The Arts, Culture and Entertainment sub-committee for Mayor Randall Woodfin’s transition team is asking for the public’s input on the state of cultural arts in the City of Birmingham.
The subcommittee, which is co-chaired by Eric Essix and Kathryn Harbert, has organized a survey to help inform decisions and suggestions on “how to move the city forward while ensuring that the arts are available and accessible for all Birmingham residents,” according to press release from the City of Birmingham.
The survey, which is available on Survey Monkey, contains 26 questions about cultural events and art in the city of Birmingham. Some of those questions include inquiries about:
- Arts institutions and events participants have visited or attended in the past year.
- Community events participants are likely to attend, such as dance performances, live music events, visual art exhibitions, and film festivals
- Interest in different genres of music
- The types of cultural and art programs that should be a priority for the city of Birmingham
Essix is a Birmingham-based award-winning jazz artist and the Director of Programming for UAB’s Alys Stephens Center. Harbert, a local philanthropist, serves on a number of boards, including the multi-million dollar capital campaign for the new campus of Red Mountain Theater. The pair are leading efforts to gather data and input on cultural offerings in the city.
In the same press release, Essix explained the importance of getting community feedback in mapping out a vision for Birmingham’s art and culture scene.
“It is extremely important that we hear the voices of the people in our community as we assess ways to organize, communicate, plan and offer quality arts programming for our citizens,” said Essix. “We cannot work effectively in a vacuum and make decisions entirely based on what we think should be presented, without the input of our patrons and the people we serve. Consideration must be given to those things that our citizens prioritize as well.”