Project Information

Bid Title

QUALIFICATIONS DEADLINE EXTENDED - Salina Community Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan.pdf

Issuing Agency

City of Salina

Location

Kansas

Published Date

Nov 26, 2025

Closing Date

Dec 8, 2025

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Original Source

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Project Description

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File	QUALIFICATIONS DEADLINE EXTENDED - Salina Community Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan.pdf	6.2 MB

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Request for Qualifications and Proposal

Salina Community Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan

DEADLINE EXTENDED/ Q&A Session RECAP

Timeline for RFQ/P Process

The timeline listed below is the SAH’s estimation of time required to complete the RFQ/P

process. All efforts will be made to abide by this schedule, but it may change due to

unforeseen circumstances.

Release RFQ/P Guidelines

November 6, 2025

Optional Zoom Q&A

Thursday, November 13, 9:00 am Central Time

**Notify amanda.morris@salina.org to receive the link or submit scope questions.

Proposals Due

December 1 December 8, 2025 @ 5:00 PM

Review Submissions

December 2-5, 2025 December 8-12, 2025

Interviews (if warranted)

December 8-12, 2025 December 15-17, 2025

Present to City Commission December 22, 2025

Notice to Proceed

December 23, 2025

Project Start Date

January 5, 2026

Timeline for Project. The timeline for completion of this project is from ten (10) to twelve

(12) months from the Notice to Proceed notification date.

A Recap of the Q&A Session is included under Exhibits.

Request for Qualifications and Proposal

Salina Community Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan

Description of Project Scope and Requested Services

Purpose

The purpose of this Request for Qualifications and Proposals (RFQ/P) is to solicit parties

interested in assisting Salina Arts & Humanities (SAH) in preparing the Salina Community

Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan. Through SAH, the City of Salina seeks a

comprehensive evaluation of arts and culture in the community, a broad overview of the

region’s cultural assets, and current inventory of arts and cultural activities and institutions

including not-for-profit visual and performing arts organizations, artists, audiences, arts

education, public art, facilities and systems of public and private financial support. The

City of Salina and SAH recognize the importance of cultural arts vibrancy and economic

development, especially in the areas of cultural tourism, urban design, workforce

recruitment and retention, downtown and community revitalization, and overall community

livability.

The end-product of the process should be a comprehensive cultural strategic plan with

timelines and benchmarks that define stakeholder roles in strengthening arts and culture

in Salina and meeting the City’s broader goals, including integration of arts into the City’s

work where appropriate.

The RFQ/P describes the desired outcomes and available resources for the project and the

process that will be used to select the best-qualified firm to produce the Salina Community

Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan.

Introduction: The Salina Community

Salina is a progressive city of just over 46,000 in north-central Kansas, situated at the

junction of two interstate highways (I-70 and I-135). A major rail transportation hub, the

city’s business, industrial, and entrepreneurial life is defined by a diverse economy from

manufacturing, healthcare, education, retail, military, and transportation and distribution,

by people with a work ethic of self-reliance and ingenuity. Over the last five years, major

investments totaling more than $845 million and nearly 1,000 new jobs have been

announced. The City’s airport industrial complex, the former Schilling Air Force Base, has a

13,300 foot runway and covers 3,500 acres. It is home to nearly 100 businesses with 8,500

workers, providing approximately 40% of the county’s economic activity. The Salina

Regional Airport also offers daily flights to and from Chicago, Denver, and Houston.

The city’s quality of life is characterized by excellent schools, abundant recreational

opportunities, and growing retail serving Saline County and beyond, with approximately

40% of retail sales coming from outside the county. Salina is the center for health care in

north-central Kansas.

Since the late 19th century, Salina has had a long history of civic support for arts and

culture, which features activities unusual for its size and geographic location, including

Salina Arts & Humanities (SAH), the state’s only stand-alone city department of arts and

culture. There is an energetic public art program, a zoo and wildlife museum, a vibrant

community theater, a professional symphony, and two nationally accredited museums (in

visual art and county history). The annual Smoky Hill River Festival brings prominent

musicians, installation artists, and traveling artist vendors to a family-friendly celebration

of art and community. Institutions and people of Salina have developed relationships with

artists from around the country in visual art, music, literature, theater, and dance. A recent

State of the Arts Report for the major cultural organizations is attached.

Previous Cultural Planning Background

Now sixty years old, Salina Arts & Humanities is a department of the City, responsible for

advocacy, re-granting, public art oversight and considerable programming in arts

education, visual art, and performance, including the Smoky Hill River Festival, an annual

event celebrating its 50th year in 2026. The Smoky Hill Museum, one of two AAM-accredited

history museums in Salina, is a division of SAH.

In 2009, the City Commission adopted the Big Ideas Community Cultural Plan, the city’s

last formal strategic plan. That plan focused on four key areas including increasing

awareness and accessibility, community aesthetics (outward appearance), strengthening

relationships between the business community and the cultural sector, and building strong

relationships between the cultural entities and local artists. There were five interim and

full-time directors of Salina Arts & Humanities in the first three years of the adoption of the

cultural plan, delaying implementation. A 2011 revised implementation plan guided

cultural leaders as they enacted most of the 58 strategies over the next decade.

The Cultural Director’s Roundtable, first formed in the late 90’s, holding quarterly meetings

that connected cultural leaders, travel and tourism leaders, the downtown Mainstreet

program, university art programs, the library, and other entities, providing opportunities to

collaborate, engage in joint marketing and professional development, network, and explore

new opportunities. The group now meets monthly. Since the last cultural plan, Salina has

experienced a cultural and economic development boom. The greater downtown has seen

more than $300 million in economic development, including a privately managed annual

downtown sculpture show, a recently developed, privately financed international mural

festival, and more than 200 new works of art citywide since the establishment of the public

art program in 2000. More than 150 residences have been added downtown in the last 15

years.

Numerous new and expanding business plans are being implemented, an aggressive

program to improve accessibility and affordability of housing is taking place, and the City of

Salina along with a local non-profit, is working on a 7-mile, $70 million river restoration

through the heart of the community that will include new trails, bridges, and plazas.

Updated sports facilities, a new car museum, and substantial improvements to the city’s

parks have taken place in the last 10 years. Since 2008, the city’s financial reserves have

grown from $3 million to $30 million and in 2023, Saline County’s economy grew by more

than 12%. New hotels and convention centers are also being discussed.

Salina Arts & Humanities has determined that it is essential to undertake a cultural

assessment and strategic planning process to guide SAH and other cultural partners in

their service to Salina citizens and arts and culture constituents. The positive energy of the

community and continued potential for new businesses and employees moving to Salina

mean the cultural sector needs to have a strategic plan to thrive in the years ahead. This

requires cultural planning from a broad range of Salina citizens, both current stakeholders

and non-users of arts services, where they live, and in the languages they speak. The

resulting assessment should provide details about the needs and desires of all Salinans for

arts and culture and be available for use by other cultural agencies, as it guides the

community’s cultural plan.

Project Scope of Service

Salina Arts & Humanities staff and the Cultural Roundtable have conducted preliminary

planning sessions to discuss and consider the scope of services for the Community

Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan. The final scope of services will be finalized

between SAH and the successful consultant. However, the following summary represents

topics identified by SAH staff and cultural leaders.

Community Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan

• Inventory cultural assets in the region.

• Interview, survey, and conduct community meetings, forums, and/or focus groups

with cultural and civic leaders and a wide range of unaffiliated citizens to assess the

vision and value of the arts and culture in Salina.

• Facilitation of an arts audience needs assessment.

• Facilitation of public input sessions and community forums.

• Identify and survey non-arts users and members of underserved communities.

• Provide comparative data regarding arts and cultural programs and structures in

comparable cities in the Midwest.

• Identify key issues for the growth and development of arts and culture in Salina,

including the identification of related budget and staffing implications.

• Review of the SAH department’s current arts service delivery.

• Develop preliminary and final versions of a Community Cultural Plan document

which identifies specific goals, strategies for implementation, and a timeline

detailing measurable performance benchmarks.

• Recommend use of resources, new and re-aligned, in both human and financial

terms, to ensure practical strategic plan implementation.

• Provide a series of presentations of the draft Plan to the Steering Committee, SAH,

stakeholder groups, and City staff.

• Develop and present a final Community Cultural Assessment and Strategic Plan to

the Salina City Commission.

• Provide the final plan in digital form, ready for publication and presentation.

Budget

Proposed costs to include an itemized budget, including personnel costs (hourly rate and

hour estimate per task) and a budget narrative.

Additional Resources

Salina Arts & Humanities will provide access to the following documents, which may be

helpful to consulting organizations in responding to this RFQ/P. These documents are

included under the Exhibits.

1.0 The Big Ideas Community Cultural Plan – 2009

2.0 Organizational Materials – current

3.0 The 2025 State of the Arts Report

4.0 Websites. 1) Salina Arts & Humanities mission, goals and programming may be found

on our website at www.salinaarts.com. 2) Information on the department-produced Smoky

Hill River Festival is at www.riverfestival.com.

5.0 Social Media. 1) Salina Arts & Humanities at https://www.facebook.com/salinaarts/

2) Smoky Hill River Festival at https://www.facebook.com/SHRiverFestival/ 3) Community

Art & Design Committee at https://www.facebook.com/SalinaCommunityArtandDesign

Commodity Codes

• NAICS 541611Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services

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