CAMP: The Cultural Asset Mapping Project is an initiative of the Cultural Arts Division of the Economic Development Department to map the places and resources that are important to Austin’s cultural identity and creativity.
Conducted in the summer of 2016, CAMP visited each of Austin’s 10 Council Districts asking participants to map places that had cultural and creative value to them. With help from community members like you, CAMP compiled a directory of over 3,000 points depicting cultural assets like theaters, music venues, local landmarks, and more through district meetings, DIY CAMP mapping kits, and an online interactive map.
The CAMP Report
Download The CAMP Report to learn more about how CAMP's data can be applied and to view the maps created with the community responses compiled.
What's in The CAMP Report?
- Council District profiles highlighting cultural facilities in each district
- Cultural heatmaps showing concentration of cultural facilitieslike theaters, music venues, and more
- Demographic breakdown of Austin’s creative sector
- Creative sector trends and economic impact
The Thriving in Place Report
As a complement to The CAMP Report, CAMP created Thriving in Place, a primer on place-based economic development for cultural spaces. Thriving in Place offers an introduction to cultural district planning and organization, and examples of site-specific strategies aimed at ensuring cultrual spaces and their surrounding communities may avoid displacement and thrive in place.
Download Thriving in Place to learn more about planning for cultural districts.
What can you do with CAMP data?
Through CAMP, we compiled a directory of over 3,000 entries of cultural facilities and resources as of 2016. The data collected through CAMP was created by the community for the community and we hope it will inspire you to create your own culture maps highlighting arts and culture in your district.
Here are just a few ideas of what you can do with CAMP data:
- Promote arts and culture in your area through maps, tours, and guides
- Discover new connections between local arts groups
- Identify potential community partners to support your community’s cultural resources
Cultural asset mapping is an approach used around the world to collect citizen input about cultural resources and help communities articulate their community’s needs. Conducting your own CAMP project can serve as an important first step in organizing your community in support of the arts. Download The CAMP Kit for materials to use in your own mapping projects.
View the CAMP Cultural Directory
To access or download the complete CAMP directory, visit the City of Austin Open Data Portal.