(November 10, 2009) - The time is right! Over the past few years artists, residents and community leaders in Norristown have talked, on and off, about creating an arts district in their town. Six months ago a group began working to turn that talk into reality. Since May, an ad hoc group - they named themselves the Norristown Arts Task Force (NATF) - has been meeting regularly to plan for the creation, launch and sustainability of a cultural district anchored on DeKalb Street.
On November 10th, NATF held its first public meeting, inviting a targeted group of stakeholders to learn about the district project over breakfast at the Montgomery County Cultural Center.
Here’s what the more than 50 people in attendance learned at the breakfast.
• Norristown already has an established arts community; including the Montgomery County Cultural Center, Theatre Horizon, Elmwood Park Zoo, Norristown Arts Building and film arts group, Project Twenty1. These organizations provide great base for launching a cultural district.
• The cultural district will be a tool for neighborhood and economic revitalization in the downtown. The group plans to recruit nonprofit arts groups, creative businesses, individual artists, as well a complementary businesses (restaurants, book stores, coffee shops, etc.) to the district.
• The borders of the cultural district will be fuzzy, intentionally so, to allow the district to grow organically. DeKalb Street will be the heart of the district and NAFT has inventoried buildings, empty parcels and parking lots along DeKalb as well as several blocks of Main Street, They’ve created a database that will be regularly updated to allow potential businesses and tenants to easily see what’s available in the district.
• And the district’s name? The task force decided to enlist the public’s help to name the district. Flyers were distributed throughout town, the Times Herald ran an article about the naming contest and creative juices began to flow. Names submitted by the public were reviewed and the field was narrowed to five. The public will be invited to vote for their favorite among the finalists. Sorry, we can’t reveal any of the contenders until they are officially released for voting.
• NAFT will hold a launch event” in April, 2009; the official kick-off for the new cultural district.
• The NATF has teamed up with Norristown Municipality to apply for $125,000 in county funding to promote Norristown, the downtown and the arts district. Marketing initiatives will include an interactive website highlighting downtown businesses, restaurants and arts venues and a promotional campaign through SEPTA to highlight the town's and cultural district’s proximity to the Norristown Transportation Center; billboards.
At the end of the presentation, participants were asked to join the Norristown Arts Council, a permanent organization that is forming to take over from NAFT to support the cultural district. More than a dozen attendees volunteered to join the new group whose first meeting will be held December 11, 2009
For more information about Norristown’s nascent cultural district contact:
Gabriela Ibarra Prete
Business Development Coordinator
Norristown Municipality
GIbarra@norristown.org
Phone: 484-614-0393
Working with a wide range of people from all parts of the community, Doug was proud to see the recent launch of a new cultural district, the Norristown Arts Hill. It started with a grand party where over 100 people filled the first floor of 401 DeKalb Street. This is a building that a developer, Bob Kaufman, is hoping to transform into an arts building. The bare walls of the spacious, sunlit first floor were brought to life with the artwork of Norristown artists (one of them works as a Code Enforcement Officier for Norristown) and architectural drawings from students connected to Doug. Food and drink were provided by Zone Catering, a local business owned by the same former professional football player who runs the concession stands at the Elmwood Park Zoo. Miss Justine and her ensemble filled the room with jazz and blues. And the people came. Politicians came including two county commissioners, two state legislators and most members of Norristown’s Municipal council. Together with event sponsors, they joined a room full of local residents and local business men and women. 
Doug smiled at the opening reception, he smiled at the festival. In fact the whole cast of Norristown activists were smiling. The development of Norristown Arts Hill is a grassroots community effort and the Festival was the first product of this dedicated, diverse and feisty group. Now they move on to the work of sustainability. Starting this month Norristown Art Council will work on a plan to use the momentum generated at the Launch to propel the district forward. And who knows, Doug may see that old prison become an art center sooner than he ever imagined. 
