Cynthia Elliott didn’t take long to settle in as a new Town Arts Commission member.
Elliott, who also serves on the Town Planning Commission, was voted to chair the arts panel during her first-ever meeting with the advisory group Feb. 13 at Maple Hall.
Elliott is one of five new members including Joanna Sikes, Nicollete Harrington, Don Wesley, and Danielle Dunlap appointed last month to the arts commission by Mayor Marna Hanneman and confirmed by town councilors at their Jan. 28 meeting.
Wesley, a versatile multi-media artist, was chosen as the commission’s vice chair.
Both Elliott and Wesley have extensive backgrounds in civic engagement and the arts.
In addition to her service as a planning commissioner, Elliott was a deputy chief information officer for the Ventura (California) County Information Technology Services Department for a decade. She also served on the Ventura County Management Council, participating on its communications subcommittee.
“What originally attracted me to La Conner,” she said during her December 2023 appointment to the planning commission, “was the art, history, and natural beauty of the area.”
Having previously chaired an arts commission, Wesley’s expertise was immediately tapped as the La Conner board agreed to take Town Planner Michael Davolio’s suggestion that it assume a lead role in helping launch a local creative district.
“Assessing what we have here is very important before we go forward with an application,” Wesley advised. “It can be a laborious prospect.”
But one with many benefits.
“There are some great opportunities that we can take advantage of,” Davolio said.
Municipal creative districts are designed to turn cultural activities, such as the art scene, into economic growth. Quite often, the State Department of Transportation places signage at strategic highway locations promoting creative districts located nearby.
Wesley pointed to the example of Tenino, in southwest Washington. He said there are many glass artists and stone carvers in and around the town.
“Quite a few are on the periphery,” Wesley said. “There’s almost a county-wide (creative district) footprint for them.”
Creative districts have thus far been established in Anacortes, Olympia, Edmonds, and Langley, among other municipalities.
“La Conner,” insisted Hanneman, who sat in on the 90-minute Thursday morning meeting, “should have been the first one formed. La Conner is an arts community.”
Hanneman said a campaign to designate a creative district in La Conner would involve several stakeholders, including the Chamber of Commerce.
“This might be an opportunity,” she said, “to have a joint meeting with the Chamber.”
Wesley pointed out that tourism, a primary driver of La Conner’s economy, is connected to funding for creative districts.
ArtsWa, a state agency that supports the arts in Washington, provides grants and guidance to communities during and after the creative district application process.
Beyond economics, creative districts are hailed for their potential to give communities tools to express what makes them unique and special.
Davolio alluded to a Town Planning Commission outreach to Langley last year when La Conner’s leadership was weighing tiny homes options.
“We organized a road trip to Langley and the Retirement Inn provided a van for us to use,” Davolio recalled. “It just so happened that there’s a renowned architect there who assisted us with the tour. It was very helpful. So, I would suggest we take road trips to other communities that have creative districts.”
Hanneman agreed that the 2024 road trip to Langley was productive.
“It helped us determine how to look at tiny homes in our codes,” she said.
Gaining creative district certification is composed of four main steps. Those involve forming a community team, planning the district, applying for certification, and beginning creative district activities.
