The Creative City Road Map planning process is helping us think strategically about how the city’s arts and creative assets can contribute to the local and regional economy and improve Minneapolis’ quality of life. Find the planning process mission here.
Goals and objectives, objectives and goals…
The Staff Team and Artist Engagement Teams focused on preparing for our big work group meeting on May 14 to review the data, as well as the draft goals and objectives. Below is an example of a draft goal and objectives. Find all the draft goals and objectives here.
Jargon/common speak
Jargon Alert! So what is the difference between a goal and an objective? Funny you should ask, here are some definitions:
Creative people helped to inform and inspire us, prepare for our work together
Viviana Pintado’s keyboard and vocals welcomed work group members into the space and created the right mood.

Photo credit: bfreshproductions
We commissioned spoken word artist A Comeaux to help set the stage by performing two original pieces based on the qualitative data collected through the planning process. It was a creative and inspirational way to summarize the information and immerse work group members in some of our findings.

Photo credit: bfreshproductions
We also enjoyed delicious food from Karta Thai – yum!
Purpose of the meeting
The May 14 work group meeting was to catch everyone up with where we are in the planning process, share some of our key findings and get work group feedback on the draft goals and objectives.
See the data tunnel? We’re not quite out of it yet!!

Photo credit: bfreshproductions
We had a great time and got great feedback!!

Photo credit: bfreshproductions
Here’s a closer look at some of what we shared with the work groups:

Photo credit: bfreshproductions
Data analysis is an art, not a science!
It was a big job turning numbers into visual, relatable graphs and we couldn’t have done it without the help of data scientist, Stacie Blaskowski, in the City’s IT department. Stacie sorted, cross tabulated and created these graphs. Thanks Stacie!!
We shared some themes rising up….
In our analysis of the data we found some common themes: “audience,” “resources and opportunities,” and “connections and networks.” The quantitative data from the survey included resources desired by artists and creative practitioners and barriers to attending arts and cultural offerings. Sprinkled throughout the graphs were quotations from survey takers and people interviewed by the Artist Engagement Teams, as well as data collected from other sources.


Photo credit: bfreshproductions
We laughed, we cried, we prioritized
After work group members reviewed the draft goals and objectives, they prioritized the objectives, reflecting on the data from the community plus using their own personal and organizational lens. They got creative, using scissors, glue sticks, colored paper, and markers to re-order objectives under each goal. Wow!

Photo credit: bfreshproductions
Coming up next
June 8, Creative City Road Map Steering Committee meeting: The Steering Committee will get an update on the May 14 work group meeting. This is a meeting for Steering Committee members only.
June 19, Coffee Talk with Gulgun Kayim, 9-10:30 a.m., Café Southside, 3405 Chicago Ave. S.: Join Gulgun Kayim, Director of the Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy program, for her community office hours every third Friday of the month at Café Southside.