AMHERST — The Amherst Center Cultural District is looking for feedback from the community on bringing back Amherst Arts Night which ended during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey is open to the public until July 29 and seeks information on previous arts nights and suggestions for its return.
“The input provided in this survey will directly shape the future of arts night programming going forward,” explained Lena Rubin, an intern at the ACCD and graduate student in the University of Massachusetts master of fine arts program for poets and writers. “This is really a chance for people to imagine what their ideal arts night would look like and to contribute their vision to the future of community arts programming in Amherst.”
Amherst Arts Night was a free cultural event series hosted around downtown Amherst that allowed artists to display their work and for residents to view it. The survey will allow the ACCD to hear what people would most like to experience in a new arts night. Rubin said that the response to the survey so far has been good, but the ACCD is hoping to reach as many people in Amherst as it can.
This step in reviving arts night came after Rubin spent much time looking at other local arts nights to see what had worked and what hadn’t worked.
“I was especially curious to hear about how other communities have adjusted their arts night programming since the pandemic. One thing I came away with was the importance of community input: taking the time to ask businesses and community members what they’d like to see in a revival of arts night and then going from there,” said Rubin. “I was particularly inspired by Easthampton’s strategy toward reviving their Art Walk, which involved creating a survey for community feedback. Along with the survey, I have been meeting one-on-one with local business and cultural leaders in the community to discuss how a revival of Arts Night could best support their needs. I will be putting together a report summarizing the survey results and these one-on-one conversations and will be presenting this report to the incoming executive director of the business improvement district, who will then take the lead in actually implementing the revival of Arts Night.”
Rubin said that people have spoken of enjoying the sense of community that came with previous arts nights and that local artists enjoyed finding supportive venues for their work.
“I am hoping that future events are able to incorporate the needs and desires of the community and of local business owners, whatever shape that may take,” said Rubin. “One specific that comes to mind is the inclusion of musicians and other types of live performance.”
Survey respondents have the option to enter a raffle for a $25 gift card to Amherst Books or Amherst Cinema and the survey can be found at https://forms.gle/FiYqkgzCLn3eNykc6.
