Grant Wood Cultural District

The Cedar Rapids Downtown District is pleased to announce that the State Historical Society of Iowa has approved certification of the “Grant Wood Cultural District.” Linn County, the City of Cedar Rapids, the Cedar Rapids Downtown District and other collaborative organizations gathered together with fellow supporters on July 12, 2010 to celebrate the approval of the new district with a sign dedication ceremony. Mayor Ron Corbett and Cyndi Pederson of the state's Department of Cultural Affairs unveiled the Cultural District signs, which will be displayed around the perimeter of the Grant Wood Cultural District.

Click the links below to view a few recent headlines and stories highlighting the Grant Wood Cultural District.
http://gazetteonline.com/local-news/government/2010/07/12/grant-wood-cultural-district-will-create-sense-of-place-pride
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/s-98258349.html
http://gazetteonline.com/blogs/marilee-fowler/2010/07/13/grant-wood-slept-and-painted-here
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100613/NEWS/100612017/Cultural-district-will-honor-Grant-Wood

What is a Cultural District? A cultural district is a walkable, mixed-use area of our community, with a high concentration of cultural, entertainment and historical facilities... Our downtown is already loaded with historical buildings, cultural entities, events and festivals, and a growing population of restaurants, nightlife and other entertainment. We've defined the Grant Wood Cultural District as such, because Grant Wood left his passionately artistic fingerprints on many parts of our downtown neighborhood, and inspired others to do so, too. Grant Wood lived downtown, painted and built masterpieces here, played on the stage at the community theater (today known as Theatre Cedar Rapids), and spent time creating a life right here, in downtown Cedar Rapids. We hope that through continued programming and this new cultural district designation, we will foster the passions of future artists and patrons to come downtown and do the same.

Now that the Grant Wood Cultural District has been approved, what's next? There are countless organizations that contributed time towards creating the Grant Wood Cultural District. So now, invested parties are divvying up the responsibilities and action steps to cultivate a successful program. Keep your eyes peeled for to see the state's official cultural district designation signs, to visually define the boundaries over the next few weeks!