20th Street Corridor of the Cultural Arts District

On September 17, 2002 Lively Omaha joined with Omaha Cultural Arts District leaders in an exploration and discovery meeting at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center to expand the conversations begun in 1999 about a cultural arts district in Omaha. A major part of that meeting was The Place Game, lead by Lively Omaha facilitators along the 20th Street corridor. Lively Omaha facilitators helped the Cultural Arts District Committee evaluate the potential of 20th Street as an arts corridor through the Place Game exercise. Representatives of virtually all the businesses and institutions along 20th Street participated.

The area contains the Drake Court Development, Liberty Elementary School, the Omaha Children's Museum, The Rose, the YMCA, the Rose and Crown Pub, Wells Fargo Bank, Commercial Federal Bank, the Scottish Rite Center, OPPD, various civic buildings and parking.

Several major themes emerged from the session. Those themes are presented in the below link followed by the observations and recommendations of each of the Place Game Teams.

Emerging Themes

Specific short-term and long-term improvement ideas were developed by each team for all the sites visited. Their concepts for each segment of 20th Street are presented here.

Site A: 20th Street & Douglas and Dodge Streets

Site B: 20th & Farnam Street

Site C: 20th & Harney Street

Site D: 20th & Howard Street

Site E: 20th & St. Mary's

In addition to improvement ideas, Place Game participants came up with organizations and groups that might be interested in becoming partners to help implement their place making suggestions.

Local Partners

For additional information about the Cultural Arts District, please contact Vic Gutman at vgaevents@aol.com or at 402-345-5401. For more information about Lively Omaha and the Place Game, email connie@livelyomaha.org.