In 2018, Essex County Community Foundation launched its Creative County Initiative – a partnership with the Barr Foundation to elevate arts and culture in Essex County. The goal has been to work with local communities to learn how to infuse cultural development into community development. The belief is that a cultural action plan enriches the cultural life of a city or town while helping to fuel economic growth and enhance the safety, health, and connectivity of our communities. During the winter of 2019 ECCF partnered with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and MVPC to coordinate four cultural planning labs for municipal officials, planners, and arts leaders from the nonprofit and private sectors in Essex County. These labs were held in Newburyport, Lawrence, Beverly, and Peabody. Two “Next Steps” were recommended coming out of those four planning labs:
- Cultural Asset-Mapping and technical support for municipal planning efforts
- Strengthen the regional infrastructure between artists, cultural producers, and stakeholders.
The summer of 2019 brought the launch of the Merrimack Valley Cultural Mapping project with over 90 people participated in the kick-off event including artists, planners, and community organizers. COVID-19 forced us to pivot. Like everyone else, we went digital to collect important places and asked people to contribute stories, art, and other media. The resulting project gave us two wonderful products: a cultural asset map with over 150 entries and an Expression Book made up of art submitted by creatives throughout the Merrimack Valley.