Thinking bigger: Tualatin Valley Creates has big ambitions for 2023
#TualatinValleyCreates
2022 was a big year for Tualatin Valley Creates (TVC), a Washington County-based arts service organization that works to amplify the activities of other organizations, municipalities, and individuals through its Communication Hub (www.tvcreates.org and @tvcreates on social media) as well as offer its own regular networking events and professional development programs. The summer brought a return to in-person events, as well as a fall board retreat, wherein TVC laid out its goals for the coming year. TVC has big ambitions for 2023!
In 2022, over 40,000 festival-goers attended the La Strada dei Pastelli Chalk Art Festival to watch as artists work in real-time on large-scale street paintings, enjoy live performances, and partake in hands-on activities.
After La Strada, TVC started thinking bigger when the Board convened for its fall retreat, crafting a new strategic plan, with an eye for how to better support the arts and culture ecosystem in Washington County.
The new year will bring a renewed focus on corporate and organizational partnerships. TVC intends to inspire and collaborate with private enterprises to support local cultural efforts, through programs like the ArtPass, which engages local businesses and organizations through viral marketing while also providing resources for hyper-local arts communities to collaborate. This type of programming can have an exponential impact, as arts and the economy go hand in hand.
The Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) study is also one of TVC’s 2023 priorities. Like AEP’s before it, AEP6 examines the national economic impact of America’s nonprofit arts and culture industry by working with partners in every US state and territory; it reinforces the growing impact the arts have on our larger GDP. To be specific, TVC uncovered that between 2015-2017 while capturing data for the AEP5, the arts had contributed $21-mil dollars in economic activities within Washington County! That’s calculated between employment, consumerism, and the adjacent industries of hospitalities such as restaurants, childcare and more. TVC has partnered with Americans for the Arts again to continue surveying our local community in an effort to truly understand the impacts of arts and culture in Washington County. Learn more about this national study here, including how to support the process: https://tvcreates.org/arts-economic-study/.
TVC is also looking to broaden its engagement with current and new volunteers. For Gregory Garabedian, the TVC Board President, volunteerism is an exciting way to engage our community partners while supporting arts and culture. Garabedian notes that “ Volunteering helps build our arts ecosystems while simultaneously engaging Washington County businesses. It’s a win-win for our community to have volunteers on the ground, making Washington County a better place for all of us.”
Raziah Roushan, the Executive Director of TVC, is anxiously looking forward to more in-person outreach in the coming months as well. “In 2023, TVC will be expanding [our] in-person outreach. We will focus on informing communities about resources and available creative activities through TVC’s Communication Hub” said Roushan.
In an effort to continue its 20-year strong history of service, TVC will continue to play a role in not only sharing resources but will also support arts planning throughout the county.
“2023 is a year of potential and possibility,” says Raziah Roushan. “TVC will continue to build new pathways of opportunity throughout Washington County to engage and empower our community. Support for the arts, culture, heritage, and humanities helps us all thrive. We hope that our passions to focus on the bigger pictures and abilities to be a clearinghouse for all things art, culture, heritage and humanities here in the Tualatin Valley will radiate as we charge ahead into 2023.”
Contact Tualatin Valley Creates at 503-567-1713 or info@tvcreates.org to learn more.
