“If you think of the Napa Valley as a paint-by-number set, then the statistics Arts Council Napa Valley has uncovered make for a rich palette by which we can deepen our view of the local arts assets and how they fit into the broader landscape,” said cultural planning consultant Morrie Warshawski. These statistics, generated from Arts Council Napa Valley’s new cultural resources database, are critical to understanding Napa Valley arts.

We are working to capture all artists, arts organizations, educational opportunities and arts venues in Napa Valley. The more we work on this, the more we realize we have to discover. So many arts collectives fly under the radar of public knowledge. So many artists, even those who show across the country, haven’t been involved on a local level, so finding them is complicated.

One of our greatest needs is to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for the arts. Although we’ve gotten terrific leads, we have not been able to track down all the creative Latinos we know are here. Over the next few months we hope to rectify this.

Even with these challenges, we have made amazing discoveries: Our individual artist database has more than 1,400 artists; the arts organizations database has more than 90 entries; and the cultural resources database, which includes all organizations or venues that support the arts — from coffee shops that hang local art to wineries with galleries to restaurants that have live music — has more than 300 entries.

Even before we survey the public, we can see where the disparities are, the surprises and the opportunities. For example, only 9 percent of cultural resources in Napa County are devoted to theater arts, with 40 percent focused on the visual arts. Music resources make up 23 percent, while film has  a paltry 3 percent. Even more interesting is the disribution of resources compared to city populations. Napa has its fair share of cultural resources as compared to its population; but American Canyon, the fastest-growing city with 12 percent of the county’s population, has only 2 percent of the cultural resources. By contrast, St. Helena, with only 5 percent of the population, has 18 percent of the county resources.

What does this tell us? It is too early to draw conclusions, but we can see some hints, such as the tremendous opportunity to build the arts in American Canyon. Next we need to look deeper: St. Helena clearly is rich in the arts; but what art forms are under-represented there? What makes an art-friendly town? These are the kinds of questions we seek to answer in this process.

An analysis of all of the cities, their populations and the art forms available will shortly be on the ACNV Web site at www.artscouncilnapavalley.org. Stay tuned for the launch of individual artists and arts organization surveys. To get involved in the creation of this cultural plan, visit our Web site or contact us at 257-2117 or info@artscouncilnapavalley.org.

Michelle Williams is the executive director of the Arts Council Napa Valley.