Title
A MOTION approving a partnership between King County and 4Culture to create a bond financed arts, cultural, heritage and preservation capital program to build, maintain, expand, preserve and improve new and existing cultural facilities.
Body
WHEREAS, rapid population growth in King County will necessitate building new schools, affordable and market rate housing, and improved public transportation options, and
WHEREAS, equally important is the building of new gathering places, sites where our diverse histories can be interpreted and shared, and public cultural spaces, and the preservation of historic structures that create community identity, encourage strong social connections and further opportunity for entertainment, education and interactions, and
WHEREAS, civic institutions, such as history and art museums, public galleries, community cultural organizations, performing art centers and arts councils, play a central role in our economy, and benefit local businesses, residents and tourists, and
WHEREAS, arts, culture and heritage make this region an attractive place for new businesses that bring with them new jobs, as arts and heritage businesses add almost two billion dollars in business activity, seven hundred ninety-eight million dollars in labor income and over twenty-nine thousand five hundred jobs to the central Puget Sound region, and
WHEREAS, opportunities for cultural expression are an important element of equity and a tool for communities seeking to address the needs of new demographics, and artists and historians can devise and carry out creative community-building neighborhood programs, and
WHEREAS, the last significant construction of arts, cultural and heritage infrastructure was in the 1990s, at the height of the dot.com bubble, and facilities built in that era are now in need of major system upgrades or replacement, and
WHEREAS, many arts, cultural and heritage capital and building campaigns were suspended during the rece...
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