The Good Life: A Cultural Direction for Eau Claire County

The Good Life: 

A Cultural Direction 

for Eau Claire County

2 ~ www.eauclairegoodlife.org 

inside front cover


A Cultural Direction for Eau Claire County 

Laughing in the rain: Bean & Bacon Days Parade, Augusta, July 4, 2010. 

Photo by Dan Reiland, courtesy of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 

An introduction to the project | 3 

The Good Life Project and Our Hopes for It | 4 

Definitions | 6 

Findings 

Outdoors and Waterways | 9 

Economic Development | 16 

Downtown | 22 

Tourism | 28 

Education | 33 

Aesthetics and Character | 43 

Access | 49 

Transportation | 50 

Cost | 53 

Barriers | 54 

Schedules | 55 

Awareness | 56 

Variety | 58 

First Steps | 60 

Our process: a timeline | 63 

On the cover: 

Saturday, August 6, 2011, following 

a screening of the movie Tangled 

in Eau Claire’s Phoenix Park, 

moviegoers got a chance to release 

floating candle lanterns into the 

sky. The event was organized by 

Downtown Eau Claire, Inc. Photo 

by Andrea Paulseth for Volume One. 

www.eauclairegoodlife.org ~ 1


A Few Observations on “The Good Life” 

In creating “The Good Life: A Cultural Direction for Eau Claire County,” the leaders of the process have looked deeply 

into what makes Eau Claire County a good place to live. From an outsider’s perspective, this is a community with a 

genuine “can-do” spirit, a strong sense of its history, and the beginnings of a unified vision for the future. The people who 

contributed to the plan — whether as willing workers or thoughtful respondents — want to make Eau Claire a great place 

to live, and there are recommendations in the plan that will accomplish that aim. 

In my time visiting the area, it seemed to me that Eau Claire has been taking itself for granted, not seeing the richness and 

diversity that already exists. One useful outcome of The Good Life plan has been to begin detailing the breadth and depth 

of the area’s creative and cultural resources. There’s more work along this line called for in the plan, which will extend the 

knowledge base the plan has begun to create. 

Many communities create cultural plans, but few of them are as comprehensive as The Good Life plan, and even fewer 

are as specific about making use of the area’s geography — the confluence of the rivers. The place where the waters of 

the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers meet is increasingly the focus of activities in Eau Claire, and the city is witnessing a 

complete reversal of the community’s perspective on the rivers: from industrial tools of the 19th century to major cultural 

assets of the 21st century. 

Looking to land as well as water, to people as well as places, the overall intention of The Good Life plan is to integrate 

arts and culture more deeply into every aspect of life in the county — from economic development plans to the signage 

on the highway as you enter the city to the way downtown feels to opportunities for everyone (not just students) to learn 

in and about the arts. And while the plan focuses on residents of the area, there is also a recognition that cultural and 

heritage tourism holds great potential for Eau Claire. Ultimately, the goal of The Good Life is to make Eau Claire County 

a more creative place where people see value in their own and other’s artistic achievements. That work has begun with the 

creation of this plan, and will continue as its recommendations are implemented. 

Congratulations, Eau Claire! 

Lisa Mount 

Consultant 

Artistic Logistics


A Cultural Direction for Eau Claire County 

In September 2011, publisher Nick Meyer took the Wisconsin Arts Board (of which he is a member) on a twoday 

tour of creative Eau Claire. 

They traveled to the office of Visit Eau Claire to discuss the connections between arts and tourism in the 

Chippewa Valley and talked with Eau Claire Children’s Theatre director Wayne Marek about its conversion of 

an older industrial building into a performance and rehearsal space, costume shop, and prop center. The board met 

with Mayo Health Systems art consultant Jon Thorpe to see the hospital’s new healing garden, state-of-the-art 

theater/classroom and part of its art collection — and to hear about the role of the arts in the medical field. 

The board drove through the historic Water Street District – a student-heavy area featuring restaurants, pubs, 

and retail shops — then toured the Haas Fine Arts Center at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire to hear 

from Dr. Robert Baca and Patti Horecki about the city’s jazz scene including the Eau Claire Jazz Festival (now 

in its 45th year) and to view the annual faculty show with Foster Gallery director Tom Wagener and illustration 

professor Ned Gannon. After lunch at the innovative Nucleus restaurant, Realityworks founders Rick and Mary 

Jurmain and president Timm Boettcher told about their experiential learning products. 

Banbury Place owner Jack Kaiser talked about taking on a 1.9 million square-foot, 43-acre tire manufacturing 

plant in 1992 with a vision for a commercial, residential, and industrial re-birth of the property. Among the 

hundreds of tenants are many artists and entrepreneurs. At the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center down the hill, 

executive director Ben Richgruber, Chippewa Valley Symphony director Mark Blaskey, and Chippewa Valley 

Theatre Guild director Ann Sessions explored some broader issues facing the local arts community now and in 

the future. 

At Volume One Office & The Local Store, owner Nick Meyer introduced the guests to the staff: 10 creative 

full timers, 2 part-time workers, and dozens of interns who produce a twice-monthly magazine, a website, a 

variety of local guides and publications, a number of community events, and, since November of 2010, a small 

retail shop featuring music, books, art, and apparel created by someone local or evoking “local” in some way. 



After a few more stops and dinner at Houligans Steak & Seafood Pub, Eau Claire’s own Irish band, The 

Shillelagh Lads provided an Irish-tinged rollickin’, foot-stompin’, jig-dancin’, tuneful good time. On the final 

day, the arts board visitors stopped by Phoenix Park and the Farmers Market. The six-year-old Park hosts some 

of Eau Claire’s most important new cultural events. The Saturday Farmers’ Market alone attracts as many as 

5,000 people weekly for regional meats, cheeses, produce, flowers, and prepared foods along with music and art. 

At the Chippewa Valley Museum in Carson Park, director Susan McLeod led the group through exhibits based 

in part on regional folk arts fieldwork supported by the arts board, including the original multimedia “object 

theater” production, This Day. Later, guests were free to attend International Fall Festival in downtown Eau 

Claire or return to the Metropolis Hotel, where the Eau Claire Comic Art and Hobby Expo was in progress. 

Eau Claire boasts a handful of professionally employed (and quite successful) comic book artists who work for 

Marvel, Boom, and Image Comics. 

There was no doubt by the end of the tour that the dimensions of creativity in Eau Claire were broad indeed. 

The Good Life project and our hopes for it 

As the long-time planning consultant to the City of Eau Claire, I was excited to learn about The Eau Claire County 

Good Life project being led by the Chippewa Valley Museum. The work of The Good Life project to describe and link 

all of the various features that contribute to quality of life in Eau Claire is, essentially, city planning at its finest. In my 

plans, I have always tried to incorporate support for the many elements over which you have cast your net although 

the plans ultimately have to focus on the parts that my client, the City, can directly control. The Good Life project will 

help raise awareness of the importance of those features that contribute to “quality of life,” community attachment and 

economic development. That awareness will help build support for public and private actions that provide access to 

outdoor recreation, a healthful environment, art, recreation and places to meet. Communities that provide what people 

value the most will be loved and will flourish. 

Let’s look for ways to link the recommendations of The Good Life project to City endeavors such as the current 

Waterways Plan, its neighborhood revitalization plans, its Comprehensive Plan and its capital improvements program. 

Thanks, 

William C. Weber, AICP, PTP 

Weber Community Planning 

In July 2009, the Chippewa Valley Museum (CVM) received a $93,782 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library 

Services (IMLS), a federal agency. 

For the next two years, the museum worked with community partners to discover what residents thought of cultural life 

in the City of Eau Claire and Eau Claire County, and what direction residents thought this cultural life could head. These 

community partners, each with a similar interest in the area’s culture (very broadly defined), include the Eau Claire

Regional Arts Center, the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, the 

Children’s Museum of Eau Claire, and members of Clear Vision Eau 

Claire (more on them below). 

One of the first — and hardest — decisions the group made was what 

aspects of the county’s culture would be the focus. This also gained 

the group the most criticism during the process, as respondents to the 

various surveying instruments complained that culture in general, and 

the culture of Eau Claire County in particular, stretched far beyond 

arts, history, and heritage. For example, sports and recreation (whether 

hunting or hiking, fishing or football) figure prominently in the culture 

of Eau Claire County. However, many aspects of recreation, broadly 

defined, already find themselves the subjects of long-range civic 

planning. Some are even prescribed by Wisconsin statute. We chose to 

work on those aspects of our area’s culture (such as history, heritage, 

and the arts) that had had no county-wide long-range planning at all. 

In taking on culture, arts, history, and heritage, CVM’s IMLS grant 

neatly dovetails with another large project. Several years ago, a 

coalition of City, County and other large institutions engaged the 

National Civic League to facilitate a community visioning and 

strategic-planning process, called Clear Vision Eau Claire. That 

process revealed a gap. Although assessments and specific plans 

support other important aspects of area life — such as the park system, 

social services, and transportation — no comprehensive plan exists for the cultural sector. And those plans on other 

important aspects of area life can, and should, more fully incorporate citizens’ thoughts and hopes about their cultural life. 

Those thoughts and hopes should infuse all planning in Eau Claire County. 

Such thinking will surely help. Cultural planning helps local governments think strategically about cultural institutions 

as resources for human and community development. It helps cultural institutions by identifying them and naming 

them as assets. An inclusive planning process encourages more thoughtful integration of cultural resources into general 

community plans and, in turn, create a more vibrant cultural life for Eau Claire. 

The planning team worked with Lisa Mount, Director of Artistic Logistics in Sautee Nacoochee, Ga., and a nationally 

recognized independent arts management consultant. Her recent clients include the Network of Ensemble Theaters, 

the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation, and the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. In 2008, 

Georgia Trend Magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians. 

Mount trained CVM staff in strategic and collaborative planning, which included interviews, surveys and community 

forums — many kinds of conversations that led us forward. The resulting study, of which this document is a part, can 

provide a tool for decision-making and direction setting for local government, for funders, and for cultural organizations. 

Chicken Chasers in Fall Creek. 

Photo by Bill Hogseth. 



Definitions 

Cultural Plan 

A cultural plan considers community characteristics (past and present) and resources in the broadest sense. 

Cultural planning is a way of looking at all aspects of community cultural life as community assets. It considers the 

increased and diversified benefits these assets could bring to the community in the future, if planned for strategically. 

Understanding culture and cultural activity as resources for human and community development, rather than merely 

as cultural “products” to be subsidized because they are good for us, unlocks possibilities of inestimable value. And when 

our understanding of culture is inclusive and broader than the traditionally Eurocentric vision of “high culture,” then we 

have increased the assets with which we can address civic goals. 

— Creative City website (toolkit for community cultural planning) 

Cultural resources are here understood in a pragmatic way and include not only the arts and heritage of a place, but also 

local traditions, dialects, festivals and rituals; the diversity and quality of leisure; drinking and eating and entertainment 

facilities; the cultures of youth, ethnic minorities and communities of interest; and the repertoire of local products and 

skills in the crafts, manufacturing and service sectors. Cultural planning should be seen by policy-makers as a tool for 

both capitalising creatively on the distinctive cultural resources of a place and for capturing new economic opportunities. 

— Lia Ghilardi: City University, London 

Creative Economy 

Rather than being exclusively driven by companies, economic growth is occurring in places that are tolerant, diverse 

and open to creativity, mainly because these are the places where creative people of all types want to live. Scientists, 

engineers, architects, designers or artists are all part of a new creative global class that cities need to nurture in order 

to be able to compete internationally. … urban development policies need to be aware of the benefits of creating an 

environment in which tolerance of different lifestyles and a good quality of life for everybody living in a particular place 

go hand in hand…. 

— Lia Ghilardi, quoting Richard Florida 

…What is different about the creative economy approach is that it links the arts and the creative process to a 

much wider range of economic activities including technological innovation and local and regional marketing. The 

understanding that people, quality of place, and innovation are central to economic development has led to a new focus 

on cultural resources as a key element in regional economic development. Creative economy approaches also typically 

emphasize intra-regional cooperation rather than on local or interjurisdictional competition. … we need to think 

about new approaches to economic development, emphasizing quality of life as well as traditional factors that attract firms 

and a skilled workforce. A lively cultural life is not sustained only by presence of established arts and cultural institutions. 

It also resides in the willingness and ability of people to come together around cultural events that combine qualities of 

familiarity and innovation and change. 

— Creative Economy Strategies For Small and Medium Size Cities: Options for New York State, Susan Christopherson, 

Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, July 20, 2004.

In the creative economy, innovative people are the key to economic growth and development. What do an artist, an 

engineer and a healthcare worker have in common? Education — another support factor that distinguishes the creative 

economy from the industrial economy. In fact, the expanding creative economy requires knowledge workers who must 

obtain ever-higher levels of continuous education. One creative economy strategy would be for policymakers to focus 

on education at all levels: pre-schools, K-12, and colleges and universities. …Creative-class workers who choose rural 

environments value access to open space, outdoor opportunities, small town identity, and social networks they can relate 

to. Making places livable and attractive will be an important task for urban planners and economic developers. To 

ensure livability, policymakers also need to support arts, culture, and heritage, in both rural and urban areas. 

— Virginia’s Creative Economy, Heike Mayer and Terry Holzheimer, Virginia Issues and Answers, Summer 2009 

Creative City 

The Creative City idea emerged from the late 1980s onwards along a number of trajectories in response to these emerging 

trends. The idea, when introduced, was seen as an aspirational concept.... It posits that conditions need to be created 

for people to think, plan and act with imagination in harnessing opportunities or solving seemingly intractable urban 

problems. … A city that encourages people to work with their imagination goes well beyond the urban engineering 

paradigm in city-making. This focuses largely on hard infrastructures such as roads, monotonous housing developments 

or undistinguished office buildings… It requires, instead, a combination of both hard and soft infrastructures. Soft 

infrastructure includes paying attention to how people can meet, exchange ideas, and network. It … encourages 

physical developments and place-making or urban design that foster communication between people. These places have 

high levels of amenity and quality. It promotes ‘third spaces’, which are neither home nor work where people can be 

together. This might be a café or other kinds of gathering places…. Finally, being creative does not mean that someone 

is only concerned with the new. …At times, one needs the courage to either change things if required or to have the 

sound judgment to keep things as they are after reconsidering things only. Therefore, history and creative can be great 

partners: often, great achievements are combinations of the old and new. 

The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Planners, Charles Landry, 2008 (second edition) 

Ready for a makeover? A warehouse 

space at Banbury Place. Photo by 

Scott W. Taylor. 



Creative Placemaking 

In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, non-profit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical 

and social character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities. Creative placemaking 

animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public 

safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired. 

In turn, these creative locales foster entrepreneurs and cultural industries that generate jobs and income, spin 

off new products and services, and attract and retain unrelated businesses and skilled workers. Together, creative 

placemaking’s livability and economic development outcomes have the potential to radically change the future of 

American towns and cities. 

Instead of a single arts center or a cluster of large arts and cultural institutions, contemporary creative placemaking 

envisions a more decentralized portfolio of spaces acting as creative crucibles. In each, arts and culture exist cheekby-jowl 

with private sector export and retail businesses and mixed-income housing, often occupying buildings and lots 

that had been vacant and under-used. In large cities, many such hubs reflect the ethnic or historical character of place and 

invite residents and visitors alike across porous boundaries to visit, patronize, and enjoy. In smaller towns, traditional 

cultural practices and landscapes are transformed into distinctive cultural centers and festivals that revive emptying 

downtowns and attract regional visitors. Large cultural institutions, often inspired by their smaller counterparts, are 

increasingly engaging in active placemaking. 

— Creative Placemaking, Ann Markusen, Markusen Economic Research Services and Anne Gadwa, Metris Arts 

Consulting, 2010.White paper for The Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a leadership initiative of the National Endowment 

for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors and American Architectural Foundation. 

Cultural and Heritage Tourism 

According to a 2009 national research study on U.S. Cultural and Heritage Travel (Mandala Research), 78% of all 

U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling (118.3 million adults each 

year). Cultural and heritage visitors spend, on average, $994 per trip compared to $611 for all U.S. travelers. Perhaps 

the biggest benefits of cultural heritage tourism are diversification of local economies and preservation of a 

community’s unique character. 

Cultural heritage tourism means traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories 

and people of the past and present. It includes irreplaceable historic, cultural and natural resources. Challenges: Ensuring 

that tourism does not destroy the very heritage that attracts visitors in the first place. … it does put demands on the 

infrastructure — on roads, airport, water supplies and public services like police and fire protection. 

— National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2011 Fact Sheet, www.culturalheritagetourism.org

Outdoors and Waterways 

• Both commerce and culture in Eau Claire County are tied to the 

outdoors and our waterways, and always have been. 

• Tremendous work has been done for decades on many aspects of 

county and city waterways, both environmental and recreational. 

Much more discussion and work is explicitly planned. 

• If we can make one improvement to this aspect of our cultural 

life, it should be to brand our county waterways. This will help 

us better inform the public of the work already being done, 

allow us to emphasize the cultural interests of tourists and 

residents, and spur development of river- and waterway-centered 

events and river-facing development. 

A 1923 essay in the Chippewa Valley Museum’s archival collections, perhaps written by student teacher Agnes 

Thompson of Mondovi, describes an Eau Claire outing of the County Training School for teachers. 

“We start from the lawn of the training school [on the west side of the Chippewa River, near where the Eau Claire 

County courthouse stands in 2012] and a short walk brings us to the Chippewa bridge. We have a plat made in 

1857 when the streets were first laid out. This plat shows 65 feet of good high ground between First Avenue and 

the river — but now just look at it. There is no high ground there now, and the City has built a wall and rip-rap to 

keep the river from washing away the street.” 

Miss Thompson continues her essay, describing what she sees, and giving a history of the river's shifting course 

over the past 1,000 years, illustrating it with maps and careful drawings. “The river,” she writes, “has been 

writing its history during all of its life.” 

Some 80 years later, in a May 21, 2004 column, Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reporter Joe Knight describes a 

North High School French class outing down the Chippewa River from Chippewa Falls to Riverside Park on 

Eau Claire's north side. The canoe trip involved some French and some history, as well as a little biology and 

hydrology, and a swarm of caddisflies (a sign of clean water). 

Relaxing at Big Falls, Town of 

Lincoln, 1924. Eau Claire County 

acquired the land around Big Falls 

from Seymour Cray, Jr., in the mid- 

1960s, but it had been a scenic 

attraction for decades. Courtesy of 

the Chippewa Valley Museum. 



Overview and Analysis 

Most people in Eau Claire County thoroughly enjoy the outdoors here — our parks, our waterways — even without the 

cultural luxury of a formal class trip. Among our respondents, more than 87 percent see or do cultural, arts, and heritage 

things at outdoor facilities or parks regularly or occasionally. 

“I love the events that take advantage of the river and downtown/historic venues.” 

“I love the outdoor things that we have in the summer.” 

“I like to be outdoors as much as possible: bicycling, gardening, fishing, canoeing, camping, spending time by 

the water.” 

“There is nothing better than lying on the lush grass of Phoenix Park, licking a melting ice cream cone while 

listening to an amazing local band...” 

An aggregation of our surveying and studying tells us that outoors and waterways is the top concern of our respondents. 

The Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers converge in the heart of the City of Eau Claire. The Chippewa River is one of 

Wisconsin’s most important Mississippi River tributaries. Two reservoirs on the Eau Claire River, Lake Altoona and 

Lake Eau Claire, anchor county parks. 

Dells Pond was used during the logging era to collect and sort logs before they were floated to sawmills downriver in 

Eau Claire. An ancient oxbow of the Chippewa River, Half Moon Lake sits on the west side of the city. Artificially 

reconnected to the Chippewa River by a log flume and tunnel during the lumbering era, the water level in this lake is now 

supplemented by pumping. 

Five creeks run into these two rivers near the City of Eau Claire: Sherman Creek rises in the Town of Union and serves 

a large watershed on the western edge of Eau Claire. Travis Creek and Lowes Creek, both in the Town of Brunswick, 

meet the Chippewa River downstream of the city. Otter Creek runs from south to north on the eastern side of Eau Claire 

and forms part of the boundary between the Cities of Eau Claire and Altoona. Little Niagara Creek winds through the 

Putnam Park gorge and discharges near the UW–Eau Claire campus. 

Several plans by the City of Eau Claire have guided land use and public improvements along the rivers, lake and creeks 

in the past 40 years. Each has built on a previous plan and advanced the community’s thinking about the use of the river 

corridors. But the 1988 Waterways Plan became the foundation for all subsequent discussion including current (2011) 

public discussion of a proposed Waterways Plan. 

In 1988, the community embraced the idea that the city should strive over a long time frame to acquire a band of public 

land, paths and access points known as the Greenway along or near the waterways. Industrial use of the waterfronts 

was acknowledged but given lower priority than public access, recreation, other economic development, neighborhood 

quality and environmental protection. Improved water quality and riparian ecosystems were honored as essential public 

obligations. Land redevelopment and economic progress were linked to more sensitive use of the river edges for the first 

time in Eau Claire.

Where are we now? 

The 1988 Waterways Plan included an ambitious menu of future public improvements and land redevelopment projects. 

Most of those projects have been completed. The most important were the extension of riverfront paths in many locations 

and the redevelopment of the contaminated Phoenix Manufacturing factory and site. 

Water quality has improved in the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers to the point that tubing and fishing have become 

popular summertime escapes; Phoenix Park has risen from the ashes of an industrial plant at the confluence; downtown 

redevelopment proposals are now orienting housing, offices and hospitality to face the water; a recent neighborhood 

revitalization plan hinges on transforming a mile of disused riverfront to park and trail. 

Where could we be? 

As residents and tourists fish, canoe, splash, or meander, we can help them understand intuitively that the economic and 

cultural history of Eau Claire County is closely tied to its rivers. The rivers brought people here, brought our particular 

wildlife here, brought lumber here for milling. They have powered industries, 

and they produce electricity. Waterways bring tourists, and entertain and enrich 

residents. This deepens their attachment to this place. 

Respondents to Good Life surveys widely noted that they believe the City 

of Eau Claire and Eau Claire County — as well as the area’s businesses and 

residents — too often ignore our waterways, which respondents see as key 

signifiers of our local identity. For numbers of respondents, comments about 

what they see as “missing” or “worst” about Eau Claire County emphasize this. 

What’s missing? 

“Eau Claire needs an overlook on a river or lake that is located in the 

city center that allows for food, wine and music.” 

“The Eau Claire River is beautiful and untapped. Look at San Antonio! 

What would happen if there was a ‘River Mall’ that spanned the river 

with cafes and restaurants and meeting rooms that actually span 

the river? I realize the DNR positions on such a structure would 

be inhibitive, but it could be a unique and vital part of the cultural 

attraction for Eau Claire.” 

What’s worst? 

“The riverfront! All downtown and Water St. buildings face away from the rivers and the backs of the 

buildings are mostly waste land. Make it attractive, and people will come and hang out.” 

“Plants along river trails need to be trimmed back so one can see the river.” 

“The worst would be how we’ve treated the river and downtown” 

Ready to launch a float at Phoenix 

Park, June 2011. Photo by Shane 

Opatz. Courtesy of the Eau Claire 

Leader-Telegram. 



Our waterways will also play a crucial role in economic development if we make them the focus of efforts to enhance 

quality of life, recreation, and a sense of place. Those factors attract the creative class. 

A major element in the process of rediscovering the value of the rivers will be to rethink the use of nearby land. Beyond 

the protected floodplains and backwater estuaries, many critical, long-term decisions will have to be made that balance 

natural protection, recreation, visual access and economic development. Every bank of every waterway must be carefully 

evaluated for its use as public space, housing, or business. The economic value of the waterways is now derived from 

not just historic activities such as power generation, manufacturing and extraction but — perhaps more importantly — 

contemporary benefits such as viewing, playing, and appreciating. 

Benefits of moving toward this more enlightened use of the waterways include improved neighborhood conditions, 

increased redevelopment potential and increased property values, economic development attracted by improved quality 

of life and desirable building sites, opportunities for active and passive recreation; increased local spending by people 

coming to enjoy the rivers, a more walkable and bikable city, and, preservation and enhancement of natural and historic 

sites. According to a draft-version of the document itself, preparation of the new Waterways Plan will be guided by these 

“major issues” (among many others): 

• Views: Should some riverbank vegetation be cleared to improve views to the water? 

• Public Access: Should there be public access to the waterfront whenever feasible, including access adjacent to private 

land redevelopment? Should stairs be built to improve public access down the bluffs to the water? 

• Water Access: What should be done to improve access to the water for recreationalists including anglers, boaters, and 

tubers? Should additional boat launches and fishing piers be built? If so, where? 

• Redevelopment: Should the City actively promote redevelopment of deteriorated, under-utilized or incompatible 

properties near the waterways to leverage these resources and public investments? 

• Pedestrian Bridge: Should a pedestrian bridge be built over the Eau Claire River near the confluence? 

• Rails to Trails: Should additional former railroad corridors be re-purposed as multi-use paths? 

• Other Paths: When and how should a multi-use path be extended around Half Moon Lake? 

• Water Safety: What should the City do to improve the safety of tubers and other river users? 

Strategies 

Strategy 1. Brand our county waterways in a consistent, attractive campaign through news, 

public relations, signage, web presence, and other public information opportunities. Not only will this promote use and 

appreciation, but it will also help inform county residents of the waterways and recreational planning already occurring. 

What problem does this solve? Tremendous work has been done for decades on many aspects of county and city 

waterways, both environmental and recreational. Much more discussion and work is underway. Many respondents seem 

not to know of this work.

Steps to take: 

• Compile a short but compelling list of current activities, planned efforts, and upcoming discussions related to city and 

county waterways, especially as they relate to the cultural interests of residents and visitors. This can be done on a 

regular basis. Local media can get this news out. 

• We can start and sustain public discussions about what’s going on vis a vis our waterways. The Chippewa Valley 

Museum can give an historical context to the discussions: How did we use our rivers in the past? What were the 

effects? How have we used them more recently? 

Models: 

The River Thames Alliance (yes, that River Thames) has set up a marketing group to pool resources and develop 

coordinated actions to promote the river. The group is a partnership of private and public sector organizations including 

trade associations, local authorities, and attractions. The Discover the River Thames campaign coordinates leaflets, 

posters, a website and public relations with simple, focused images and messages, free from competing individual partner 

logos. The marketing provides ideas for days out and healthy things to do on and alongside the river. 

Pennsylvania ‘River of the Year’: Since 1983, a Pennsylvania River of the Year has been featured on posters sent to 

watershed organizations, local municipalities and interested individuals statewide to encourage a focus on Pennsylvania’s 

rivers. June Rivers Month activities draw attention to the importance of river resources. An annual River Sojourn consists 

of traveling on the river by raft, canoe and kayak, and by bicycling on river-corridor trails. Educational programs focus on 

environmental, historical and cultural aspects of, and new perspectives on, the river and its surroundings. 

Strategy 2. Implement one river-centered event annually. Foster development of seasonal 

river-centered events. 

What problem does this solve? It doesn’t seem like enough just to have an event with one of our scenic 

waterways as a backdrop. If they are critical to our understanding of ourselves as a community and area, we should 

incorporate them, honor them. 

Step to take: Create events not just set on Half Moon Lake or the Chippewa River, but in some way about them. 

Models: 

WaterFire, Providence, RI: Providence’s signature event is WaterFire, a fire sculpture installation on the three rivers in 

downtown Providence. WaterFire centers on a series of 100 bonfires that blaze just above the surface of the three rivers 

that pass through downtown Providence. The string of fires illuminates nearly two-thirds of a mile of urban public spaces 

and parks, and residents and visitors gather to stroll along the river, listening to the music and watching the performances. 

Black-clad performers in boats passing quietly before the flames tend the fires from sunset to midnight. 

Winter River Festival, Louisiana, MO: The festival offers craft demonstrations, music, wine and beer tastings, barbecue 

and rib competitions, and a Special Olympics Polar Plunge. It wraps up with the spectacular House of Fire and Ice 


The Mill Museum, near Augusta on 

the Eau Claire River. 


at dusk. Volunteers, citizens and businesses alike come together to build a fortress of ice blocks towering 15 feet tall, 

weighing nearly six tons and filled with a huge pile of scrap lumber. When darkness falls the House of Fire and Ice is set 

ablaze. The melting water drenches the sides, and leaping flames send shooting sparks high into the air. The battle waged 

between fire and ice continues for hours. 

Strategy 3. Assure that all waterways, parks, and outdoor recreation plans incorporate the 

cultural interests of residents and visitors. 

What problem does this solve? There are many ways to include a cultural understanding and appreciation of the 

city and county as we think about our waterways. First, understand what people do there as cultural expressions there on 

days when there is no special event like a newly developed WaterFire or the like — that is, what people on a daily basis 

(fish, canoe, picnic, tube, bike, walk, read, gather, doze, visit a museum on the banks of the Eau Claire River or Half 

Moon Lake). Then acknowledge those expressions, and link individual activities to the larger community. 


• Continue marking trails, sites, and scenic locations with interesting, attractive markers that 

tie the view to the area’s culture and heritage. 

• Make put-in spots for tubers and canoeists. 

• Create scenic gathering spots for weddings, reunions, and the like. 

• Plan overlooks or stopping points at places where people might best consider some aspect 

of the history of the waterway and the county, or past efforts individuals have made to tame, 

use, or improve a particular waterway. 

Models: 

Phoenix Park Markers, Eau Claire: This collaboration between the Chippewa Valley Museum, 

the Eau Claire Parks and Recreation Department, and private funders created a series of plaques 

(in progress; some still to be funded) that take full advantage of their location: 

“Eau Claire does not have a distinctive identity/story that makes it unique. This is 

vital to a feeling of community: not to mention to boost tourism dollars, etc. A good 

start towards addressing this problem began with Phoenix Park -- the plaques with 

the quotes re: E.C. History. Also, recently, the River Plaque that was recovered and 

erected off the River Trail. E.C. needs to know and celebrate its own history, instead of 

just looking outside of itself to see ‘what everyone else is doing’ I think that this has 

been a problem for a long time and makes living here seem disconnected, transient, 

and not rooted in anything. As I mentioned, recent changes (also, Farmers Market, 

downtown area, recovery/restoration of historic buildings, etc.) have begun to make a 

difference and give E.C. a feeling of community--but it must continue!”

River Mills Heritage Trail, Putnam, Conn.: The trail threads its way around the Quinebaug River, linking together six 

historic mills and two other historic buildings. Follow the brown Trail Directional Signs leading from one site along the 

Trail to another. Stop at each site and read its historic marker to learn more. It’s an easy, level walk or bike ride with good 

views of several of the dams and falls along the river. 

Strategy 4. As we continue developing and changing Eau Claire 

County’s cities, villages, and other settlements, planners should 

emphasize that considered, sustainable development should “face 

the rivers,” and that waterways should be part of the fabric of 

public life in the County. 

Models: 

Munich has grown around the River Isar and the waterway has played an important 

part of the shaping of the city. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Bavarian State and the 

city of Munich decided on a major restructuring plan for the river. The aim of the Isar 

Plan was to optimize flood control and improve urban recreational quality by providing 

“more space and greater proximity to nature in the river environment.” 

The Isar offers fishing and floating. Next to the Englischer Garten parkland it is even 

possible to surf on the river: a permanent wave in the southern part of the park forms 

where the river’s waters shoot from an underground tunnel. 

The San Antonio River Walk (also known as Paseo del Río) is a network of walkways 

along the banks of the San Antonio River, one level down from the automobile street, 

lined with restaurants and shops. It connects the major tourist draws from the Alamo to 

Rivercenter mall, to the Arneson River Theatre, to Marriage Island, to the San Antonio 

Museum of Art, and the Pearl Brewery. During the annual springtime Fiesta San 

Antonio, the River Parade features flowery floats sent down the river. 

Other examples: Chicago Riverwalk; Milwaukee RiverWalk; Grand Rounds National 

Scenic Byway, Minneapolis; Bricktown, Oklahoma City; Three Rivers Heritage Trail, 

Pittsburgh; Tom McCall Waterfront Loop, Portland, Ore.; River Street, Savannah. 

Key Resources 

Reading: Haslam, S. M. The River Scene: Ecology and Cultural Heritage. Cambridge University Press, 2009 

Relevant plans after the 1988 Waterways Plan include the Eau Claire Comprehensive Plan, 1992; Eau Claire 

Comprehensive Plan, 2005; West Clairemont Avenue Educational and Medical District Plan, 2009; Eau Claire Bicycle 

and Pedestrian Facility Plan, 2010; West Riverside District Plan, 2010. 

Eau Claire Chapter, Daughters of 

the American Revolution, at the 

dedication of the marker at the Gray 

Street steamboat landing, 

September 19, 1927. Courtesy of the 

Chippewa Valley Museum. 


Mayo Health System, CCU and 

Healing Garden. AECom. 

Photo: Don F. Wong 


Economic Development 

• Attracting and keeping a highly educated, creative workforce in Eau Claire 

County is necessary for knowledge-based industries. 

• The creative economy needs a positive environment with spaces and places 

where its people want to live and work. Many Eau Claire County residents 

understand this need and understand that we’ve made progress towards it. 

• A creative environment takes creative thinking. If we want to succeed in 

this, we will make a place that creative people want to be, and we will 

encourage interest and enterprises based on our arts and culture strengths. 

In an interview April 4, 2011, former Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton told Expose Kenosha editor Colleen 

Kappeler that “New businesses look for a place that is supportive of the innovations they need and has a strong 

cultural heart beat.” 

“Lawton points to Eau Claire,” Kappeler wrote from Kenosha, “where in 2009, during the worst moment of 

economic downturn, two high-tech businesses from New York City relocated there with the promise of 200 high 

paying jobs because they were confident they’d attract the workers they needed because of Eau Claire’s cultural 

resources.” 

Overview and analysis 

Economic development focuses on the well-being of local economies — the success of existing businesses and the 

creation of new enterprises. Worldwide, contemporary economic development thinking has turned to the possibilities and 

needs of the creative economy. This economic interest is very broad in scope. 

The idea of the creative economy—which is based not just in the arts, but in all enterprises that require creative 

approaches—and its potential benefits for communities emerged over the past few decades. The creative economy 

requires knowledge workers, whose efforts thrive in a nearby mix of places — studios, production facilities and gathering 

places. Because these places foster interactions between people, the mix is important to spark new ideas. The ability to 

attract and keep such people is important to many areas of economic endeavor.

Cultural planning and support for cultural resources contribute to development of a creative economy. The 

Good Life initiative has adopted a broad view of local culture and its connection to our economy. An on-going Knight 

Foundation study about attachment to place has repeatedly found that surveyed communities’ social offerings, openness, 

aesthetics, and education are, in that order, most likely to influence residents’ attachment to their communities 

in 2010. The communities with the highest levels of attachment had the highest rates of gross domestic product growth. 

When residents enjoy their community’s offerings, they are more likely to spend their money on local activities and 

businesses, directly benefiting the local economy. 


It’s already happening in Wisconsin…. 

Food Processing industries. The Farm Market Kitchen in Algoma [www.farmmarketkitchen.com] is “a regional shareduse 

food processing business incubator. Anyone wishing to produce and market a food product can find everything they 

need to get started—from culinary supplies and equipment to food marketing and business planning assistance.” Part of a 

national phenomenon, other Wisconsin culinary incubators are located in Appleton, Gays Mills, Lake Mills, Milwaukee, 

Niagara, Prairie du Chien and Watertown. 

Arts Industries grow from Local Culture Wormfarm Institute in Reedsburg [wormfarminstitute.org] uses the term 

“cultureshed” to reflect unique influences that characterize local culture: the products grown in an area reflect its unique 

geography, geology and micro-climate. The Wormfarm Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit working to build a sustainable 

future for agriculture and the arts by fostering vital links between people and the land [through] performances and 

other projects that engage the surrounding community, utilize the talents of local artists and speak to rural experience.” 

Wormfarm recently received a $50,000 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant to support the planning, 

piloting, and evaluation of guided and self-led tours along rural roads in northern Sauk County, featuring farm-based, 

ephemeral art installations and performances; artist-designed-and-built mobile farm stands; and interpretative signage 

about rural culture and the local arts, food, and farming communities. 

Culture Combines with Other Disciplines Bucketworks, Milwaukee [bucketworks.org]. According to its director, James 

Carlson, Bucketworks is designed as a place where “Members with skills in science and technology, business, law, 

finance, the arts and health would meet to discuss and share their skills. There are just as many tools for the engineeringminded 

person as there are for the artistically inclined. Bucketworks has a huge performance event and class space with 

a theater stage and movable walls; a large room equipped with computers, a pottery wheel, sewing machines, easels and 

other tools for creativity; an on-site supply store with a staff-operated woodshop, kiln, stockpile of supplies, and a lending 

library; and, a retail floor space and art gallery to showcasework. 

Private and public investments in performance venues (in under-utilized churches, for example) and spaces for creative 

work can connect universities to their surrounding communities, create more “street life,” and encourage small 

commercial establishments to move into the neighborhoods. 


Banbury Art Crawl 2012. Photo by 

Jessica Harrison for Volume One. 



It’s starting to happen in Eau Claire County 

Artist studios and related businesses in Banbury Place 

Local food entrepreneurs developing products for the Farmers Market (Haas 

Brothers, Becki’s Salsa, Obsession Chocolate). 

These activities have other positives for the community as a whole: 

“I enjoy Eau Claire's (and Wisconsin's) abundance of locally grown agriculture 

and livestock. We have many options for buying local and organic food. This is 

a cultural movement centered around food, but also around values attached 

to living sustainably.” 

“I'd love to see Banbury Place promoted more heavily. The open house held the 

last year or the year before was wonderful! It was great to see the diversity 

of folks renting art space there.” 

By developing rather than decreasing community support, the Eau Claire area can foster “creative places” that result in 

economic benefits. 

… Whether approached as industries (what cultural firms make), occupations (what cultural workers do), or a set of 

organizations (producing firms, non-profit, public agencies and community groups), the arts and cultural sector is the 

nation’s most under-rated economic engine, producing millions of well-paying jobs. It is our most competitive sector. 

Many nations are challenging American science and engineering prowess, but few successfully do so in visual arts, a 

diverse music portfolio, digital media, design, and writing, from literature to screenplays and news. [Although recent 

testing for creativity shows American children have been slipping from their traditional high performance in this area.] 

Many small towns, aging suburbs, and deteriorating city neighborhoods have revitalized their economies by expanding 

arts and cultural services that offer residents opportunities to spend their discretionary income locally. 

Strategies 

Markusen, Gadwa, Creative Placemaking 

Strategy 1. Support places where creative individuals want to be and can interact. 

What problem does this solve? 

Attracting and keeping a highly educated workforce is necessary for knowledge-based industries. The creative economy 

in particular needs a positive environment with spaces and places its people want to live and work. In their voluntary

comments, respondents to Eau Claire County Good Life surveys indicated that they understand this need and that we have 

made progress towards it: 

“I grew up in Eau Claire and left 25 years ago after college and returned 7 years ago. … I was pleasantly 

surprised to see a tremendous amount of growth and development, especially in the downtown area. On 

many weekends now there is something to do that is worth doing - everything from the farmer's market to 

festivals and art shows. I would love to see more of it brought in and supported by the community.” 

“One thing I've noticed, having grown up in Eau Claire and now living there as a young adult, is the alarming 

lack of fun, non-bar-related nightlife. … I feel like at night there are only three options: go out drinking at 

the bars, go see a movie or stay at home. We have a lot of young, hip people 

in EC that would probably love to have another option--and that's just one 

demographic. There are people of all ages and backgrounds who I think really 

would like to see a more vibrant nightlife in Eau Claire. Really, I just want to keep 

our awesome progress going! In the last five years or so, Eau Claire has changed 

from a city that I wanted to get away from into a city that I can barely stand to 

leave. Amazing!!!” 

“I really admire the amount of activities that go on in Phoenix Park. Until the park 

was created, there seemed to be few places that could be such good meeting 

places for farmer's markets and other local gatherings….” 

“Our local music scene is to die for and there is nothing better than lying on the 

lush grass of Phoenix Park, licking a melting ice cream cone while listening to an 

amazing local band every Thursday. Magic.” 

On the flip side, our respondents also see many more possibilities: 

“Innovation/creative endeavors seem to be initiated by transplants to EC. Still 

an overwhelming tendency among EC leadership to resist a contemporary sensibility that would ignite and 

sustain creativity and creative solutions. Conservative stronghold defeats real creative enterprises time 

and again - especially with regard to the arts and cultural expression, be it through programming and 

events, facility development or commitment toward real improvement in these areas. Phoenix Park is great, 

but it doesn't end there.” 

1.1. Start with Cultural Mapping so we know what we have now. Cultural Mapping uses very broad definitions 

of cultural resources. Inventory all resources that contribute to regional identity, history and culture. 

“[there’s] a lot already to do.” “...we all come from small towns. My town is 1,200 people, his town is 2,500, 

and his town is 3,500, so we all come from towns where there’s nothing.” [from a focus-group discussion] 

1.2. Work on Winter. Many Good Life respondents commented on their attachment to a summer with cultural 

experiences weaving through a beautiful, accessible environment. In the beginning, These comments about lack of 

comparable activity in winter are not merely about weather (since there are actually more cultural events in the “school 

One of Eau Claire’s oldest multi-use 

districts — Water Street. 

Photo from Wisconsin Dairy News. 


Approximately 1,000 people jumped 

into the icy waters of Half Moon 

Lake Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011 during 

the 12th annual Polar Plunge in 

Eau Claire. The event was expected 

to raise nearly $100,000 for 

Indianhead Area Special Olympics. 

Photo by Steve Kinderman, courtesy 

of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 


year” than in summer). They are more about the loss of places to interact culturally than about lack of activities. In this 

light, comments about winter, lack of night-time activities outside of bars and lack of activities at more flexible times 

seem similar. 

“Need more public places to host fine arts events during winter months. The ideal public space would include 

our public library, the Nucleus, State Theater, Children's Museum, and a bowling alley all under one roof.” 

“The worst part of the scene is that there are not many spaces for art galleries, concerts or other events. 

In my opinion, this is why the summer is so much more active (due to outdoor spaces being utilized). The 

fact that bars do not allow underagers, even when wristband policies have worked in every other city in 

America, is absurd and I feel as though I have missed out on much of the arts and culture scene due to 

this.” 

“There are very few opportunities geared towards people between 25 and 35. Everything is focused on 

older people, those with children, or college kids. There are very few adult-oriented events found elsewhere, 

books & bars (book club meeting at a bar), policy and a pint, salsa dancing, events occurring after 7 pm 

on a weeknight-some of us have to work, and need some time to get somewhere before it starts, anything 

happening on a weeknight really in the winter time.” 

1.3. Develop (or add) to the criteria for receiving public support (room tax funding, County 

Ec. Dev. Funding) for cultural venues and programming as an acknowledgement of the significant role 

that cultural and natural venues and programming play in attracting and keeping creative class individuals as builders of 

our local economy. 

1.4. Create opportunities for professionals, artists and cultural workers to interact, network 

and/or work together like Milwaukee’s Bucketworks project (see page 17). 

“[More] interconnectedness of the community of Eau Claire -- our city's design and urban plan seems to 

encourage separation rather than co-mingling, though there are some positive signs in terms of the bike 

paths and downtown renewal.” 

Strategy 2. Encourage interest and enterprises based on our arts and cultural strengths. 

2.1. Foster food industries based on local products and markets. Consider a culinary incubator to take 

food ideas emerging in the farmer’s market farther and providing better support for such enterprises year round. 


• Make use of the City’s Chippewa Valley Innovation Center to facilitate this idea — http://www.eauclairedevelopment. 

com/doing_business/cvic.html — or propose something new and similar to them. 

• Copy the Algoma Farm Market Kitchen model at Banbury Place – include Eau Claire Area Economic Development

Corporation’s Idea Challenge program, Farmers’ Market, CVTC Hospitality/Restaurant programs, UWEC 

Entrepreneur Marketing Business Programs. 

2.2. Support potential for growth of music industry. One respondent described Eau Claire County 

as having a “deep culture of music (G35)...” Whatever kind of music interested our respondents, whatever their 

demographic, nearly all had some kind of involvement in music. Our music cultures foster community attachment, 

some break-outs like Justin Vernon or Geoffrey Keezer, and the possibility of supporting industries or industries that 

require workers with creative capabilities and skills. Production and performance foster both other business/ employment 

opportunities and create “third places” and gathering spots where common interests can be developed and shared. 

Survey comments about the need for more high-quality performance venues of various sizes and better gallery space 

(all unprompted, as we did not ask about facilities) and concern about loss of arts education programs in schools 

indicate that there is more that can be done on a community level to encourage this area. 


• Investigate what else needs to happen to encourage the recording studios and studio space that mature artists need. 

• Develop coursework at the University level for surviving as an artist. 

2.3. Investigate other disciplines (such as fine art, folk art, writing and publishing, or others) 

for potential comparable to this. 

Key Resources 

Creative Placemaking, Ann Markusen, Markusen Economic Research Services and Anne Gadwa, Metris Arts 

Consulting, 2010.White paper for The Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a leadership initiative of the National 

Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors and American Architectural 

Foundation. 

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Report 2010 – Soul of the Community: Why People Love Where They Live and 

Why It Matters: A National Perspective. 

Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, on the 

cover of Billboard, May 28, 2011. 

Geoffrey Keezer’s CD Falling Up, 

Maxx Jazz Piano Series, 2003. 


Looking north toward the corner 

of Eau Claire and South Barstow 

Streets, downtown Eau Claire, 1907. 

Courtesy of the Chippewa Valley 

Museum. 


Downtown 

“People will come downtown IF there is something to come down for.” 1979 

“Downtown Eau Claire needs work, but it is our greatest opportunity.” 2011 

• Eau Claire County has more than one downtown, as Augusta and Fall 

Creek are proud to report. But for more than 130 years, through its ups and 

downs, downtown Eau Claire has seemed to both County and City residents 

as the main engine of Eau Claire County’s governmental and commercial 

life, and as the heart of the county’s cultural identity. 

• People like downtown Eau Claire, and they think it has problems. This has 

long been true. 

• As we move forward, we should capitalize on the unique identity 

of downtown Eau Claire, built on the confluence of two scenic and 

historically interesting rivers, to bring about social and economic change 

– the change residents are still clamoring for over three decades after the 

downtown revitalization efforts began in Eau Claire. 

The vintage photograph — almost faded away, its clarity recovered through digital-age magic — looks north on 

Barstow Street as an elaborate circus parade makes the turn from Eau Claire Street toward the photographer. 

Children line the street gutters, their grown-ups standing close behind, while a team of eight horses pulls an 

ornate circus wagon brimming with band members. Two streetcar tracks run down the middle of the wide, cobble 

brick street. The tower of the old City Auditorium is visible beyond the Chippewa Valley Bank (Stone’s Throw 

Building) and across the river. A family observes the goings-on from their second-story window. 

Awnings and hanging signs create a canopy above the sidewalks filled with pedestrians. This bevy of signs rides 

the air advertising The Cleveland Bicycle shop, a drugstore, a dentist’s office. It’s Tuesday, July 30, 1907, and 

downtown Eau Claire is bustling.


While Eau Claire County has four municipalities with downtown business districts, respondents to our county-wide 

survey overwhelmingly identified Downtown Eau Claire as the heart of cultural life in Eau Claire County. 

Downtown Eau Claire thrived as the civic and economic center of 

the city from the 1890s through the mid 20th century. Downtown’s 

decline as the economic center of Eau Claire began in the late 1960s, as 

suburbanization became a national trend in community growth. 

Downtown revitalization efforts began alongside its decline, and as early 

as 1976 with the opening of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library. 

The City of Eau Claire began directly addressing downtown in its 

broad planning documents with the 1980 Eau Claire Central Business 

District Plan. A series of plans addressing various aspects of downtown 

followed, punctuated by the 1993 Physical Survey of Downtown Eau 

Claire and 1994 Comprehensive Urban Design Plan for Downtown Eau 

Claire by the Eau Claire Main Street Association, Inc. 


In 2001, efforts to reclaim downtown culminated with HyettPalma, Inc.’s study of downtown and subsequent publication 

of the Eau Claire Downtown Action Agenda 2001. After consulting with City staff, conducting market analyses, and 

surveying members of the public and private sectors of Eau Claire, a vision for Downtown Eau Claire emerged. The 

Action Agenda proposed that “by the year 2007, Downtown Eau Claire would be filled with lots of people, be attractive 

in winter and summer, boast historic buildings and interesting architecture, be filled with a variety of things to do -- such 

as dining, arts, specialty stores, and family-oriented destinations -- and it would be ‘alive after five’.” 

The Action Agenda directly contributed to the development of Downtown Eau Claire, Inc. (DECI) in 2002. DECI is “a 

non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the development of business, housing, cultural resources, and activities 

within Downtown Eau Claire.” 

The 2005 Eau Claire Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the City Council on September 27, 2005, will guide the City’s 

decisions about long-term growth and physical development of the Eau Claire community through 2025. The 2005 

Downtown Plan section “is a guide for the major public and private investments that need to be made over the next 

twenty years to ensure the continued economic and civic revitalization of the downtown.” The plan’s recommendations 

focus on “the transformation of the downtown into a multi-functional town center active both day and night, seven days a 

week.” Specifically, the goal is to “re-establish the Downtown as a regional mixed-use activity center integrating civic and 

government uses, professional and corporate offices, health care, meeting and entertainment facilities, arts and culture, 

housing, and specialty retail.” 

As with the Action Agenda, the City’s Comprehensive Plan development process includes input from the community. 

The vacant lot at center, corner of 

Farwell and Gibson Streets, is the 

site of the former YMCA building, 

demolished in 1960. All of the 

buildings pictured here are gone. 

The first three from left, owned 

by Hobbs Supply, were torn down 

to make way for the L.E. Phillips 

Memorial Public Library. The Soo 

Line building, at far right, was 

torn down in 1997. Courtesy of the 



Preliminary design plan of 

Haymarket Plaza, Eau Claire 

Downtown Riverfront District. 

Drawing by Ayres Associates. 


A Citizens Advisory Committee, appointed in 2003 by the City Council, advised plan developers through a series of 

discussions culminating in a draft plan submitted to the Plan Commission. 

At the county level, comprehensive planning is focused primarily on land use and development. Though Eau Claire 

County’s Comprehensive Plan 2010-2030 does not directly address Downtown Eau Claire, a series of comprehensive 

plans for the villages, towns and cities of Eau Claire County outline provisions for their downtowns as applicable. The 

comprehensive plans for the Cities of Augusta and Altoona 

and the Village of Fall Creek, for instance, each propose to 

prepare a Downtown Revitalization Plan with assistance from 

the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Planning 

Program. A preliminary study of each community would 

“identify specific redevelopment opportunities, provide 

concepts for the use and design of new development, identify 

streetscape improvements, and offer specific implementation 

strategies.” 

While not extensive in their provisions regarding downtown 

vitality, the Eau Claire County Comprehensive Plan and 

plans for communities within the County do make specific 

recommendations to “preserve and enhance the quality of 

life for the current and future residents” and “protect and 

reinforce the community character” of each community. 

Research and discussion at the national level over the last 

two decades suggests identifying and utilizing community 

character - local culture and identity - is the key to restoring a community’s vitality. In The Creative Community Builder’s 

Handbook, Tom Borrup defines creative community building as being “more than installing or building a creative 

economy,” asserting that “finding the broader identity of place and connecting people across sectors” is central to success. 

In studying what made Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood such an early, successful creative community, Richard Lloyd 

found “the cumulative texture of local urban culture is something that elite efforts alone cannot produce,” and that “the 

historically embedded culture of cities [becomes] raw material in new productive process.” It seemed communities need 

to “capitalize on what makes them unique,” foster a sense of community ownership and pride, and use local culture as 

a catalyst for downtown revitalization. While Eau Claire County has worked to connect local culture with community 

transformation efforts, the results of our survey suggest more work could be done. 


Respondents to The Good Life survey essentially see that Downtown Eau Claire is improving, but they want more. 

Only one question on The Good Life survey directly asked respondents about Downtown Eau Claire: “Please indicate the 

degree to which you agree with the following statements ... A vibrant arts district in the downtown city of Eau Claire is 

important." 87% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed.

Narrative responses to open-ended questions throughout the survey fill in the rest of the story. 

Responses to a three-part question – “What is best about Eau Claire cultural life? What’s worst? What’s missing?” 

– resulted in a range of comments regarding Downtown Eau Claire, including: 

“Downtown is the best - I hope it continues to grow with variety in shops, people, dining, [and] 

entertainment choices.” 

“Downtown is the biggest host of cultural life, I think.” 

“More development and things to do downtown” 

Narrative survey responses to a number of questions and prompts suggest that while some respondents like what they’ve 

been seeing and experiencing downtown recently, they see room for improvements. Some comments directly indicate this: 

“The best thing about Eau Claire cultural life is the revitalization of downtown.” 

“Pairing recovery of traditional downtown centers with cultural assets and activities (need to keep this up).” 

“Downtown coming back is important and needs to remain a focus.” 

“Downtown Eau Claire needs work, but it is our greatest opportunity” 

Respondents directly called for improvements to downtown. Four broad areas of 

concern emerge from the survey comments: 

• Access/transportation to and around downtown – for drivers, pedestrians, 

cyclists. Wayfinding aids. 

• Aesthetics/appeal – less shabby and deserted, more inviting 

• More destinations – arts district, entertainment venues, parks, restaurants 

• More variety – in businesses, things to do 

Respondents to the survey for cultural organizations consistently referred to 

needed development and improvements when referencing Downtown Eau Claire. For example, when asked “What 

cultural developments do you believe would be most helpful in advancing local creativity and innovation?” folks at two 

organizations responded: 

“Re-vitalization of downtown. Student connection to downtown.” 

“Continued and increased significant investment in downtown’s quality of place.” 

When asked “If your organization could preserve three things about Eau Claire’s cultural scene, what would they be and 

why?” folks at three organizations responded “downtown”: 

“Continued downtown development - Phoenix Park, Farmers Market, Water Street.” 

“Development of downtown & riverfront” 



Overall Strategy 

Capitalize on the unique identity of our community to bring about social and economic change – the change residents are 

still clamoring for over three decades after downtown revitalization efforts began in Eau Claire. 

What problem does this solve? 

Other than a few comments lamenting the negative aspects of urban sprawl and a clear interest in the outdoors, 

survey respondents didn’t comment about any other locale as much as downtown. So much unsolicited attention and 

consideration from survey respondents — no matter where in Eau Claire County they themselves live — suggests the 

importance of Downtown Eau Claire to the cultural life of the city and county. 

Interestingly, the mix of praise and concern expressed by survey respondents is comprehensive yet not unfamiliar. 

Essentially, the survey respondents’ collective list of assets and needs regarding downtown reads like those of the Action 

Agenda 2001 and 2005 Downtown Plan. The gap between the public’s vision for downtown and existing planning 

presents two opportunities for improvement: There is much yet to be done downtown, and people are not aware of the 

work currently underway. 

Strategy 1. Use our unique community identity to increase public awareness of and 

participation in downtown revitalization efforts. 

1.1. Enable citizen engagement that isn’t reactive. Foster a sense of ownership among citizens around our 

community identity (something people can identify with and connect to) – “It’s my downtown” – and set up entry points 

for citizen involvement. 

A step to take: Build on DECI’s Idea Lounge series and committees and ECASD’s “Board with your Coffee?” with 

opportunities for regular public discussion through civic engagement committees (like Clear Vision), City + citizens 

meetings, open online dialogue, “State of the Downtown” report. 

1.2. Launch an awareness campaign to get the public up to speed. 

A step to take: Utilize the DECI website and Downtown, Ink as the hub; more regular coverage by other media outlets 

(beyond print). 

Model: Hope Community, Inc. Children’s Village and Peavey Park Designs, Minneapolis, Minnesota. www.hopecommunity.org. 

In the Phillips neighborhood of 20,000 residents, Hope Community, Inc. acquired concrete results from 

a community visioning dialogue process. The community development corporation launched a Listening Project in 1997, 

holding dialogue groups that ultimately deepened the organization’s understanding of the neighborhood and its residents. 

A series of creative workshops led directly to the development of a community park design.

Strategy 2. Leverage our unique community identity to continue efforts to improve 

downtown’s infrastructure and economy. Support Downtown Eau Claire as a center of 

cultural life for the City and County of Eau Claire. 

2.1. Ensure cultural elements of existing plans for the City and County remain a priority and 

are accomplished. Contribute cultural-sector recommendations wherever downtown improvements are discussed at 

the City and County levels. 

A step to take: Create an umbrella coalition of cultural organizations to 

ensure the consideration of cultural sector interests in future comprehensive 

planning efforts. 

2.2. Foster and maintain a vibrant cultural district in 

Downtown Eau Claire for residents and visitors. 

A step to take: Build connections among existing cultural assets 

downtown. 

Model: ACT Roxbury and Madison Park Development Corporation, Boston, 

Mass. www.actroxbury.org, www.madison-park.org. The Lower Roxbury/ 

Dudley Square area (population 41,000) CDC built on the cultural assets of 

the neighborhood to transform its image and develop a more diverse economy. 

Key Resources 

Tom Borrup with Partners for Livable Communities. The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook: How to Transform 

Communities Using Local Assets, Art, and Culture. Saint Paul: Fieldstone Alliance, 2006. 

City of Eau Claire. “2005 Eau Claire Comprehensive Plan.” 2005. 

Downtown Eau Claire, Inc. “What is DECI?” http://www.downtowneauclaire.org/about-us/about-Deci.php, 2011. 

HyettPalma, Inc. “Eau Claire Downtown Action Agenda 2001.” 2001. 

Lloyd, Richard. “Neo-Bohemia: Art and Neighborhood Redevelopment in Chicago.” Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 24, 

No. 5, 2002. 

MSA Professional Services, Inc. with assistance from West Central Planning Commission and Eau Claire County 

Planning & Development Department. “City of Augusta Comprehensive Plan 2009-2030.” 

Rypkema, Donovan D. “Elements of Success in Downtown Revitalization.” National Endowment for the Arts The 

Mayor’s Institute Excellence in City Design. Washington, DC, 2002 

University of Wisconsin-Extension; University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Fritz Sauer, Community Development 

Specialist. “A Comparison of Preferences for Downtown Development Between Merchants and Consumers: Eau Claire, 

Wisconsin.” September, 1979. 

Grammy-nominated Eau Claire 

blues musician James Solberg plays 

a Back Stage Concert at the Eau 

Claire Regional Arts Center in 

downtown Eau Claire. This concert 

series takes place behind the curtain 

of the main auditorium. Photo by 

Nick Meyer for Volume One. 


Full moon over the Chippewa River. Courtesy of 

Dan Thompson, photographer, www.TheSideStreet.com 


Tourism 

• Eau Claire County can enhance tourism by becoming a destination for Cultural and 

Heritage Tourism. To do this, Eau Claire County must represent Eau Claire County 

and not just someplace beautiful and nice. 

• Highlighting key aspects of local culture helps tourism to broaden the local economic 

base and build community pride. But to succeed, we must define culture very broadly, 

including what would have been termed in the past as “high” and “low” culture. 

• Preparing Eau Claire County to take advantage of cultural tourism is straightforward 

enough. Create broad community understanding of cultural and heritage tourism. 

Understand what we have. Understand our “Quality of Place.” Develop a Partnership 

for Cultural and Heritage Tourism. Develop Eau Claire County as a cultural and 

heritage tourism destination. 

According to his obituary, Ernest “Pete” Seymour, age 84, of Eau Claire 

passed away peacefully at Dove Healthcare September 1st, 2011. 

He had graduated in engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign, 

in 1951. In 1957 he completed his master's in structural engineering. His 

intent was to study law at UW-Madison and he'd completed all prerequisites 

to attend, but he went to Eau Claire for a family visit, fell in love with the 

Chippewa Valley, and decided to call it home. 

Pete moved his family to Eau Claire in 1961, fifty years ago, and joined the 

architectural firm of Paul, Hallbeck, and Anderson, where he immediately 

began work on the design of North High School. Twenty-two years later, 

along with his brother Joe and co-worker Gary Davis, Pete purchased the 

firm, renaming it Seymour Davis Seymour. In 2003, at the age of 75 and a 

year after his most recent award (for the "S Bridge" spanning the Eau Claire 

River in downtown Eau Claire), Pete retired. 

Not every visit to Eau Claire County ends like this, of course, but whether 

they stay one night or fifty years, tourists add vitality to the county.


Defining Cultural and Heritage Tourism. 

Cultural heritage tourism means traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories 

and people of the past and present. It includes irreplaceable historic, cultural and natural resources. Challenges: Ensuring 

that tourism does not destroy the very heritage that attracts visitors in the first place. … it does put demands on the 

infrastructure — on roads, airport, water supplies and public services like police and fire protection. 

— National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2011 Fact Sheet, www.culturalheritagetourism.org. 

“[Cultural tourism] defines culture very broadly, including what would have been termed in the past as “high” and 

“low” culture. This inclusive definition permits us to identify and enhance expressions of local character as well as local 

interpretations of regional, national and international cultural activities and trends.… Highlighting key aspects of local 

culture helps tourism to broaden the local economic base and build community pride.” 


— Bray, Cultural Plan for Gananoque, Ontario 

Survey comments indicated resources with potential for cultural/heritage tourism. Many were in response to “What’s 

Best?”: 

“See the area small communities and enjoy the Amish and local cheese crafters and their tours. Like area 

tourist draws such as Laura Ingalls, Eagle, Cave, Trains, etc.” 

“Small town feel, strong community, familiar faces – summer in Eau Claire is pretty epic, and people who 

travel away from Eau Claire fondly remember the summers (from my experience with friends who leave, and 

move to big cities). This is an opportunity for tourism.” 

Survey comments also indicate gaps for tourism or perceptions of gaps. These comments were in response to the questions 

“What’s Worst?” or “What’s Missing?”: 

“I go away from Eau Claire for big ticket events, because we do not have a good space for them here.”[Many 

written comments about this.] 

“We don’t have clearly defined, welcoming entrances for tourists” 

“In the past few years, the Fall International Festival has become disappointing. One would expect from the 

name of the event that we would be able to learn more about other cultures. Recently, it's just been more 

vendors than demonstrative and educational.” 

Community-Defined Festivals 

Many communities create festivals as signature events for and from a specific community. Their themes are very well 


Tim Nyberg paints with the Jana 

Nyberg Group at the 2009 Eau 

Claire Jazz Festival. Nyberg 

says that music with lyrics often 

produces more figurative paintings 

while instrumentals tend to create 

more abstract images. Photo 

courtesy of OctaneCreative.com. 


defined and the concepts carried out consistently. These particular 

festivals draw on resources like those we have here. 

• Light in Winter: Science and the Arts. Ithaca NY. High-end 

performances and informal science activities. A partnership of 

community, Cornell University, and Ithaca College. 

• Zero1 Biennial. Art exhibit, commissions, community activities 

based on resources/interests of high tech industries and arts in San 

Jose CA. 

• WaterFire, Providence. Literally, fires (floating and fixed on 

shoreline) with music all along the rivers. WaterFire takes place 

multiple times over the warmer months. 

• Le Feu et l’Eau—Fire and Water Rural Arts Celebration, Arnaudville LA, Floating Fires! Dozens of visual arts 

exhibits, Cajun music performances, Cajun French-language tables. Developed by a small (pop: 1,400) rural 

community. 

Overall Strategy 

Cultural and heritage tourism requires a broad community understanding of culture and place. The National Trust has 

developed five guiding principles to create a sustainable cultural heritage tourism program: 1) Collaborate; 2) Find the 

fit between a community and tourism; 3) Make sites and programs come alive; 4) Focus on quality and authenticity; 5) 

Preserve and protect resources. 

Strategy 1. Understand What We Have 

1.1. Map Eau Claire County’s cultural resources, using culture in the broad sense required for cultural 

planning: inventory all resources that contribute to regional identity, history and culture. The Good Life survey responses 

are a beginning. Residents identify with the rivers. Respondents valued and sought out the experience of rivers, parks and 

trails in conjunction with the experience of other aspects of culture. A recent National Endowment for the Arts conference 

on metrics could be used to set up a mapping project and establish indicators. 

1.2. Make an officially recognized statement of who we are as a county and city and what 

makes us special, and use this as a basis for planning cultural tourism. 

“Communities that know who they are before they begin marketing themselves to the outside are much less likely to lose 

what is special in the push for economic revival.” Bray, Ganonaque Ontario Cultural Plan. Time frame: Short. 

1.3. Link residents’ “Quality of Life” with “Quality of Experience” for visitors

1.4. If we don’t have one now, develop a profile of current visitors to Eau Claire County and a 

profile of prospective cultural and heritage tourism visitors. 

Strategy 2. Understand our “Quality of Place.” Articulate what is distinctive about Eau 

Claire County culture/heritage. From this, develop a vision for 

visitor experience in the future (x years away). 

“...Over the past two decades, city and town leaders have intentionally sought a 

distinctive brand through a bundle of activities that will draw and retain residents 

and visitors.... Most successful projects reach for this quality of distinctiveness. 

They build on existing expertise and characteristics of place. …As reflected in 

their urban layout and architecture, some communities have built their initiatives 

around unique local economic and social history. …older industrial cities … built 

along rivers and lakeshores, … possess commercial, industrial, and residential 

structures with architectural and historic merit…. coalitions of artists, city 

officials, real estate developers, banks, and philanthropists worked to recreate 

attractive work and living spaces in emptied structures, taking advantage of 

shorelines and preserving the individual character of buildings. Providence’s 

famous WaterFire event uses the river as an artery connecting various sites. Many 

others…have used vintage architecture and land uses as stages for arts-infused 

revitalization. ” 

— Ann Markusen, Ann Gadwa, Creative Placemaking 

“Eau Claire does not have a distinctive identity/story that makes 

it unique. This is vital to a feeling of community: not to mention to 

boost tourism dollars, etc. … E.C. needs to know and celebrate its 

own history, instead of just looking outside of itself to see ‘what 

everyone else is doing’” 

Strategy 3. Develop a partnership for cultural and heritage tourism. 

“The constituency for cultural planning ... [has] three distinctive organizational segments—commercial, nonprofit and 

community—with artists themselves comprising a crosscutting occupation with multiple service organizations and an 

independent voice….” 

— Cultural Planning and the Creative City, October, 2006, Ann Markusen, Professor and Director, Project on Regional 

and Industrial Economics (PRIE), Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. 

IGA Country Jam USA, Town of 

Union, 1990s. The country music 

festival attracts about 140,000 

people to Eau Claire County each 

summer. Courtesy of Visit Eau 

Claire. 


Left: Lincoln Avenue in Fall Creek, 

Christmastime, 1949. Courtesy of 

the Fall Creek Historical Society. 

Right: Lincoln Street in Augusta, 

October 2007. Courtesy of Dennis 

Knuth, www.augustawi.com 


Strategy 4. Develop Eau Claire County as a cultural and heritage tourism destination. 

4.1. Create a partnership with Visit Eau Claire to define regional culture for visitors and direct them to ways of 

experiencing the distinctive culture of the area. 

4.2. Rework information and auto tours from Timber Trails, a former local heritage tourism program, to use immediately 

in Visit Eau Claire communications to visitors. 

4.3. Inform and demonstrate to local resources how they can be part of a cultural and heritage tourism strategy in a 

beneficial way. Look for ways in which development of sports tourism, health care or shopping could combine with 

cultural tourism. All of these areas are part of local culture and have a distinct character/history because of this. 

4.4. Develop comprehensive information and new experiences based on all aspects of regional culture. 

4.5. Secure a mix of “every day” and “special occasion” options so that there is never a time not to visit Eau Claire 

County. 

4.6. Develop capacity of local resources to work with/welcome visitors. Address challenges that exclude visitors from 

resources, i.e., many Barstow and Water Street businesses closed on Sundays. 

Strategy 5. Develop plans and specific activities based on current resources/skills available 

and understanding of gaps. The Good Life survey is a good source about what residents think, and what they find 

to be available or not available. 

5.1. Celebrate small town life. Eau Claire County and the surrounding area have “the small towns of your imagination.” 

City of Eau Claire residents enjoy the smaller surrounding communities. But, of course, even Eau Claire is a small 

town to Twin Cities residents. 

5.2. Celebrate city life. To smaller regional communities, the City of Eau Claire is the metropolis.

Education 

• In order to have a strong cultural sector and community, both formal and informal 

opportunities for cultural, history, heritage, and arts learning must be available for all ages. 

• Although Eau Claire County has opportunities in these areas, there is need for greater 

diversity and integration throughout the community. 

• This can be accomplished by not just providing more educational opportunities, but also by 

infusing arts, history and heritage content into all educational experiences, and by building 

stronger connections between local schools, organizations, and cultural representatives. 

In January 2011, several administrators at the Eau Claire Area School District opened 

up to Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reporter Eric Lindquist about a new approach to 

curriculum in the district. The approach seeks to narrow an “opportunity-to-learn gap” 

between white students and minority students, who now represent 16.7 percent of the 

district’s total enrollment. 

One leg of the approach is “infusing the curriculum and classroom with elements that 

are culturally relevant for students of all races and ethnicities.” 

Caitlin Lee, past president of the Eau Claire Area Hmong Mutual Assistance 

Association, said that when she was a district student, the gap affected areas of culture 

such as history. “When you compare and contrast between Hmong and white students, 

what [white students are] getting is their history ... there is a place for them in there 

somewhere,” she said. “But for Hmong students, you’re not in it. You’re not included.” 

Perhaps more significantly than calling for a new curriculum, the new approach calls 

for teachers to question the examples they use in class to teach the curriculum as it 

stands. Eau Claire North High School teacher Marjorie Cramer noted, “My students are 

not supposed to be me. They are supposed to be who they are.” 

Infusing culture — history, heritage, or the arts — into current curriculum is similarly 

possible, and would help all students “find themselves” in their studies. 

Top: Building a hut in the marsh 

behind Sunnyview School, Town of 

Washington, 1930s. Courtesy of the 


Bottom: Altoona Art teacher Donna 

Walther helped 4th grade students 

during an art class, Spring 2010. 

Photo by Shane Opatz, courtesy of 

the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 


A National History Day exhibit 

on hockey masks. Courtesy of the 




Much support has been garnered for arts, history and heritage education, particularly through the attempt at creating an 

arts charter school in the City of Eau Claire, and many people understand the importance of this education. However, 

there is still a general sentiment that while arts, culture, and creativity are important, they are not part of the bedrock of an 

education, but simply the flowers that grow on top. 

The Knight Foundation study showed that education is one of the factors most likely to influence residents’ attachment 

to their communities. These factors have been in the top four each year of the study. The economy and safety were not 

among the top drivers. Due to the correlation between attachment 

to place and economic growth, “leaders also have much to gain by 

improving perceptions of the quality of K-12 education in their 

communities. Not only will this increase attachment overall, but a 

more positive view of public schools can also help attract families that 

will help raise the next generation of talent in the communities.” 

As the Wisconsin Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education 

states, “Developing arts and creativity in education programs is a 

deliberate workforce development strategy and will stimulate creativity 

and innovation and enable entrepreneurship. … Wisconsin’s future 

prosperity depends on our success in reestablishing our leadership 

position in breeding innovators and entrepreneurs – Wisconsin’s next 

generation, ready to meet the challenges of the 21 st century.” 

A multitude of studies show the link between arts education and overall 

academic success, including reading and language development, 

mathematics, fundamental cognitive skills and capacities, motivations 

to learn, and positive social behavior. Arts education reaches students 

who are not otherwise being reached, connects students to themselves 

and each other, provides new challenges for those already considered 

successful, and connects learning experiences to the world of real work. 

In addition, a 2008 study in Colorado found that arts education lowers dropout rates, enhances parental involvement in 

schools, and strengthens creativity and imagination, which are in-demand work force skills. 

Failing to invest in education, especially arts- and culture-based education, will severely hinder Eau Claire’s competitive 

edge, not only for future graduates, but for Eau Claire County’s economic success. In order to compete with new national 

and global economies, we must foster local creative talent, retain the talent that is already here, and draw in new 

resources. Also, individuals with personal arts, history and heritage learning experiences are much more likely to be 

steady arts and cultural appreciators and attendees throughout their lifetime.


Our survey respondents indicated that they do greatly value arts, history and heritage education: 95% either agreed or 

strongly agreed that “Arts and music education in our schools is important,” 96% either agreed or strongly agreed that 

“Residents of all ages should have the opportunity to participate in creative endeavors,” 96% either agreed or strongly 

agreed that “I want young people to have creative opportunities in their lives here,” and 97% either agreed or strongly 

agreed that “It is important to preserve and celebrate our history.” 

They are also involved personally with arts and culture educational opportunities. 

Three examples: 

• 34% of respondents learn about historical subjects (research, read or watch TV 

shows) and 11% would like to. 

• 22% of respondents take art or craft-making classes and 33% would like to. 

• 8% of respondents take dance classes and 25% would like to. 

Some 23% of respondents indicated that they regularly “see or do arts, cultural, and 

heritage things at college or university cultural facilities,” while 55% occasionally do. 

Public Schools 

In the Eau Claire Area School District, students in grades 1-5 receive 60 minutes of 

art each week and 90 minutes of music each week. In the Fall Creek School District, 

students in grades 1-5 receive 60 minutes of art each week and 60 minutes of music 

each week. Neither district meets the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s recommendation of 90 minutes each 

for art and music each week. 

When funding for field trips was cut in 2009, District United PTA/PTO raised enough funds for students to go on their 

regular field trips for the following school year. For the 2011-2012 school year, funding was restored for elementary 

school field trips, but not for middle or high school. 

Key partnerships between the school districts and community organizations include those with the Chippewa Valley 

Museum, Beaver Creek Reserve and the Children’s Museum of Eau Claire. For example, all the Eau Claire Area School 

District kindergarten classes visit CMEC for a field trip in January and February. 

There are outstanding teachers within the community who have helped create unique programs, including Visioneer 

Challenge, created by Johanna Peterson, Northstar. This program invites professional designers to present students with a 

real-world problem. Kathy Bareis, Delong, developed Prime Products, which brings students together to learn how artists 

create and sell their work. Then students develop a product and their own company through which they sell their works. 

Multiple schools in Eau Claire have worked with Arts@Large, an innovative program that provides multidisciplinary arts 

experiences. One recipient, Roosevelt Elementary School, received funds to bring arts into the daily lives of its students 

including fieldtrips to see performances, art supplies to be used in the classroom, and a mural that was designed and 

DeLong Middle School has a 

vegetable and herb garden, and 

they recently decided to double its 

size with help from Arts@Large, 

an organization that provides art 

programming and advocacy in 

public schools throughout the state. 

Science teacher Michelle Brettingen 

said the garden fit into their 

philosophy of health awareness, 

as kids learn to grown their own 

tomatoes, potatoes, corn, squash, 

beans, and many other vegetables. 

Photo by Andrea Paulseth for 

Volume One 


Patti See (UWEC Academic Skills 

Center) and Bruce Taylor (emeritus, 

English) are the authors of the 

book “Higher Learning: Reading 

and Writing about College,” third 

edition, Prentice Hall/Pearson 

Education. The book, for use 

in freshman orientation/student 

success/freshman composition 

courses, is an anthology of 

imaginative literature by student 

as well as professional writers. It 

contains stories, poems, essays, 

letters and memoirs about all 

aspects of college life in order to 

motivate students, especially first 

year students, to read, discuss, 

write and think critically about 

the problems and challenges of 

succeeding in college. 


painted by every student in the building. 

Many local arts and cultural organizations and individuals provide school-based programs, both during the school day and 

after school. For example, the Montessori Charter School brings in artists. 

The University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire 

At the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire (UWEC), 21% of students take an English class, 17% a history class 

(although only 3% take a local/regional/state history class), 16% a foreign language class, 7% a visual arts class, 6% 

a music class, and 2% a performing arts class. In 2010-2011, 70 students graduated with a degree in visual arts, 22 in 

performing arts, 65 in music, 85 in history, 206 in foreign language and 105 in English. UWEC students also have access 

to over 60 cultural clubs. Chippewa Valley Technical College students have access to a fluctuating number of cultural 

clubs which are created and active when there is student interest. 

The history department has received the UW System Regents Teaching Excellence Award for Academic Departments and 

Programs in recognition of its exceptional commitment to teaching and learning. The history department, in partnership 

with the Chippewa Valley Museum, and Cooperative Educational Services Agency 10 has received more than $5 million 

in grants from the U.S. Department of Education Teaching American History program. 

UW-Eau Claire has a nationally recognized forensics program, winning the state tournament for 19 consecutive years. 

From choral, orchestral and wind repertoire to jazz and musical theater, UWEC’s music and theater arts program is one 

of the best in the country. One example: Grammy-nominated Jazz Ensemble I, six-time winner of Down Beat magazine’s 

“Best College Big Band” award. 

UW-Eau Claire is ranked sixth in the nation and first among all master’s-level institutions in Wisconsin for the number of 

students who study abroad for a semester or longer. 

“Also fantastic to have UWEC campus diversity, but I think the UWEC faculty could do more to engage the 

non-campus community.” 

Other public programs 

Young people in Eau Claire County are both talented and dedicated to a variety of arts and cultural opportunities. They 

are also a sizable percentage of the volunteer force for cultural organizations. The Chippewa Valley Museum had 75 

volunteers under the age of 18 in 2011. The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library has long had pages, and the Children’s 

Museum of Eau Claire is looking at getting middle school students involved as volunteers. 

There are many out-of-school arts and cultural educational opportunities in Eau Claire County. Out of the 35 cultural 

organizations that responded to our survey, 16 said they offered educational classes/workshops for the public last year, 

for a total of 159 classes/workshops offered. Six organizations responded that they held classes/workshops within the last 

year for professional artists and people who work in a creative field and 9 organizations replied they had held a total of 21 

lectures. 

Twenty-one organizations serve public school students and 17 serve both private and home school students. Between the

organizations, all grade levels are served from Pre-K through University. Fourteen organizations have 75% or more of 

their students coming from Eau Claire County. Another six organizations have between 30-64% of their students from Eau 

Claire County. 

Three organizations in Eau Claire County specialize in life-long learning opportunities for adults: the L.E. Phillips Senior 

Center, Chippewa Valley Learning in Retirement, and UWEC Continuing Education. Commercial businesses and other 

non-profit organizations also offer classes in a variety of arts, history and heritage areas. 

A number of respondents expressed satisfaction with current Eau Claire County educational opportunities: 

“Best is that we have access (probably due to the University) to some of the most incredible talents and 

those people frequently share their expertise and talent with the community.” 

“EC public schools are doing a fantastic job of educating our youth on cultural issues and exposing children 

to stimulating outlets.” 

“Libraries - they provide education and recreational materials to all ages” 

Despite many cultural strengths, Good Life respondents saw places for improvement. 

“I think the performance level in music and theater is increasing and I only hope the cut in school music 

programs doesn't create a situation where this performance level and appreciation goes into decline.” 

“Football and hockey rule. As a kid, I played two sports. My kids are in sports. I’m not against sports but 

cultural things should also be important enough to fund.” 

“Inadequate inclusion of ethnic studies in the schools” 

“The thing that we long for the most is AFFORDABLE and easily accessible classes/museums/ educational 

opportunities relating to culture. Classes for all ages about theater, art, language, history, dance, music, 

nature, environment, etc. are not very common (or at least hard to search for and find).” 

It’s already happening: 

Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture, an innovative program conducted by the Center for the Study of Upper 

Midwestern Cultures (UW–Madison), the Chippewa Valley Museum, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and K-12 teachers from 

throughout Wisconsin. WTLC tours immerse teachers in the cultures of Wisconsin communities through on-site guided 

tours, interaction with local residents, and community-based presentations over the course of a 5-day travel seminar. 

http://csumc.wisc.edu/wtlc/ 

The L.E. Phillips Senior Center provides a place for Senior Citizens, 55 and better who reside in the City or County 

of Eau Claire to maintain independence, receive services and develop skills which enhance the emotional, physical and 

social quality of their lives. They offer classes covering a range of subjects including Spanish, watercolor, researching 

genealogy online and many more. http://www.lephillipsseniorcenter.com/html/classes.html 




Community respondents suggested some future goals both for K-12 education and affordable life long learning. 

“All children would have access to arts/humanities in multiple disciplines both in- and out-of-school.” 

“Nature appreciation (community organized nature walks/bike rides, classes for young children on enjoying 

nature and gardening at their level, etc)” 

“I still want to be learning. Learning opportunities for all ages.” 

“Cooking school/classes of different ethnic food (winter months)” 

“We have so many Hmong and Spanish speaking people and we do little to emphasize that fact.” 

Models 

A+ Schools Program, North Carolina, “a whole school reform model that views the arts as fundamental to how teachers 

teach and students learn in all subjects. The mission of the A+ Schools Program is to create schools that work for everyone 

— students, teachers, administrators, parents and the community.” http://aplus-schools.ncdcr.gov/whoweare.html 

Children of the Future, Columbus, Ohio, “an arts and public safety program for youth ages 5-14. The after-school and 

summer programming is free and available to children at inner-city schools, recreation and community centers. Artists 

work at the programming centers to plan and conduct activities in dance, creative writing, music, theatre and visual arts.” 

www.gcac.org/edu/children_of_the_future.php 

Strategies 

Strategy 1. Infuse arts, history and heritage content into all educational experiences. 

1.1. Establish an Arts, History and Heritage in Education Advocacy Group to provide information to 

the general public and civic leaders about the value of cultural learning. 

This is a vital step in creating awareness and support for the arts, history and heritage in education. School districts are 

unlikely to invest more time and money in these vital areas without widespread expression of community support, and 

support will not come without understanding. 

Some steps to take: 

• Develop semi-annual public programs at a cultural or historic site emphasizing how arts and cultural learning 

contribute to the academic and life-long success of every K-12 student. 

• Make annual presentations about the ways current arts, history and heritage opportunities align with state academic 

standards to county superintendents and principals.

• A website including information such as 

- current research on arts, history and heritage education 

- history, heritage, culture and arts education funding opportunities 

- cultural-, arts-, and history-education professional-development opportunities 

- cultural, history, heritage, and arts events at all public and private schools 

- community educational opportunities in arts, history and heritage 

1.2. Cultural organizations and local school districts should provide professional 

development opportunities and necessary support for school staff to implement 

creative, active learning across the curriculum. 

This doesn’t require insertion of new classes or units, but helps teachers infuse local 

history and culture into existing curricula. 

A step to take: 

UWEC should implement creative processes in pre-service teacher education. 

Strategy 2. Provide more educational opportunities for arts, history and heritage. 

2.1. Provide courses in school, accessible to all students, related to regional history and heritages and visual and 

performing arts. 

Currently, the courses in these areas differ from school to school, district to district and even from year to year. Due to 

scheduling conflicts in Middle and High schools, it is possible that students may be unable to take the courses they would 

like, even if they are offered. 


Cultural organizations offer help to teachers. 

2.2. Provide children and teens more opportunities for culture, history, and arts learning outside of school. 

Organizations throughout the county offer programming for children, teens and young adults. However, there is room for 

more programming dedicated specifically to these areas, as well as infusing arts, history and heritage into existing topics 

and opportunities. 


Incorporate new/altered programs within existing organizations’ framework. For example, the Chippewa Valley 

Symphony, Chippewa Valley Theatre Guild, and the Eau Claire Children’s Theater could invite and provide tickets for a 

specific scout troop to each of its concerts. 

Chippewa Falls Middle School 

teacher Gregg Jochimsen (second 

from left) and fellow teachers from 

around Wisconsin participated in a 

Civil War reenactment as part of a 

professional-development program, 

a collaboration between the 

Chippewa Valley Museum, UWEC, 

and Cooperative Educational 

Services Agency 10, funded by $1.67 

million grant from the Department 

of Education Teaching American 

History program. Photo by Shane 

Opatz, courtesy of the Eau Claire 

Leader-Telegram. 


Celebrating the Hmong New Year, 

November 15, 2011, on the UWEC 

campus. Photo by Jenna Campbell, 

courtesy of Inside Eau Claire. 


2.3. Provide adults and seniors more opportunities for culture, history, heritage, and arts learning. 

Although Eau Claire County organizations offer educational opportunities, many respondents requested additional 

learning opportunities with more topics and more varied scheduling. Filling in these gaps will create a stronger cultural 

community and broaden the range of actively involved participants. 


• Offer educational opportunities at varying times of day (not all seniors are retired and have daytime hours to attend 

events, and not all adults work 9-5 hours). 

• Create exhibits and other programming on the diverse arts and cultural traditions of more recent immigrant 

populations in Eau Claire County communities. 

Strategy 3. Build stronger connections between local schools, organizations and cultural 

representatives. 

3.1. Create a network of culture, arts, history and heritage 

based youth programs. 

Creating a network would help those who produce programs, those who currently 

seek out these opportunities and those audiences who are not yet being reached. 

Organizations would benefit from sharing best practices and information, joint 

programming, community awareness, challenges and possibly collaborative 

solutions. Arts, history and heritage learning opportunities allow youth to study and 

explore the world around them and their own talents in a safe environment, while 

learning acceptance of the diversity around them. 


• Create a database of youth arts, history and heritage learning opportunities. 

• Enhance collaborations between organizations to expand and promote 

afterschool and summer arts, history and heritage opportunities for youth. 

• Improve the ways organizations (either individually or as a group) share 

information about opportunities with students in school. Possibly a partnership 

between the districts and the organizations. 

3.2. Better communicate the range of history, heritage, arts, and culture learning experiences and resources 

available for children in school. Involve more collaboration between creative-sector leaders and educators. 

Currently, there is access to arts, history and heritage educational opportunities in the county’s public schools, but it varies 

from school to school and from teacher to teacher. Better communication would allow students from any school in Eau 

Claire County to access current opportunities at other schools.


• Create a “Grab Bag” webpage of successful arts, history and heritage programs already occurring in county schools 

(i.e. Montessori bringing in artists) 

• Identify artists, historians and community cultural representatives willing to work with students in school; provide 

orientation and training for this kind of involvement. Maintain and circulate an updated list of these individuals. 

• Annually assemble leaders of education and cultural organizations to increase awareness of the cultural, creative, and 

historic resources in the county and possibilities for collaboration and coordination. 

• Create partnerships between Eau Claire County schools and community organizations that will expand and improve 

available cultural programs and services in schools. 

3.3. Increase opportunities for youth to showcase their talents and knowledge in community 

venues, events and programs. 

Allowing youth to share their talents and knowledge with the community at large increases positive connections between 

youth and the general community, and gives youth opportunities to develop leadership skills, responsibility and selfconfidence. 


• Incorporate youth talent into existing events and programs. 

• Have youth leaders help create a new event or program, perhaps working through an existing cross-district program 

such as Youth Leadership Eau Claire. 

• Have more showcase space available for youth talents and knowledge in public spaces, including within their school, 

government offices, outdoor areas, hospitals and local businesses. 

3.4. Bridge the gap between UWEC and the general community in communicating and coordinating 

culture, arts, history and heritage programs and offerings. 

Eau Claire County has a diverse arts, history and heritage scene, in part because of the opportunities provided by UWEC. 

Strengthening collaboration between UWEC and community organizations would offer support to the organizations and 

help the University play a stronger role in community life. Better connecting the University with the community would 

also encourage students to be more involved in ways that build community. 


• Coordinate university and community organizations’ programming. 

• Make campus culture, history, heritage, and arts offerings more accessible to the community. 

• Make off-campus arts, culture, history and heritage opportunities more accessible to students by including 

orientations, bus routes and special welcomes for students at those events and venues. 

• Have the university establish an instructional building downtown. 



Strategy 4. Education for creative workers should include how to manage their career in 

the real world. 

Many creative workers — such as visual artists, musicians, and writers — spend much of their lives self-employed, or 

working so many hours in an unrelated field or job that their creativity withers. Many highly trained creative workers 

eventually leave their fields. 


• High schools and universities should offer courses relating creative work and small business management. 

• Cultural organizations can offer seminars for creative workers on how to manage and market their skills and products; 

include members from the business community. 

Key Resources: 

Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development www.americansforthearts.org/ 

public_awareness/resources/artsed_publications/003.asp 

Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, 2002. www.americansforthearts.org/public_awareness/ 

artsed_facts/highlights/001.asp 

The Arts, Creative Learning & Student Achievement: A 2008 Study of Arts Education in Colorado Public Schools. 

www.coloarts.state.co.us/programs/education/study/Colorado%20Arts%20Ed%20Study%20Summary%20Final.pdf 

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Report 2010 – Soul of the Community: Why People Love Where They Live 

and Why It Matters: A National Perspective. 

Wisconsin Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education 

St. Cloud, Minnesota: Community Cultural Arts Plan 

http://www.ci.stcloud.mn.us/Arts/St.%20Cloud%20CommunityCultural%20Plan.pdf 

Bradenton, Florida: Realize Bradenton: Cultural Master Plan 

http://www.artserie.org/culturespark/_files/CultureSpark_BradentonCulturalPlanFINAL.pdf 

York County, Pennsylvania: Imagine York County 

http://www.artserie.org/culturespark/_files/CultureSpark_York_Cultural_Plan_Full_Version_Draft.pdf

Aesthetics and Character 

• A 2010 Knight Foundation survey found that “social offerings, openness, aesthetics, and education are, in that order, 

most likely to influence residents’ attachment to their communities.” 

• Good Life survey respondents were outspoken in their appreciation of 

— or disappointment with — area aesthetics. 

• We can improve our rivers, parks, city entrances, and wayfinding. We 

can respect historic buildings and neighborhoods. An excellent and first 

step would be for all Eau Claire County municipalities to be as specific 

about historic preservation and aesthetics in their comprehensive plans 

as they are about recreational resources. 

In covering a City Council meeting Tuesday, March 27, 1923, 

The Eau Claire Leader reported, “Appeal was made yesterday by 

the council to … the Eau Claire Woman’s Club to rouse public 

sentiment against much which is disfiguring to the beauty of the 

city, such as ash piles, waste paper, and similar garbage on private 

property. It was voted that the chairman appoint a committee of 

three to look after the matter. 

“The deplorable appearance of river banks, both the Eau Claire and 

Chippewa, was emphasized by the speaker of the afternoon, Mrs. 

W.G. Jackson and by those who entered an enthusiastic discussion 

that bid fair to have no end.... 

“Though the ears of many individuals and some officials must have 

burned horribly between 3 and 5 yesterday afternoon, most of the 

discussion was based on constructive criticism. Mrs. W.G. Jackson 

had carefully prepared her topic of City Beautiful to include such 

things as pictures of attractive bungalow residences for fire stations, asking why it was deemed essential that a 

fire station should be hideous....” 

Downtown Eau Claire Farmers 

Market, September 18, 2010. Photo 

by John Connell. 




Looking southwest toward the corner of Graham and East Grand in Eau 

Claire, before and after demolition of the Chappell Block. Courtesy of the 


Respondents were outspoken in both their appreciation for area aesthetics and their 

disappointment whenever they perceived lack of aesthetics or care. 

What’s Best? 

“Beautiful, natural setting is the best Eau Claire has.” 

“Parks” [many responses] 

“Phoenix Park” [many responses] 

“Phoenix Park, Rod & Gun Park, Owen Park, Carson Park, and others are 

a regular day trip in our house and they are beautifully maintained and 

available.” 

“Lots of nice outdoor areas for walking/festivals/music.” 

“I love our small, yet beautiful downtown.” 

What’s Worst 

“Downtown is still ugly, underused, and off-putting to pedestrians (in 

spite of Phoenix Park), with lots of potentially nice buildings having 

hideous 1970s facades, etc.” 

“Clairemont/Highland cement/stoplight strewn zones. The unattended ... 

looking [medians] in our city streets and the lack of mowed areas make 

us look shabby and uncaring of our environment within our city.” 

“Constant development/sprawl at the city's edges.” 

“The worst thing is the landlords who don't care.” 

“What's worst is how many historic buildings (like the Opera House) have 

been torn down and replaced with eyesores.” 

What’s Missing 

“Downtown should face towards and [use] the beauty of the river.” 

“It's important to maintain city and neighborhood parks to provide a 

space for cultural activities - and a place to meet neighbors.” 

“Preserving our historic architecture.” 

“Enhance the walking community.” 

“Public art is missing.”

The Knight Foundation’s ongoing study about “attachment to place” in 26 

American cities, large and small, is based on Gallup surveys from nearly 43,000 

individuals. The top findings show that neither jobs, the economy, safety nor 

demographics are the strongest drivers of community attachment. Rather “social 

offerings, openness, aesthetics, and education are, in that order, most likely to 

influence residents’ attachment.” When residents enjoy what their community has 

to offer, they spend more on local activities and businesses, directly benefiting the 

local economy. 

Aesthetics in the context of the study included perceptions of the availability of 

parks, playgrounds, and trails and beauty or physical setting. Communities 

with the highest levels of attachment had the highest rates of gross domestic 

product growth. 


Residents quickly adopted Phoenix Park as not only a beautiful place but 

also a gathering spot and location for community activities. Many Good Life 

respondents (from throughout the county) commented on its value. They also 

used it as a standard for what re-development elsewhere should be like. 

Northeast Eau Claire County has a wide range of parks and recreational areas. 




Models 

Realize Bradenton. In 2008-09, Bradenton, Fla., combined downtown revitalization and cultural development efforts 

into a 10-year plan to leverage arts, culture, and heritage to build economic development, cultural tourism, and civic 

engagement. Realize Bradenton, Inc., was formed to implement key plan elements in conjunction with the Bradenton 

Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and other partners. The DDA also established an advisory board to oversee 

its public arts program and the growing interest in public art in downtown. Among the achievements: a substantial 

improvement and 1.25 mile extension of the Riverwalk on the Manatee River. Artists proposed original projects for the 

Riverwalk, which includes spaces for large-group and individual activities and education about the history and natural 

history of the river. Realize Bradenton provides many arts and heritage events under the banner “downtown is everyone’s 

neighborhood.” 

Preservation Development Initiative in Duluth, Minn., focused on downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Among 

Duluth’s assets are turn-of-the-century buildings, a spectacular lake-side setting and ample recreational offerings. The 

initiative established 

• a 20-block Duluth Commercial Historic District with 86 contributing commercial structures. Historic district 

properties became eligible for the federal rehab tax credit. 

• a Preservation Loan Fund, which completed five residential rehab projects investing nearly $200,000 in four 

neighborhoods and leveraging more than $700,000. 

• hands-on technical preservation training for 40 professionals and homeowners. 

• User-friendly Design Guidelines for homeowners with historic properties.

The Community Art & Design Program of the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission (Salina, Kansas) was initiated 

in 2000. A 2006 policy facilitated the inclusion of artists, art, and design in selected city projects. Artists have created 

light sculptures at the water treatment plant, mosaics for the municipal pool, exterior murals composed of historic images, 

wayfinding signage and unique lighting for bridges and overpasses. The Commission sometimes funds these public art 

projects and at other times advises agencies doing their own projects. 

Strategies 

Strategy 1. Value and enhance the aesthetics of the rivers. 

“… All downtown and Water St. buildings face away from the rivers and the backs of the buildings are 

mostly waste land. Make it attractive, and people will come and hang out.” 

“… plants along river trails need to be trimmed back so one can see the river.” 

Strategy 2. Incorporate aesthetic elements, cultural activities and gathering spots into all 

parks and commercial areas. Continue the design standards established for Phoenix Park. 

“Geographically EC is a beautiful place. The community has done much in the last few years to make our 

city better in so many ways. I wish people would realize how important it is to our city to support the parks, 

arts, and cultural events. We need to provide financial support including public funds. These commitments 

will pay-off and benefit our community for ourselves and those that will follow.” 

“We could still use some work on [neighborhood] parks …Upgrading the visual look of our streets in 

maintaining them and downtown.” 

“The worst is that some neighborhoods and newer areas of development do not have 

neighborhood parks (i.e., development patterns that do not include this feature).” 

Strategy 3. Improve entrances and wayfinding. 

“By far, I believe the downtown lacks aesthetic appeal. The entrances into downtown are not 

attractive, and downtown needs to reinvent itself to become a destination for arts goers 

rather than just commerce. Ugly is not a word I'd like to use, but I find that it's unavoidable.” 

“[Need] welcoming signs into EC.” 

“Identify gateways that announce who we are.” 

Strategy 4. Respect and protect historic buildings and neighborhood character. 

Our zoning laws need to be more like New Urbanist principles of compact transit-oriented development. (Congress for the 

New Urbanism, a reform movement based on the principles of traditional urbanism that advocates the planning and design 

An entrance to Eau Claire. 

Photo from Scott A. Wozniak. 



of great urban neighborhoods that are walkable, diverse, and economically sustainable, with shopping, civic institutions, 

parks, and jobs within easy access of residents.) 

“The west side of EC could be spruced up with sculptures, small green spaces. It's not a particularly inviting 

part of the city yet has great neighborhoods!” 

“Haven’t cherished our old bldgs.” 

“Don’t have a big inventory of historical arch or good contemp architecture.” 

“I wish everyone cared more about aesthetically pleasing streets and housing areas.” 

“Street signs and lighting in the historic area of Eau Claire need to be replaced with more appealing 

designs.” 

Strategy 5. Encourage neighborhood-based programs and events. 

Some neighborhoods lack an obvious gathering point. Many communities create neighborhood-based cultural centers 

in existing facilities, such as schools or parks. Participation in larger events could begin at the neighborhood-level and 

then culminate in a larger event downtown, making them a “gateway experience” to encourage and build more frequent 

cultural participation. 

Strategy 6. Encourage all EC County municipalities to be as specific about historic 

preservation and aesthetic components as they are about recreational resources. 

All EC County municipalities use the same template for their Comprehensive Plans. The template suggests planning for 

historic preservation and cultural or aesthetic enhancements but these sections lack development. 

Measures: 

GDP growth. Growth in community attachment (Need a base survey.) Increased rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of 

historic structures. Art commissioned or purchased for all new facilities. Working artists receive a larger portion of their 

annual income from their art work. Greenspace, trails, sidewalks interconnect. 

Key Resources: 

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, “Knight Soul of the Community 2010: Why People Love Where They Live 

and Why It Matters.” This on-going study defines community attachment as “an emotional connection to a place that 

transcends satisfaction, loyalty, and even passion. A community’s most attached residents have strong pride in it, a 

positive outlook on the community’s future, and a sense that it is the perfect place for them. They are less likely to want 

to leave than residents without this emotional connection. They feel a bond to their community that is stronger than just 

being happy about where they live.” 

Cultural, re-development, and historic preservation plans from Duluth MN, Bradenton FL and Salina KS.

Access 

• It is not enough to simply offer cultural opportunities to residents. Residents have to be 

made aware of them. Opportunities must be offered at varying times, venues, and admission 

charges. And residents must be able to get there. 

• While Eau Claire has a good start on many of these access issues, there is room to improve 

and offer opportunities better suited to meet residents’ needs and wants. 

• Residents’ needs and wants can be met by listening for patterns in what they say. 

Access means different things to different people. 

• Both Judy Ann Haag Carsten and her father grew up in Eau Claire. Her father told 

her that, in the 1930s, “Five cents would take us to a movie, but we [could rarely] go 

because we had to pay the utility bill which was $1 every month. Five cents ... was for 

an afternoon matinée. Evening shows were 10 cents. We never went to those.” 

• Early in the morning of February 8, 2004, the complainant of a later ADA lawsuit — 

a paraplegic in a manual wheelchair — called a local cab company to arrange for transportation to a nearby 

motel for him and a friend, both of whom had attended a concert in Eau Claire the previous evening. 

After arriving to pick up the would-be passengers, the driver drove away without any explanation or discussion. 

The complainant then called the company’s dispatcher and asked why the cab driver had refused to pick up 

the two passengers. After the dispatcher learned that he used a wheelchair, the dispatcher told him that the 

company’s policy did not permit its cab drivers to transport wheelchairs. 

He estimated that he and his friend were stranded on the street in the bitter cold (the temperature reached +1° 

overnight that night) for approximately 20-25 minutes without any way to get to their motel until a passerby 

offered them a ride. The federal government and the cab company reached a settlement in this case. 

• An October 2011 Facebook post invited area residents to a music video shoot taking place “around Eau 

Claire” from “Friday, November 11, 2011 at 5:00pm until Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 5:00pm.” “The song 

we’re shooting is called The Untold Story. It’s a nationally recognized anti-bullying song.” Many replied. All 

expressed enthusiasm for the project. But some had to send regrets. Amanda Oliver posted, “i cant make it my 

husband has to work all weekend.” 

North Stone Street, Augusta, after 

a heavy snow during the winter of 

1966-67. Courtesy of Jane Justesen. 



As stated by one focus group participant, who does not fit the stereotypical “culture” seeker image, sometimes it’s not 

about holding a cultural opportunity. It’s not even about advertising the name of said cultural opportunity. It is about 

letting residents know what that opportunity is really about and why they, personally, would enjoy going to it. 

“I had never been to [the Farmer’s Market] because I thought it was just fresh vegetables. No it’s not, 

there’s so much more there, I was blown away. People just say Farmer’s Market so you’re thinking vegetables, 

maybe some fruits, but they have breads, and cookies and coffee, there’s that Thai restaurant thing now, 

I mean it’s nice to have that incorporated. You need to let people know what it is, not just that there’s a 

farmers market.” 

For the following section, when the term “cultural” is used, please note that it is used broadly and is referring to many 

sectors, including arts and heritage as well as a broad range of events and activities, including the farmers’ market, book 

clubs, Phoenix Park concerts, etc. 

Respondents gave a range of reasons why they don’t attend cultural offerings in Eau Claire County. Some reasons are 

about the offerings themselves and others have nothing to do with the actual program or event. Transportation, the cost, 

scheduling, awareness and variety of programming were consistently listed. 

Transportation 

While there are many ways to get around Eau Claire, there are still gaps in transportation and parking options for county 

residents both in the city of Eau Claire, and throughout the 

county. Whether it is a lack of bus service or a lack of parking 

near an event, residents want more transportation choices, 

including more pedestrian- and bike-friendly options. 

While UWEC is an important provider of arts and cultural 

opportunities for its students, and to some extent to the entire 

county, parking and accessibility are deterrents for many 

community members. 

37% of respondents indicated “Transportation, parking is too 

difficult” as a reason that keeps them from being involved in 

more arts, cultural and heritage activities. 

23% of respondents indicated “The distance is too far, drive 

time too long” as a reason that keeps them from being involved 

in more arts, cultural and heritage activities. 

The City of Eau Claire has 130 on-street meters which are in 

effect between 9 am and 6 pm, Monday - Friday, except holidays, at a rate of $0.25 per hour. It also maintains 11 surface 

lots and 2 parking structures totaling 1,220 spaces.

• La Crosse’s Parking Utility operates a total of 1,447 off-street parking spaces in the Central Business District, 610 are 

currently leased spaces in the three City parking ramps. There is a $0.25/hour charge for parking in the Market Square 

and Main Street parking ramps. Designated 2-hour parking spaces in these ramps remains free, and the La Crosse 

Center ramp and surface lots provide free 12-hour parking. (51,000 population) 

• The City of St. Cloud owns and operates a total of 3,226 parking spaces, including 683 metered spaces at $0.50/hr. 

(66,855 population) 

• The City of Wausau maintains 3,553 parking spaces downtown. Meter costs range from $0.20/hr - $0.50/hr. 1,510 

spaces are permit spaces. (39,106 population) 

There are over 1 million rides per year on the Eau Claire Transit. Regular fare is $1.50, elderly/disabled is $.75, monthly 

pass is $45, elderly/disabled pass is $23, students range from free to $45 for a Student MAX Pass. Preschool children ride 

free when accompanied by an adult. Two children per adult may ride free. 

The City, in partnership with the County, provides specialized transportation 

services under contract with Tender Care Transport Service. Paratransit is a 

demand-response program with door-to-door service, utilizing a fleet of liftequipped 

passenger vans. Passengers living in the Cities of Eau Claire and 

Altoona must have a disability that prevents them from accessing or navigating 

the city bus. Cost per ride is $3. No bus route includes Carson Park 

Eau Claire buses run Monday - Friday: 6 am–10 pm and Saturday: 8 am–6 pm. 

Altoona buses run Monday - Friday: 7 am–6 pm and Saturday: 8 am–6 pm. 

Buses do not operate on Sundays, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of 

July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. 

Eau Claire has 16 city bus routes, including three Express routes (two of which 

are school year only), and 10 city taxi services. No buses run to Augusta, Fall 

Creek, or rural cultural venues such as Beaver Creek Reserve and the Mill 

Museum. There is no general county-wide transport service. 

61% of respondents indicated “Weather issues” as a reason that keeps them 

from being involved in more arts, cultural and heritage activities. 

Brian Amundson, director of public works for the City of Eau Claire, said “Our experience over the past 3 years has been 

that the change from 2” to 3” has not prevented travel in the community. The biggest issue is when snowfalls exceed 8” 

to 12” and have a duration of more than 24 hours - such as the 22” snowfall last December that lasted almost 36 hours. 

The City kept the 86 miles of arterial streets open and the buses continued to operate. …The expectation that a person 

can drive any where they want 365 days a year - 24 hours a day is unrealistic. Event organizers have become much more 

aware of the weather and willing to cancel events in advance for safety purposes to not put people in bad situations.” 

“Best about EC cultural life - it's very accessible. By that I mean you can get to a place easily that you 

want to attend and it's not expensive to park, etc.” 

The Eau Claire Transit buses offered 

free rides in August 2010. Photo by 

Shane Opatz, courtesy of the Eau 

Claire Leader-Telegram. 



“It's not easy to get to or park for events” 

“The way to get to downtown is terrible.” 

“If you are on State Street, there is no sign telling you how to get to historic Water Street.” 

“[Need] more … signs so people can learn about what is available downtown.” 

Transportation is good, but should have more for handicaps” 

“I don’t drive....I take the bus. The bus doesn’t run on Sundays or holidays, and ends early Saturdays. Also 

routes drop in evenings. If I could take the buses more I would love to go to some of these things. Also, if a 

bus went more places...like Chippewa...more places in Altoona, maybe by the EXPO center.” 

“Get rid of parking spaces and focus on bicycling, mass transit, and pedestrian access” 

“I like Eau Claire's recent focus on bike and pedestrian paths - I think we need to continue that outdoor 

focus with parks, green spaces, and paths that make it walkable/bikeable.” 

“There is a lot of room for improvement in terms of the interconnectedness of the community of Eau Claire- 

-our city's design and urban plan seems to encourage separation rather than co-mingling, though there are 

some positive signs in terms of the bike paths and downtown renewal.” 

Model: Free transportation for Apple Festival, Alexander County, N.C. 

Transportation Strategies: 

Strategy 1. Improve navigation and transportation within the city and county 

1.1. Develop a series of kiosks/card racks to complement the new way finding system. Include a walking/ 

biking route map, for easy navigation to cultural sites and events. 

1.2. Expand bus routes and schedules to include cultural sites and events throughout the City of Eau Claire 

and Eau Claire County. 


Provide service for special events: Fourth of July in Carson Park, concerts in Phoenix Park. 

Strategy 2. Create walkable, interconnected neighborhoods and cities. 

2.1. Increase sidewalk and street connectivity 

Connectivity should be encouraged to link cultural assets and promote pedestrian movement between and within all 

neighborhoods.

2.2. Create a pedestrian-oriented streetscape 

“The most livable and economically successful downtowns enjoy a fine grain network of inter-connected, two-way, 

livable, attractive, walkable streets with on-street parking; and a mixed-use fabric of buildings that address the streetscape 

and quality public space with ‘front door’ relationships. Eau Claire needs a more walkable environment that better 

balances the pedestrian with the automobile.” — Bradenton plan 

Some Steps to Take: 

• Enhance crosswalks at signalized intersections 

• Improve transfer station. Add shelters at transit stops. 

• Provide a mix of on-street, surface, and structured parking options. Where feasible, locate surface and structured 

parking mid-block behind buildings and promote shared use facilities. 

Cost 

In any month, residents can find free cultural events, activities and opportunities in Eau Claire. However, respondents 

disagreed on whether there are enough in number or variety. 

They also disagree about quality. The cost of some cultural 

opportunities does prevent some respondents from attending. 

72% of respondents indicated “It’s too expensive, costs too 

much” as a reason that keeps them from being involved in 


83% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that “We 

need more affordable arts and culture for residents to enjoy.” 

68% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that “The 

City of Eau Claire or Eau Claire County should create a fund to 

support arts, culture, and heritage.” 18% disagreed or strongly 

disagreed. When compared to demographics of respondents, 

there was no correlation found between income level and 

whether respondents agreed or disagreed. 

In just over a year, 263 people have taken advantage of the 

Ticket to Adventure pass at the Library. During FY 2011, at least 439 people attended the Chippewa Valley Museum on its 

free Tuesday nights. At the Children’s Museum of Eau Claire, a qualifying family can get a one-year Access Fund family 

membership for $10 instead of $80. In 2011 they sold 335 Access Fund memberships. 



While there was a correlation between income level and the amount respondents were willing to pay, all income levels 

were found in every category, except the $10 category and the More than $100 category. 

“Friendly and accessible events by local artists and creators 

(public concerts, art fairs, food and ethnic fairs, etc - all of 

it inexpensive, easy to get to by foot, bike, or car, and always 

welcoming).” 

“The different free offerings of Eau Claire art make it wonderful 

- all the different outdoor live music during the summer, 

Chalkfest, etc.” 

“The worst is that many things cost money or take place at 

times or in venues not suitable for my family.” 

“More variety of low cost cultural opportunities” 

“Most events are either free or really costly - no middle ground 

cost and no acts in that range.” 

“Financial support ... from community members is lacking. People 

attend but walk past the donation box.” 

“Need more private corporate sponsorship involvement in 

programs.” 

“I also wish we had more affordable community arts programs for adults. In other cities I've lived in I could 

take painting, jewelry making, pottery, etc., classes through the city parks and recreation for a nominal fee. 

That would be great.” 

Cost Strategy: Talk about it 

1.1. Make public aware of overall cost of event. Some events must get a large part of their support from ticket sales. 

1.1. Make potential sponsors aware of community needs. 

1.1. Make residents aware of Ticket-to-Adventure pass and other opportunities to take part for free or at reduced rates, 

including in many cases by helping as a volunteer. 

Barriers 

Respondents offered a variety of reasons that prevent them from taking part in cultural opportunities. Cultural groups and 

organizations may be able to address these issues to increase participation and better serve county residents. For instance, 

places for youths to socialize in Eau Claire can be limited, especially since many cultural activities take place at night and/ 

or in 21+ environments.

34% of respondents indicated “I have no one to go with” as a reason that keeps 

them from being involved in more arts, cultural and heritage activities. 

3% of respondents indicated “English is not my first language” as a reason that 

keeps them from being involved in more arts, cultural and heritage activities. 

In the 2010 Census, 5.8% of residents in Eau Claire County indicated that a 

language other than English was spoken at home. While this is not directly 

comparable, it does indicate that for our county, having 3% of Good Life 

respondents indicate this as a problem is significant and needs attention. It 

is also worth noting that language was a potential barrier in taking the Good 

Life survey, so residents with without strong English skills were probably 

underrepresented. 

9% of respondents indicated “I have a disability or lack mobility” as a reason 

that keeps them from being involved in more arts, cultural and heritage activities. 

20% of respondents indicated “Safety concerns” as a reason that keeps them 

from being involved in more arts, cultural and heritage activities. 

8% of respondents indicated that they regularly “see or do arts, cultural, and 

heritage things at taverns or clubs,” while 37% occasionally do and 55% never do. 

“Eau Claire's cultural life seems to be abundant and accessible to nearly all of its residents.” 

“The fact that bars do not allow underagers, even when wristband policies have worked in every other city 

in America, is absurd and I feel as though I have missed out on much of the arts and culture scene due to 

this. Policies like this are what force concerts into living rooms and basements in neighborhood areas where 

they are not welcome.” 

“Need to accommodate those with disabilities other than immobility (wheelchair), especially those with poor 

vision and poor hearing. Captioning on all video material, e.g., at museums, needs to be standard.” 

Barriers Strategy 

Organizations host “find friends like you” nights (for people who have no one to attend cultural opportunities with). 

Model website: http://www.not4dating.com/ 

Schedules 

21% of working county residents start work between 12 noon and 4 am. This schedule drastically affects how they 

participate in cultural opportunities and what opportunities are available to them as well as their children. 

From the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2010 and using “time of arrival at work” as the indicator, there 

were 80,447 workers in Eau Claire County. 75% worked the first shift (starting between 4 am -11:59 am), 15% worked 

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 

student Joe Gapko, left, leads 

Beth Hicks, director of services 

for students with disabilities, Matt 

Glowacki, and Chancellor Donald 

Mash on a tour of lower campus 

as part of Disabilities Awareness 

Week, October 2002. Photo by Andi 

Stempniak. Courtesy of the Eau 

Claire Leader-Telegram. 



the second shift (starting between 12 pm - 7:59 pm), 6% worked the third shift (starting between 8 pm - 3:59 am) and 4% 

had no arrival time listed. 

“Many activities seem to be during the week or day when I can't go to them. Kids stuff is during the day & 

middle of week, i.e. library events.” 

“Weekday evening opportunities. After work hours.” [Missing] 

“My largest complaint is that the events I want to participate in are all either held or 'prepped' during 

my hours of work. I work 2nd shift and it prevents me from attending events during the week that are of 

interest to me and excludes me from being able to have any input into future events, especially during the 

week. I feel that shift workers are often unintentionally excluded from participation.” 

Models: 

Glow: Dusk & Beyond, Santa Monica, Calif. Glow, a free dusk-to-dawn biannual event features the work of 

international, national and local artists. Glow is the only all-night art event in the United States that emphasizes the 

commissioning of original artwork. Glow projects invite active audience engagement and exploration and constantly 

surprise in their unexpected placement in spaces and times not normally reserved for fine art. 

Noche de la Primavera, Mexico City. Mexico City welcomes the arrival of spring in style. All through the night, the 

roads in the historic centre of the city centre are closed off to cars, and the streets and plazas pulse with music and 

dancing. Mexican folk rhythms mingle with Latino pop, while acrobats, theater troupes, and animators entertain the 

revelers until dawn. 

Schedules Strategy 

Test new schedules for activities and events to capture audiences with non-traditional hours. This must include heavy 

marketing before new scheduled times, or there could be low attendance due to lack of awareness. 

Awareness 

Respondents varied widely in their opinions on the ease and availability of information concerning cultural opportunities. 

There is a large disconnect between what is offered and what the general public knows about. 

Although respondents indicated web sites and emails as a valuable way to get information about upcoming cultural events, 

more traditional media, including newspapers and magazines are still frequently used. 

Volume One was referenced, unsolicited, by 36 different respondents, as one of the best ways of getting information about 

cultural life in Eau Claire. 

“The best thing about Eau Claire cultural life is the level of organization brought to our community by Volume 

One magazine. It allows our arts and culture scene to be more cohesive, accessible, and engaged than at 

any time in the past.”

Also, access to information about what is going on at the University, 

as well as what is open to the community is confusing for some 

respondents. 

“As a college students I am made aware of the on campus 

opportunities but don't know about the off campus ones.” 

56% of respondents indicated “I’m not aware of what’s going on” as 

a reason that keeps them from being involved in more arts, cultural 

and heritage activities. 

23% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with the statement 

that “Information about local arts, cultural and heritage offerings is 

easy for me to find.” (73% agree or strongly agree) 

25% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with the statement 

that “I am very aware of the local arts, cultural and heritage 

offerings.” (71% agree or strongly agree) 

After correlating responses for the last two questions with 

demographic information, we found that non-white respondents 

represented 11% of those who disagree or strongly disagree, while only representing 4.5% of total survey respondents. 

(No other correlations have been found through demographic information, including age, urban vs. rural, income and 

education.) 

“Once you dig in, you can find cultural events – the marketing is not hitting the masses” 

“Still so many people that do not realize what EC has to offer. People who still grumble there is nothing to 

do in this town- they must live under a rock or something.” 

“A lot of options but for people who aren't computer savvy, they may not be aware of them.” 

“Wish more time would be given to local event reporting by the television stations.” 

Awareness Strategy 

Ensure that every resident in Eau Claire County regularly receives information about cultural offerings. 

1.1. Pursue joint marketing of cultural opportunities within and outside the cultural sector. 


• Get cultural information into the hands of newcomer groups. 

• Distribute cultural information county-wide. 

• Hold marketing workshops to help organizations sharpen their skills. 


A screenshot from the online 

calendar at volumeone.org. 


• Better promote awareness of the numerous free events and opportunities, including 

the Ticket to Adventure available at the library. 

• Better promote the comprehensive cultural calendars that already exist. 

• Cultural organizations/venues themselves should have a comprehensive list of 

current cultural events and activities for internal planning. 

• Solve the problem of how to represent non-event opportunities (such as exhibits) in 

a calendar format. 

1.2. Strengthen relationships between cultural organizations and 

all local media. 


• Develop partnerships between media and cultural organizations, showing media 

that its audience cares about cultural opportunities. 

• Cultural organizations and local media will meet at least three times a year to 

promote events and new seasons. 

1.3. Use existing bridges to connect with all Eau Claire County residents. 


Promote cultural opportunities in the publications, mailings, and websites of community organizations, churches, 

businesses, local associations, and clubs. 

Variety 

The range and variety of cultural opportunities in Eau Claire County is robust. However, every audience and age-range 

replied that options were lacking for either themselves or another group. Every subset was also listed, both detrimentally 

and positively, as the audience that is most catered to. Opinions on the quality of offerings also varied. 

76% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that “We need more family-oriented arts, cultural and heritage 

programs here.” 13% disagreed or strongly disagreed. 

74% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that “Quality of local arts, cultural, and heritage offerings is high.” 

18% disagreed or strongly disagreed. 

80% of respondents indicated “What’s offered is not appealing to me” as a reason that keeps them from being involved in 


“Always something to do. Abundant opportunities to get involved”

“There are a lot of small activities/subgroups that exist - something for everyone.” 

“The set of offerings seems quite robust for stay-at-home mothers/fathers...” 

“Lack of things for single adults.” 

“The blandness” 

“Eau Claire is too family oriented. That's ALL we have here!” 

“Not enough kid-friendly or specifically kid oriented events.” 

“I am not impressed with Eau Claire at all. There is diversity lacking in this 

community both in ethnicity and tolerance to other cultures.” 

“The worst is that we don't really cater to the 25-30 year old crowd as 

actively as we think we do.” 

“Vibrant community for all ages especially for families i.e. ECCT, LE Phillips Library, CVYC” 

“There is a wide array of events for adults and children, but there's a miss for teens and young adults. … 

If someone is looking for something to do with teens and young adults it's Action city” 

“We should be more inclusive of younger/alternative community members.” 

“Very open-minded, it seems you can express your cultural very nice here and it's accepted.” 

Fall Creek parade, July 4, 1912. 

Courtesy of the Chippewa Valley 

Museum. 


In marketing the Good Life effort, 

we asked area artists to think about 

the good life in Eau Claire County. 

This is how artist Sarah Bradford 

saw it. Her artwork, along with 

the works of several artists and 

photographers, appeared in print 

ads and on billboards and bus tails. 


First Steps 

The Good Life: A Cultural Direction for Eau Claire County is a book of ideas intended both to assist the cultural sector in 

strategic planning and to encourage the integration of the county’s cultural resources into all aspects of community life. 

Implementing some great ideas will take years. But there are others that could and should begin immediately. 

Strategies 

Strategy 1. Establish mechanisms for sharing information, 

addressing issues, and fostering collaboration within and without 

the cultural sector. 

The Good Life process generated information never before accumulated. Much of that information came 

from individuals, but organizations played essential roles as well. Four cultural organizations (staff and board 

representatives) were part of the planning team. Many others contributed to discussions, and 37 organizations 

completed a separate survey. Going forward collaboratively could help address common issues in the cultural 

sector, such as the need for assistance with database solutions, assistance with website development, access 

to professional services (such as accounting or legal services), or volunteer recruitment and training. In 

addition, 97 percent of the organizational survey respondents indicated that strengthening communications 

within the arts, cultural, and heritage community would help their organizations. 

1.1. Create an on-going awareness marketing campaign so that all Eau Claire residents know about 

their cultural resources. 

1.2. Create a planning calendar so that organizations can post dates as soon as internal planning begins (long 

before the usual posting date for promotion to audiences). 

1.3. Study the use of cultural districts in the US and then consider a City Center Cultural 

District from the Eau Claire Children’s Theater to Barstow Street to Banbury Place to the University to Water Street to 

Carson Park.

More than 100 cities in the United States have planned or implemented cultural districts, putting culture at the center of 

urban revitalization efforts. All cultural districts reflect their cities’ unique environment, including history of land use, 

urban growth, and cultural development. There is no standard model. Most cultural districts are built to take advantage 

of other city attractions such as historic features, convention spaces, and parks and other outdoor focal points. The Texas 

Arts Commission, which coordinates a state designation program, lists a series of ways that cultural districts contribute to 

community revitalization. Cultural districts 

• beautify and animate cities 

• provide employment 

• attract residents and tourists to the community 

• complement adjacent businesses 

• enhance property values 

• expand the tax base 

• attract well-educated employees 

• contribute to a creative, innovative environment. 

Americans for the Arts defines cultural districts as “...geographic areas of a city where there is a high concentration of 

cultural facilities, arts organizations, individual artists, and arts-based businesses. They are mixed-use developments that 

incorporate other facilities such as office complexes, restaurants, retail spaces, and occasionally residential areas.” 

Cultural districts involve long-term vision, planning, and commitment — and should capitalize on assets specific to the 

cultural, economic, and social issues of the community. They require careful coordination among varied stakeholders and 

may require specialized management to be developed and maintained. 

Unlike a cultural center or shopping mall, a cultural district comprises a large number of public and private property 

owners. It is typically supported by a coordinating body. Effectiveness depends on factors like size, budget, and authority. 

Possible sources of support for planning a cultural district include the new National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Our 

Town program. Its intent is to support model projects that enhance livability in communities. NEA looks for “measurable 

community benefits, such as growth in overall levels of social and civic engagement; arts- or design-focused changes in 

policies, laws, and/or regulations; job and/or revenue growth for the community; and changes in in-and-out migration 

patterns.” NEA expects grantees to show measurable progress with the understanding that creating such change is a longterm 

process. 

Some small-to-medium sized cities with cultural districts: 

• Bloomington Cultural District, Ill. 

• Cedar Rapids, Iowa 

• Fairfield, Iowa 

Under a state program, Fairfield, Iowa, created a cultural district to “help draw attention to the cultural, historical and 

artistic attractions that already exist in Fairfield as well as build on those attractions, by encouraging further preservation 

of historic structures, promoting its artistic and cultural diversity, and promoting downtown Fairfield as an important 



regional cultural venue.” Fairfield, which has seen development of software industries and the arrival of Maharishi 

University in recent years, saw the cultural district as a mechanism for “developing organizational, financial and business 

support systems to enhance the expanding creative economy.” The cultural district is a vehicle for implementing two goals 

in the city’s strategic plan: “to cultivate and promote Fairfield’s cultural richness and recreational opportunities,” and “to 

revitalize our downtown as a hub of business, government and civic activity.” 

Strategy 2. Work with the Eau Claire Community Foundation on a Giving 

Circle or other methods of mobilizing more philanthropic support for the cultural sector. 

The Good Life surveys were conducted during a period of great economic instability that significantly affected Eau Claire 

County’s cultural organizations. Earlier sections of this report have described difficulties that many individuals have in 

accessing cultural resources because of cost or scheduling issues. The missions of most cultural organizations include 

access for the public, but modifying or adding programming to address issues can often be difficult. In the organizational 

survey, 23 of 37 groups listed a financial problem as their greatest current challenge. As one respondent said, “We are 

asked to do more and more with less and less to the point that it is very difficult to maintain [our academic] program. 

We have to serve students first. This limits our ability to engage the public.” Another noted, “Organization time has been 

shifting away from program and toward fund-raising. This needs to go back the other way.” 

Working with Eau Claire Community Foundation would strengthen cultural organizations and help make their services 

more consistently available across the community. The foundation encourages private giving and assists non-profits with 

development of endowments. 

Strategy 3. Create vehicles for working with local governments not only to 

stabilize support for the cultural sector but also to incorporate cultural resources into solutions 

for community problems. 

The same economic instability that affected other resources for Eau Claire County’s cultural organizations also affected 

support from local governments. By supporting cultural organizations, local governments can create consistent access for 

all residents to the wide variety of cultural resources available in Eau Claire County. 

The possibilities are not one-sided. Eau Claire County’s cultural resources are assets that can be incorporated into all kinds 

of social and economic strategies and solutions. Cultural organizations and community residents who value our cultural 

assets should seek active roles in all kinds of planning, so that in the future all community plans are also cultural plans. 

Resource: 

Americans for the Arts, Cultural Districts Handbook: The Arts as a Strategy for Revitalizing Our Cities. 

.

Our Process: A Timeline 

October 1, 2009 – Project Began 

March 23, 2010 – Large Focus Group 

• 99 people personally invited by mailed invitation 

• 42 attendees, 12 planning team members 

June 15, 2010 – Mailed Survey 

• 1000 surveys mailed out (82 unable to reach the intended person) 

650 were sent to people living in the City of Eau Claire, 350 were sent to people living in Eau Claire County but 

outside of the city (proportionate to census data) 

• Addressed to individual people 

• Randomly selected and statistically representing all mail routes in the county 

• There was an incentive – if they returned a completed survey, they would be entered into a drawing for $200 in local 

Chamber Bucks 

• 209 surveys completed and returned (23% return rate) 

• Results were entered by hand 

June 15, 2010 thru September 15, 2010 – Online Survey 

• Promoted through articles and interviews on local media: Leader Telegram, Volume One, WEAU 

• Promoted on team member’s organization’s websites and facebook 

• Website for survey listed on a bookmark given out at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library 

• Website for survey included as an insert in an Eau Claire Regional Arts Center playbill 

• 610 completed surveys (averaging 425-500 responses for each question) 

• Results tabulated by the survey computer program 

July 15, 2010 – Survey Reminder Postcard 

• Mailed out to all 1000 people who received the mailed survey 

• Received about 30 surveys due to reminder 

• For next time, we would send out reminder postcard 2 weeks after survey, and then an entire survey 2 weeks after the 

reminder. 

October thru December 2010 – Targeted Surveys 


The process included “image 

advertising” for the county itself 

and how we here have expressed 

our culture over the years. 


• In order to reach groups of people who were under-represented in our survey responses (including people with a 

high school degree or less and representatives of the Hmong community) we reached out to organizations’ who 

already served these groups, including Literacy Volunteers, the Educational Opportunities Center, GED classes at the 

Chippewa Valley Technical College, the Boys and Girls Club and the Hmong Mutual Assistance Assocation. 

• Received 45 completed full-length (7.5 pages) surveys 

• Received 10 completed shortened (4 pages) surveys 

October 2010 thru January 2011 – Organizational Surveys 

• Sent out full-length (10 pages) organizational surveys to 96 full-time cultural organizations 

Received 35 completed surveys (36% return rate) 

• Sent out shorter (2 pages) organizational surveys to 125 organizations where culture takes place, but it is not its main 

purpose (i.e. bookstores, religious organizations, movie theatre, etc.) 

Received 5 completed surveys (4% return rate) 

March 29, 2011 – Community Forum 

• Advertisements for the forum in the Leader Telegram and Volume One 

• Interview on WEAU 

• Posters around town 

• Listed on team member’s organization’s websites and facebook 

• 40 Attendees, 10 Committee Members, 10 Note-takers 

June 22, 2011 – Small Focus Group 

• Had nine people who had a high school degree or less agree to partake in a focus group. Four people actually 

participated. Each person received a $25 gas card as an incentive. 

Other cultural plans: 

• St. Cloud, Minnesota: Community Cultural Arts Plan 

http://www.ci.stcloud.mn.us/Arts/St.%20Cloud%20CommunityCultural%20Plan.pdf 

• Providence, Rhode Island: Creative Providence: A Cultural Plan for the Creative Sector 

http://cityof.providenceri.com/efile/47 

• Bradenton, Florida: Realize Bradenton: Cultural Master Plan 

http://www.artserie.org/culturespark/_files/CultureSpark_BradentonCulturalPlanFINAL.pdf 

• Madison, Wisconsin: Madison Cultural Plan: Sparking the Public Imagination 

http://www.cityofmadison.com/MAC/culturalplan

inside back cover 


In marketing the project, we asked local artists to think about the Good Life in Eau 

Claire County. These are how four artists saw the good life: Susan Phelps Pearson, 

David Brock, Anders Shafer, and Mitchell Spencer. (We did not ask artists for a 

seasonal round; these four just worked out that way.) This artwork, along with the 

works of others, have appeared in print ads and on billboards and bus tails. 

www.eauclairegoodlife.org

The Good Life: A Cultural Direction for Eau Claire County

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