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Accessible and Vibrant Arts and Culture

Goal 11: Sustain and grow Lakewood as a model community and leader recognized for exceptional, diverse and inclusive arts and cultural experiences and facilities that contribute to the city’s quality of life and economic vitality.
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Americans for the Arts found that “the arts improve intercultural understanding, promote civic dialogue, and create a common ground for celebrating diversity and pursuing equity.” Lakewood has the opportunity to be recognized as a leader in celebrating the arts and culture of its community through providing accessible and unique arts and culture programs and spaces that contribute to economic growth and vitality. The Lakewood Public Art Plan highlights the role that public art plays in developing memorable places, providing storytelling opportunities, and celebrating cultural heritage and history. Arts and culture can be used as a tool to enhance placemaking and define an area’s identity through creating unique and culturally representative spaces.

Goal 11 Strategies: Accessible and Vibrant Arts and Culture

This goal strives to engage and celebrate the Lakewood community through vibrant and accessible arts and culture. Primary strategies to achieve this goal reinforce the implementation guidance from the Connect. Discover. Create. Lakewood Public Art Plan, 40 West ArtLine Framework Plan, and Imagine Tomorrow! Plan. These strategies include building partnerships with local artists, considering arts and culture in all City policies, maintaining community art and cultural resources, investing in arts and culture experiences, and celebrating culture through events, performances, and exhibits. Supporting strategies connect art and culture with community health and wellbeing, placemaking, equity, civic participation and the economy.

Primary Strategies

  • Continue to implement the Imagine Tomorrow Plan and any future updates to the Plan.

  • Evaluate and prioritize strategies to ensure that all city assets, including parks, buildings, public art, infrastructure, and other structures, are proactively maintained for safe, comfortable, accessible, and inclusive use by community members, city employees and visitors. Prioritize maintenance and enhancement efforts through routine data collection and assessment, including building and site conditions, greenhouse gas emissions, climate hazards, and community experience input. Ensure that risks are managed effectively, and insurance requirements are engaged appropriately throughout the city’s portfolio of assets.

  • Seek funding and partnerships necessary to achieve high-quality arts, parks, and recreation programs, services, and facilities that meet community needs as defined in the Imagine Tomorrow Plan and any future updates to the Plan.

  • Continue implementing strategies and partnerships that weave arts and culture into all aspects of the City’s work.

  • Advocate for and encourage collaborations, partnerships, and cross promotion of local artists and creatives to ensure a thriving creative community.

  • Identify opportunities to support the maintenance of Lakewood’s art and cultural amenities through partnerships, community engagement, and resource optimization.

  • Facilitate the creation of transformative art destinations throughout Lakewood by encouraging diversification of the public art collection, engaging the community and creating public art that is discovered organically and intentionally.

  • Continue to implement the Public Art Plan and any future updates to the Plan.

  • Continue to implement the 40 West ArtLine Framework Plan and any future updates to the Plan.

  • Responsibly conserve arts and cultural resources that represent Lakewood’s identity and uniqueness through preservation, education, advocacy, and partnerships.

  • Celebrate the community through art and cultural events, programs and performances that showcase local and regional talent, traditions, and cultural diversity.

  • Promote Lakewood’s arts and cultural programs, events, facilities, and resources to attract new businesses, visitors and residents.

Supporting Strategies

  • Prioritize efforts to ensure equitable access to resources that help all residents enjoy a healthy life (e.g.,, access to food, medical care, safe housing, transportation, arts, parks, recreation, outdoor spaces, and others.)

  • Develop relationships with Indigenous groups and tribal leaders with ancestral connections to Lakewood, and work with them to integrate their traditional ecological knowledge, local history, cultural practices, and perspectives into plans and policies.

  • Building on existing efforts, develop a comprehensive communications and outreach strategy for all City operations to ensure that all information and outreach efforts are accessible, engaging, and broad-reaching. This should include specific outreach strategies and accommodations for individuals with disabilities and Lakewood’s diversity of cultural identities and languages. Regularly update this strategy to reflect changing technologies, demographics, and communication preferences.

  • Ensure that city programs, services, events, meetings, and amenities are welcoming and accessible to all residents. As appropriate, consider opportunities for distinct offerings that cater to specific groups or particular needs within the community, including considerations such as cultural responsiveness, relevance, and languages, disabilities, families and youth, seniors, economic status, and others.

  • Foster opportunities for self-directed learning and play at city facilities that can be initiated by community members of all ages and abilities.

  • Improve and activate publicly owned spaces (such as parks, plazas, streetscapes) with art, landscaping, seating, creative placemaking, and interactive elements.

  • Work with the community, local artists, arts organizations, community partners, and developers to support the integration of art and placemaking installations into the urban fabric to beautify spaces, create identity, and reflect local heritage and values.

  • Continue to support the 40 West ArtLine, 40 West Arts Creative District, Alameda Corridor, Lakewood Cultural Center/Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park, and other areas that may emerge to serve as a hub for artistic expression, creative industries, and cultural tourism.

  • Foster creative entrepreneurship by ensuring City policies support incubator and startup spaces, funding opportunities, and business development resources for artists, cultural enterprises, and individuals wishing to pursue creative ventures in Lakewood. Strategically encourage these activities in locations where there is already a concentration of creative activity or where the introduction of new creative activities could breathe life and activity into new spaces.

  • Establish mechanisms for ongoing evaluation, feedback, and adaptation of creative placemaking initiatives based on community input and measurable outcomes.