Marion County Cultural Heritage Assets Mapping Project (CHAMP): Southern Marion County

This June, Marion Voices is proud to launch our Marion County Cultural Heritage Assets Mapping Project (CHAMP, for short): a comprehensive, participatory community process of mapping and amplifying the arts, cultural, and heritage resources that matter most to us. Join us on weekends in June for seven super-fun sessions in four geographic and three cultural/identity communities to share your favorite cultural resources and collaborate to write a blueprint for their futures! Marion Voices’ Marion County CHAMP process will result in seven fully-illustrated “zine”-style session reports, as well as an aggregated countywide cultural heritage assets report and plan that will be shared with stakeholders across the county. Join us as we visit with your community this summer and be a CHAMP for Marion County arts and culture!

Marion County CHAMP is hosting seven three-hour meetings across the county, focused on different geographic, cultural, and experience/identity communities. Pick one or several sessions relevant to your geographic, cultural, or personal experience! Sessions are all-ages and open to all.

The first two hours of each session will be the Cultural Heritage Assets Mapping Process: a guided, facilitated process of using maps and storytelling to share about your favorite cultural, heritage, and arts assets in your community. After a brief introductory presentation by Marion Voices, we’ll ask questions like:

• What important cultural, arts, and heritage resources did we used to have in our community; and what happened to them?
• What cultural heritage assets in our community are currently threatened; and what would protecting them look like?
• What cultural heritage resources or amenities do we not have in our community that other communities do have? What barriers exist to their existence here? What might building them require or look like?
• What cultural assets define our sense of place & help make our community & local landscape distinct from other communities?

The final hour of the session is an Artists’ Focus Group for working artists in that day’s community, focused on livelihoods and economic experiences. This live, one-hour session is meant to be an accompaniment to Marion Voices’ “Making It: Arts Livelihoods & Economies in Marion County” GoogleForms survey, which is open for responses from June 1st to June 23rd. Access the survey here:
tinyurl.com/MVArtistSurvey

Both parts of the event come with independent stipend pools, which will be split by all active participants. To facilitate discussion, concentration, and the camaraderie of a stable CHAMP cohort, plan to stay for the entire CHAMP session. You are welcome to attend one or several CHAMP sessions. Please note that each sessions will focus on the particular geographic or cultural/identity community described.

🏆 Sunday, June 23rd, 3-6PM: Southern Marion County || Prospect Community Park — Good Shelterhouse 🏆

For more information, visit: marionvoices.org/CHAMP