The original core strategy of the Forum maintained four key tenets:

1. Creative West maintains meaningful contact with the executive directors of the state arts agencies. The Forum serves as one avenue to continued communication.
2. The Executive Directors value professional development opportunities, and the Forum provides them with such opportunities as a service of Creative West.
3. The Forum serves as a hub for thought partnership regarding policies or other critical regional matters necessitating input from the collective.
4. Participating Creative West states often want to know what valuable services are provided in reciprocity to each states’ annual participation fees. The Forum is a valued and credible service provided to the states offering ample opportunity for each state to connect with Creative West.

Today, those four tenets endure and continue to evolve to include state and jurisdictional health and wellbeing, community building, cross collaboration, and restoration