Cedar Valley Cultural Alliance Experience Art and Culture Waterloo Cedar Falls Waverly

The Cedar Valley Cultural Alliance (CVCA) is a non-profit consortium of cultural, natural history and educational institutions dedicated to collaboration and cooperation between member organizations and in conjunction with recreation business, tourism and governmental agencies.

CVCA promotes organizational advocacy advancement and professional development for members; service to Cedar Valley educational communities; and the enhancement of quality of life for citizens and visitors to the Cedar Valley.

In 1985, a group of cultural organizations in Waterloo and Cedar Falls came together to form an alliance called Resources Plus (now the Cedar Valley Cultural Alliance) in response to a Smithsonian Institution program that encouraged partnerships between community cultural organizations and the schools.

The first charge was to present a workshop to teachers to encourage the formation of these partnerships.
The workshop included instruction for teachers in the use of community cultural facilities and programs while teaching techniques to be used in the classroom.

Building on the success of the workshop, Resources Plus broadened its scope with the idea of also forming partnerships with government, business and the private sector.

The Cedar Valley Cultural Alliance has since 1985 actively worked to promote the abundance of cultural opportunities available to citizens and tourists of the Cedar Valley, to provide unique experiential learning opportunities to educators and students; and to educate state and local government officials of the importance of a healthy cultural community to the economic development and quality of life of the state and the quality education of Iowa’s youth.

Over the past 17 years the Cedar Valley Cultural Alliance has hosted teacher workshops; produced an at-a-glance matrix of programming information for K-12 teachers, conveniently divided according to general curriculum areas; and secured grant funding to provide transportation of K-12 students to cultural programs.

In addition, the Alliance has provided scholarships to students locally pursuing a degree in the fields of education, arts, or natural history; collected and published information regarding the economic impact of its member organizations on the community; annually sponsored the Legislative Public Forums held at AEA7; hosted receptions publicly recognizing volunteers and legislators who have supported the cultural community sponsored and cosponsored numerous breakfasts, lunches and receptions for legislators; produced videos for tourism and education agencies of cultural opportunities available in the community; and provided liaisons to numerous governmental, economic development, and community committees, boards and councils in the Cedar Valley.

Current projects include the collection and publication of an updated economic impact statement and the construction of a Web site that explains the mission and goals of the Cedar Valley Cultural Alliance and provides links to member organizations.