(1) It was outsourced.
(3) The public part of the process has been dumbed down.
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We’ve been wrangled and patronized, but who doesn’t like those cute little buttons, Post-it boards, photo collages, catchy slogans, and “ground-truthing” meetings where you get to play with a transponder? As for the widespread public participation on the Internet we were led to expect, well, you can follow the plan on Twitter and “like” it on Facebook.
We are consistent: nine of the ten priorities and 33 of the 36 recommendations are updates or restatements of items in the original Chicago Cultural Plan, commissioned in 1985.
(8) This will be hugely expensive, and the city’s broke.
Recently in town and at the Cultural Center, National Endowment for the Arts head Rocco Landesman called the plan “visionary” and said he thinks it should be taken “to a hundred cities all over the United States.” This is a little worrisome. Will they all want to be global destinations for creativity, innovation, and excellence?
