Academy Arts District Plan, Maize, KS
Venice, in partnership with RDG Planning & Design, managed the public engagement process of public open house facilitations, facilitated stakeholder meetings, developed social media messaging, managed traditional public relations and media outreach to build awareness of the community process and consensus.
The City of Maize, in conjunction with the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, launched an Academy Arts District Master Plan process to provide recommendations to guide development of an Arts District. This initiative comes from the desire for a safe and walkable core in the community, to create a place of identity that lets people know they are in Maize and to enhance the overall quality of life in the City of Maize. Academy Avenue and Park Avenue were identified as destination points for reimagining this experience in Maize.
Public participation included public open houses, design studios with the community and middle school and high school students, stakeholder groups and community surveys including a project web portal www.CelebrateMaize.com to gather feedback.
The feedback we gained from the community vision and goals for the Arts District gave us an opportunity to develop a plan that planned for the future, and created a framework to ensure incremental policies and decisions help achieve the aspirations of the community over time.