On the outskirts of the Corn Hill neighborhood just off Tremont Street is Roc Arts Event Space. Tucked up on the third floor in one of those ‘if you know, you know’ warehouses that are so plentiful around downtown Rochester, the 2,800-square-foot venue is operated by (and the studio of) local photographer Todd Fleming.

On a Friday night in late September, 25 or so artists, community members and City of Rochester staffers gathered in the airy loft space for presentations on the future of local arts and culture. The public session was part of an ongoing initiative to collect community input on a reimagined local arts and culture plan, led by the city’s planning department, Monroe County and a Columbus-based firm, Designing Local, with resources contributed by Rochester Area Community Foundation and the Farash Foundation.

According to the plan’s website, it “will deal with things like: How does arts funding get distributed? What organizations already exist, and who is missing from the table? Is it easy for artists/creators to thrive in this place? What barriers do people face to self-expression here, and how can we eliminate or reduce them?”

City planner Heather Anderson, who moved to Rochester from Los Angeles in 2021, was among the presenters during the Friday night session. The Arts & Culture Plan is being developed in addition to the city’s existing Percent for the Arts Program, which allocates 1% of the development cost from qualifying infrastructure projects to help fund public art, though both fall under Anderson’s purview.

“Percent for the Arts is one of several City public arts and culture programs that are overseen by multiple City departments,” said Anderson. “Former Mayor Lovely Warren committed to implementing the program with an equity focus due to the arts community’s concern about equitable public art spending and confusion over how to access the multiple public art opportunities.”

The city confirmed Mayor Evans has continued that commitment , partnering with the County on an arts and culture plan that will include recommendations for governance of public art — which could include strategies such as dedicated city staff for art and an arts commission.

Anderson said that it was important to bring in an outside firm like Designing Local for their subject matter expertise — they have completed several arts and culture plans — and research so the community wouldn’t feel censored.

“We want people to feel comfortable saying whatever they want,” said Anderson.

Designing Local’s team, which includes urban planners, landscape architects, a public art coordinator and a historic preservationist, has helped other mid-sized cities with similar public art consulting and research. The multi-step process includes one-on-one interviews with arts stakeholders, community outreach, focus groups and an online survey (currently open for public feedback through the end of November). The city also appointed a four-person artist engagement team, which they selected from applicants to an open call for proposals.

“Buffalo has an arts commission,” said Anderson. “Minneapolis did a plan that impressed us — that’s where we got the idea to have the arts engagement team.”

There were four artists selected: interdisciplinary artist Paola Macas Betchart, visual artists LaShonda Davis and Shawn Dunwoody and hip hop artist Lamar the Therapist.

A self-dubbed “hip hop health artist,” Lamar the Therapist is also a licensed mental health counselor working under both his own LLC, Mental Wealth Records, and Sankofa Family Counseling Services, a local private practice. A Rochester native, he spent six years in New York City earning his graduate degree in forensic mental health counseling from John Jay College of Criminal Justice as well as hosting and performing in the hip hop scene. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Lamar the Therapist returned home. He’s since been working to promote positive social change through music and mental health.

“As much as we focus on the outside and on race, gender and religion — at the end of the day, everybody’s brain is gray and our blood is red,” he said. “If we look at things holistically, we can’t deny mental and emotional health is tied to physical and spiritual health.”

When the City of Rochester put out an RFP (request for proposal) for the artist engagement team, Lamar the Therapist didn’t hesitate to apply. Once he and the others were chosen, they were tasked with 75 compensated hours to gather community input on the plan, however they saw fit.

“It’s no small feat that (the city) decided to form an artist engagement team,” he said. “Designing Local gave us a lot of trust and independence, and Heather gets the power of it all as an artist herself. It’s been a joy to work with them.”

Lamar the Therapist focused his in-person research within the African diaspora — specifically at events like Juneteenth and the Clarissa Street Reunion. As part of the Rochester Black Arts Council, he is giving the 50-member organization updates along the way; he’s also in the Teaching Artist Institute of Rochester (TAIR) 2024-25 cohort, a “multi-day intensive workshop for artists of any discipline to expand their teaching practice, explore social justice pedagogy, get resources on the business of teaching artistry and connect with educators and cultural centers in Rochester as well as New York City.”

Ultimately, Lamar the Therapist would love to see Rochester support and fund a healthy hip hop scene.

“It’s an art form youth are actively engaged in — investing in it would cause a cultural shift,” he said. “It would show we’re not just supporting visual arts. Performing arts are a different way to express. In the same way people know they can go to the Bug Jar for punk, I want people to be able to do that for hip hop here.”

In addition to the individual work of the artist engagement team, Designing Local and the city popped up at the Public Market, Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford and several public schools in September and October to collect community feedback. Through those 10 or so events, Anderson and the others saw some themes start to emerge.

“From both an institutional and community standpoint, it’s a feeling that, post-pandemic, audiences are shrinking and it’s hard to reach them to tell them what’s going on,” she said. “And then, how do we prevent splitting that smaller audience? And from the resident side, ‘if there’s so much going on, why do I find out after it’s over — how do I plan better?’”

It wasn’t always this hard to find things to do. Part of the information gap began in 2019, when the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester fully dissolved, taking with it an extensive community arts calendar and funding opportunities.

“There’s a need for something to replace (the arts council),” said Anderson. “Artists have less access to opportunities without thriving fiscal sponsorships.”

Through his feedback gathering, Lamar the Therapist often heard venue availability is also a challenge, particularly for performing artists.

“Music venues are either not owned by artists, or by Black artists or Black people in general,” he said. “Safety is another thing. Having some more innovation and creativity to make people feel safer would be helpful. We have to build more trust in each other, too — and show that Rochester is ready for these types of events.”

He cited a proof of concept in Rochester Fringe Festival’s annual Street Beat competition, which he said is the “epitome of hip hop: peace, love, unity and having fun.”

For Anderson, it all comes down to involving residents in the formation of a new plan — and that’s why the online survey is so important as they work toward a final draft in early 2025.

“This is high stakes and high impact, but not everyone has time to attend a community meeting to participate,” she said. “We are engaging people through multiple methods to give (them) to provide feedback. Part of the process is challenging us to think bigger with arts and culture.”

Though the onsite pop-ups are complete, the survey — which sends public feedback and data directly to the planning team — will be open through the end of November at rochesterartsplan.com.

Leah Stacy is CITY’s editor. She can be reached at [email protected].