Matters Memo

City of Boulder City Council Agenda Item Meeting Date: April 9, 2026

Agenda Title Boulder Arts Blueprint Report and Recommendations

Staff Contact • • •

Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, City Manager Mark Woulf, Assistant City Manager Lauren Click, Manager, Office of Arts and Culture, Office of Cultural and Economic Development

Executive Summary The purpose of this item is to update City Council on the findings, recommendations, and next steps related to the Boulder Arts Blueprint, the city’s ten-year strategic framework for arts, culture and creativity. The Arts Blueprint presents a summary of community engagement and research, the Blueprint’s Vision for the Arts, alignment with the Sustainability, Equity and Resilience framework, Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and other city guiding documents, and an outline of goals, implementation tools and actions. The Boulder Arts Blueprint is a shared roadmap for the city’s creative ecosystem, connecting artists, nonprofit cultural organizations, creative businesses and community members around common goals. Building on the foundation of the 2015 Community Cultural Plan, the Arts Blueprint was developed through an extensive, broad process. Phase 1 engagement generated nearly 2,000 inputs through questionnaires, focus groups, pop-up events and partner outreach. Findings were reinforced by recent

research including the Venues Study, the Artist Census, the Cultural Asset Map, Arts and Economic Prosperity Study, and the Creative Industries Report. Across the research, including benchmarking with peer cities and a review of best practices, the same themes emerged consistently. Affordability, infrastructure, and workforce challenges remain top of mind for artists, even as opportunities exist to strengthen Boulder's identity as a vibrant creative community. Boulder enters this planning moment from a position of strength, as the city is home to one of the highest concentrations of artists in the nation, generates more than $115 million in annual nonprofit arts and culture economic activity, and we will welcome Sundance Film Festival in 2027. The Arts Blueprint is intentionally aligned with the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. Arts and culture strategies within the Arts Blueprint support proposed Comprehensive Plan policies tied to vibrant mixed-use centers, neighborhood scale gathering places, creative workforce development, small business support, historic preservation, public realm design and access to community facilities. The Blueprint also reinforces land use and growth policies by advancing the concept of 15-minute neighborhoods, strengthening downtown and commercial districts, and integrating arts into planning, housing, transportation and climate initiatives. The Arts Blueprint is organized around seven interconnected goals: • • • • • • •

accessibility and inclusion, entrepreneurship and workforce development, reputation and identity, public art and public space, nonprofits and institutions, experimentation and innovation, and scenes and affinities.

Together, these goals position arts and culture as a civic utility and core to Boulder’s identity, as well as key contributors to economic vitality, community health, neighborhood vibrancy and civic trust. The information in this memo is intended to frame council discussion. Staff is seeking feedback on the Blueprint, strategic guidance and support on the overall Vision for the Arts, the proposed implementation framework, and the continued integration of arts and culture within the Comprehensive Plan and the newly formed Office of Cultural and Economic Development.

Questions for Council

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Does council have questions or feedback regarding the Arts Blueprint Vision for the Arts, big ideas, and seven goal framework? Does council support the implementation approach to advance Arts Blueprint priorities aligned with broader city plans? Are there any specific strategies or initiatives council would like staff to prioritize?

Alignment with City Plans and City Council History Sustainability, Equity and Resilience (SER) Framework and Citywide Strategic Plan Alignment SER Framework Goal Area The Boulder Arts Blueprint is related most closely with the SER goal of Healthy and Socially Thriving. However, the Arts Blueprint is grounded in and advances all of the city's SER Framework goals. The Arts Blueprint recognizes these connections and positions arts and culture as a contributor to the city's full range of generational goals. A full description of connections to the SER Framework can be found in the attached document on page 10. Citywide Strategic Plan The Arts Blueprint advances adopted strategies under: •

Livable (6b, 6c): Supporting housing-enabling infrastructure and high-quality public spaces.

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Accessible and Connected (7a, 7b, 8a, 8b): Funding multimodal and ADA-access improvements.

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Environmentally Sustainable (10b): Encouraging reinvestment in existing infrastructure and climate-aligned redevelopment.

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Economically Vital (14e, 15a): Strengthening businesses and long-term economic resilience.

Staff Notes Within the Boulder Arts Blueprint, each SER objective is interpreted through the lens of arts, culture and creative enterprise. The plan explains two things. First, how the arts can help advance Boulder’s broader community goals. Second, how those same goals apply within the arts ecosystem itself. In other words, the Arts Blueprint asks two parallel questions: How can creativity help build a stronger Boulder community? And how can Boulder support a safe, healthy and economically vibrant creative community? SER alignment has been intentionally integrated throughout the plan. Each action in the Blueprint identifies connections to the SER objectives. Those same goals are embedded in the draft priority assessment tool that will help guide implementation decisions across the wide range of possible actions. Finally, the SER goals are now incorporated into the Boulder Arts Commission grant program scoring system. This means that funding decisions explicitly consider how proposed projects contribute to the city’s long-term goals.

Alignment with Additional City Plans The Arts Blueprint is consistent with the goals and strategies identified in the following adopted plans: •

Sustainability, Equity, and Resilience Framework

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Boulder Citywide Strategic Plan (2024-2026)

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Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (including the 2026 update) The Arts Blueprint serves as a complementary, implementation-oriented framework that advances the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan’s long-term vision through the lens of arts, culture and creativity. Together, the plans reflect a common perspective that arts and culture are essential civic infrastructure that strengthens equity, economic opportunity, community wellbeing and regional resilience.

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City of Boulder Racial Equity Plan (2021)

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Facilities Master Plan (2021)

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Boulder Parks & Recreation Master Plan (2022)

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Civic Area Master Plan (2015)

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Civic Area Phase II (2026)

City Council History City Council received an update on March 6, 2025, with information on the Boulder Arts Blueprint Phase 1 Progress. The Boulder Arts Blueprint was briefly discussed at the May 22, 2025, Joint Working Session with the Planning Board on the 2025 Major Updates to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan.

Analysis The Boulder Arts Blueprint was built in two phases. Phase 1 of the Boulder Arts Blueprint established a foundational planning framework by gathering input from thousands of community members across questionnaires, focus groups, and one-onone conversations, alongside background research with peer cities. Those themes were then aligned to the city's Sustainability, Equity, and Resilience (SER) Framework to guide future actions across funding, spaces, accessibility, public art, and equity in the arts. The key grant recommendations emerging from that process included a restructured portfolio designed to shift toward larger unrestricted multi-year awards, redefine funding tiers around community impact rather than budget size, lower barriers for emerging and underrepresented artists, and streamline application processes across the portfolio. Phase 2 of the Arts Blueprint provides a broader strategic framework to guide how the Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) prioritizes programs, partnerships and investments over the next decade. While the Blueprint outlines long term goals for Boulder’s creative ecosystem, its immediate impact is focused on strengthening coordination across existing programs, city departments and community partners. In the near term, implementation will emphasize pilot initiatives, cross sector partnerships and improved data and policy tools that support the creative workforce, cultural organizations and neighborhood cultural activity, beyond the expansion of the grant program recommended in Phase 1. Many of these efforts build on existing programs and leverage partnerships with organizations such as the Community Foundation, Boulder County Arts Alliance, the Small Business Development Center, Visit Boulder, the Boulder Chamber and the University of Colorado. The Blueprint also positions arts and culture to contribute to broader city initiatives, particularly through the newly formed Office of Cultural and Economic Development and emerging efforts such as the Sundance Film Festival, Civic Area renovations and East Bookend redevelopment, commercial vacancy strategies, district based economic development and collaborative cultural storytelling. These connections create opportunities for arts and culture to contribute to economic vitality, public space activation and community identity while leveraging resources from multiple sectors.

Because the Arts Blueprint functions as an internal strategic framework rather than a regulatory policy or funding ordinance, implementation will remain flexible and responsive to community needs, staff capacity and future council direction. The approach allows the OAC to pilot programs, evaluate outcomes and scale successful initiatives over time while continuing to align arts and culture work with broader city priorities.

Anticipated Fiscal and Workplan Impacts Initial fiscal impacts are primarily associated with the expansion and alignment of existing programs, collaboration with community partners and additional work within existing staff work plans, rather than reliance on new funding sources. The OAC is funded primarily through the Arts, Culture, and Heritage Tax and 1% for Public Art program. OAC advances Boulder's creative life through grantmaking, public art, community engagement, research, and cultural planning, serving as both a direct funder and a connector that supports creatives, organizations, and community members across the full spectrum of the city's cultural ecosystem. For scale, in 2025, the grant program funded 160 awards to nonprofits, individuals and classrooms, translating to exhibitions, performances, events, and programs for hundreds of thousands of guests, generating millions in economic activity. Several other city departments, such as Parks and Recreation and Open Space and Mountain Parks, also include arts programming in their budgets. In addition, a limited amount of funding is available this year to pilot new programs identified through the Arts Blueprint. These pilot initiatives will be described during the staff presentation to City Council and include programs focused on creative workforce development, arts sector sustainability and community building, and cross sector partnerships. Many of these initiatives are designed to be implemented in collaboration with community partners, leveraging existing connections to maximize impact while minimizing new municipal costs. To support long-term sustainability and broaden revenue sources beyond municipal funding, the OAC is also exploring the creation of a supporting nonprofit fundraising entity. This entity would pursue philanthropic contributions to complement public funding sources, similar to the PLAY Foundation. Additional funding opportunities may also emerge through cross-departmental collaboration, and from within the new Office of Cultural and Economic Development, as well as through citywide economic vitality initiatives such as the potential Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and other funding mechanisms. These opportunities

could provide additional resources for cultural programming, creative economy initiatives and activation of public spaces. The Arts Blueprint itself functions primarily as a strategic framework to guide decisionmaking and align existing and future investments, rather than a prescriptive budget document. Implementation of the Boulder Arts Blueprint is included within the OAC’s current and ongoing workplan. At this time, staff anticipate minimal disruption to existing workplan priorities, as many of the Blueprint’s actions build on existing programs and initiatives already underway such as the office’s cultural grantmaking, public art program, research initiatives, artist support, community partnerships and creative economy programs. New programs are built thoughtfully into staff capacity.

Equity Analysis Equity is a core principle of the Boulder Arts Blueprint and is embedded throughout the plan. Engagement methods included interviews, focus groups held throughout the city and multiple meetings with the City’s Community Connectors in Residence (CCiR). Within each goal of the Arts Blueprint is a section explicitly speaking to equity considerations. The OAC has worked closely with the City’s Office of Equity and Belonging to identify equity considerations relevant to the outcomes and actions described. These equity considerations are intended to act as a broad guide. As is the city’s practice, when a new project or program is initiated, OAC will also use the Racial Equity Instrument (REI) to analyze the disproportionate impacts a program, policy or budget decision can have on communities historically excluded by government institutions and address any unintentional impacts, bias or burdens.

Climate, Resilience, and Sustainability Considerations The Arts Blueprint incorporates climate awareness and sustainability principles into arts and culture programming and decision-making. For example, as part of the Blueprint’s implementation, climate considerations have been integrated into the cultural grants program, including the scoring criteria used for Bedrock (General Operating Support) organizations, which now includes measures related to environmentally responsible practices and alignment with the city’s climate goals. This encourages arts organizations to consider sustainability in areas such as operations, event planning, facility use and public engagement. In addition, several strategies within the Blueprint support climate aligned outcomes indirectly, such as activating neighborhood cultural programming, encouraging adaptive reuse of existing spaces for arts activities and integrating creative practices into broader city initiatives related to climate awareness and resilience.

Community Engagement Community engagement was a central component of the Boulder Arts Blueprint and was intentionally designed to be broad, inclusive and accessible. As noted, engagement methods included dozens of interviews, focus groups, and multiple meetings with the City’s Community Connectors in Residence (CCiR). The team executed a community-wide questionnaire and conducted pop-up outreach at community events and recreation centers. They also participated with Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan Update activities. In total, nearly 2,000 community members gave input. The Boulder Arts Blueprint intentionally sought to consider equity in its approach. Early stakeholder mapping helped identify gaps in representation. These gaps guided outreach efforts as the team worked to ensure perspectives historically underrepresented in civic planning were meaningfully included. Across engagement activities, several consistent themes emerged, including the importance of access and affordability, stronger marketing about arts opportunities and the role of arts and culture as fundamental to Boulder’s identity. Community members also expressed a clear interest in balancing support for longstanding institutions with flexible, experimental opportunities that encourage new ideas and emerging artists. These insights echo findings from the 2025 Boulder Artist Census, Venues Study and Boulder Creative Industries Report. These studies document structural challenges related to affordability, income stability and access to appropriate space underscoring the urgency of coordinated policy and investment responses. Engagement continued beyond Phase 1 through ongoing Advisory Committee interaction, meetings with city staff and a public town hall to share draft goals and gather feedback on actions, partnerships, funding mechanisms and policy approaches. This continuity ensured that community input informed the Arts Blueprint as it moved from discovery to its final version.

Next Steps for City Council At this time, there are no subsequent agenda items anticipated that are directly related to this discussion. Council may receive future updates as part of regular departmental briefings, budget discussions or other city initiatives related to arts, culture and economic development. And invitations to fabulous events hosted throughout the city.

Board and Commission Feedback On March 25, 2026, the Boulder Arts Commission approved the Boulder Arts Blueprint, contingent on final organizational revisions to the document. During their review,

Commissioners identified the need to more prominently address venues and infrastructure within the early goal areas and Executive Summary. The Executive Summary and full Blueprint are attached for Council's reference. Remaining revisions will be made in coordination with the Advisory Committee, and the updated document will be published to the city's website upon completion.

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Attachments Attachment A - Boulder Arts Blueprint Executive Summary and full Blueprint