The City of Soldotna will use a $20,000 state grant to create an arts and culture master plan for the city following acceptance of the grant by city council members during their Dec. 28 meeting. The council last summer approved legislation supporting the creation of the master plan and giving city administrators permission to apply for related grant funding.

Per a Dec. 5 memo from Laura Rhyner, the assistant to the city manager, the city was notified Dec. 2 that its grant application was approved.

The city applied for a Community Arts Partnership Grant through the Alaska State Council on the Arts and received $20,000. That grant funding will be combined with a $20,000 match by the City of Soldotna, to be paid for with some of the city’s COVID relief funding. The matching funds have already been approved by council members.

The grant program to which the city applied, Rhyner wrote, is supported by both the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well by the Rasmuson Foundation. Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen said during the council’s Dec. 28 meeting that the city also applied for a federal grant for the plan, but will not hear back until mid-2023.

“The development of an Arts and Culture Master Plan will enable the City to identify and catalog existing community resources, to set goals and priorities to support and enrich our artistic and cultural assets, and to better incorporate arts and culture into our long term planning and economic development efforts,” Rhyner wrote.

Soldotna City Council members first floated the idea of creating an arts and culture master plan for the city during a work session last April. The session provided a space for council members to mull how Soldotna should spend just over $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds it received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Former city council member Justin Ruffridge proposed starting a community arts endowment during that session, which led to council members passing a resolution supporting the plan last July. That resolution said a master plan is consistent with the city’s “Envision Soldotna 2030 Comprehensive Plan.”

“Soldotna’s arts and cultural resources contribute significantly to the vibrancy and appeal of our community, and play an important role in stimulating economic growth and supporting community development,” that resolution says.

The Soldotna City Council’s Dec. 28 meeting can be streamed on the city’s website at soldotna.org.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.