Salina Begins New Arts Planning Process as Results of Prior Plan Remain Under Review
Salina begins new arts planning process
Salina is moving forward with a new cultural assessment and strategic plan, with Salina Arts & Humanities inviting residents to help shape future priorities for arts and culture in the community.
City materials say the new effort is being led by Keen Independent Research and is intended to guide future planning and investment. Public materials also describe the earlier effort as the “2009 Big Ideas Community Cultural Plan,” though the Big Ideas document itself is dated January 2008 and city budget records state the plan was adopted in 2008.
What the original plan set out to do
The original Big Ideas plan outlined broad goals for arts, culture, and heritage in Salina. Those goals included improving access to cultural offerings, increasing coordination across organizations, expanding research and audience data, tracking measurable outcomes, and tying arts activity to economic development, downtown revitalization, tourism, and organizational growth.
Public records show that portions of that plan were carried out over time. In a Salina Arts & Humanities annual report, the agency stated that by 2014, 50 of the plan’s 58 strategies had been implemented since adoption in 2008. The same report said the plan continued to influence programs and services.
What public records show today
City records and arts reports also show measurable activity in Salina’s cultural sector. In an October 2024 presentation to city commissioners, Salina Arts & Humanities reported that seven of Salina’s largest arts organizations employ 71 full-time and 160 part-time workers, attract more than 250,000 visitors annually, and draw about half of those visitors from outside Saline County. That presentation also stated those visitors generate an estimated $11.4 million in additional spending on hotels, retail, dining, gasoline, and childcare. It further reported that private donors and foundations contributed $4.8 million to the arts in the prior year, with another $5.2 million earned through revenue.
Other public materials show continued visibility for arts programming and public art across the community. In a 2023 city report, Salina said 73 percent of survey respondents felt their interests were reflected in public artwork around the city, and 90 percent said they had seen the downtown murals. The same report stated that half of local respondents said they would have gone to another community for a similar arts or cultural activity if it had not been available in Salina. The report also noted that post-COVID attendance had improved for some organizations but had not fully returned to 2019 levels.
Program-specific figures also point to an active arts system. Salina Arts & Humanities has described the Smoky Hill River Festival as a major annual event that brings about 60,000 people to Oakdale Park each June. The agency’s 2025 cultural landscape summary says the Smoky Hill Museum Street Fair draws more than 6,000 attendees. Earlier this year, the City of Salina announced that the Salina Arts & Humanities Foundation approved more than $30,000 in 2026 Horizons Grants and authorized another $7,000 for Enrichment Grant applications.
What remains part of the discussion
At the same time, publicly available materials present varying levels of detail on long-term measurements tied specifically to the earlier Big Ideas plan. Public documents point to attendance, visitor spending, grant activity, and survey results, but those records do not appear to present all long-term performance measures in one place, such as downtown foot traffic, storefront occupancy, hotel-night demand tied to arts programming, or return-on-investment figures by initiative.
The new planning effort also carries its own cost. In a Jan. 26 Request for City Commission Action, Salina Arts & Humanities said a call for proposals went to 38 regional and national organizations and resulted in five qualified bids, with estimated budgets ranging from $49,910 to $71,140. The city document states that Keen Independent Research was the unanimous recommendation of the evaluation committee and had the lowest preliminary bid at $49,910. It also says the total project cost is not to exceed $59,901, including a $49,910 base agreement and a $9,991 contingency for ancillary process costs and possible on-site presentation expenses. Funding, according to the city document, comes from the $100,000 budgeted in the Sales Tax Capital Fund for Capital Planning.
City records state the project timeline calls for preliminary findings to be shared during the October State of the Arts report, with final recommendations and an implementation plan expected in late 2026 or January 2027.