Arts and Cultural Alliance brings back smART talk luncheon

Business leaders, art executives, patrons and creative professionals gathered Feb. 21 at Sarasota Yacht Club to talk about their shared interest. This smART Talk Luncheon hosted by the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County brings resurgence to a formerly defunct series, which the Arts and Cultural Alliance hopes to bring back. It encourages networking among arts people as well as starting conversation about insightful ideas that might help shape Sarasota’s art scene. Future speakers and dates are in the works, but stay tuned to YourObserver.com for future news.

This particular luncheon, “Arts Power Building Community Through the Arts,” featured speaker Janet Carl Smith, the former Deputy Commissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Smith spoke about bridging art and government through her experience helping initiate the Chicago Cultural Plan 2012. This plan sought to strengthen and enhance the city’s arts sector. Smith spoke about why a city could use an arts plan: arts simulates economy, arts attracts tourism, arts creates jobs and arts builds community. Smith then discussed the plan’s many initiatives, highlights being arts education and new opportunities for lifelong learning, attracting and retaining artists, and elevating and expanding the city’s cultural assets. Lastly she spoke about how the city’s government worked to carry it out and gave tips on how Sarasotans could do this similarly.

The luncheon sparked the conversation it intended: Should Sarasota try to initiate a similar plan? How will having government-supported arts plan help shape Sarasota?