is partnering with Lane County schools, artists, and arts organizations to develop and support well-funded, sustainable, and comprehensive arts programs. To this end, Lane Arts Council recently launched the Arts Asset Mapping project to assess the state of arts programming in Lane County’s schools.

Funded by the Oregon Cultural Trust and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts Asset Mapping project’s goal is to ensure effective utilization of existing arts resources and to catalyze new partnerships and programs to fill gaps.

The Asset Map will identify and visually depict where arts assets intersect and where they are deficient. The resulting Arts Asset Map will be a useful tool for schools and arts organizations for everything from planning to fundraising to marketing.

During the first phase of this project, we will be collecting data from Lane County schools and artists and arts organizations within Lane County.  The data collected during this project will be made available to the public via an online web-mapping platform and interactive website. Each school and arts organization will receive a Profile Page describing the available arts programs for youth.

The Arts Asset Map is intended to serve educators, city planners, businesses, parents, and community members for research, planning, and investment. Additionally, this project will connect the schools and arts organizations with one another. Finally, this information will help arts organizations such as Lane Arts Council participate in large-scale, county-wide arts planning and help schools increase their capacity to deliver high-quality arts programming via training and program partnerships.