With miles of beaches, a rich colonial-era history, waterfront restaurants and entertainment and much more, Wareham is anything but short on culture. But what is the best way for the town to show off that culture to residents and tourists alike?

Selectmen tackled that question Tuesday night when they took the first step toward possibly creating one or more state-sponsored cultural districts in the town.

A cultural district is a specific area in town that celebrates, and has a high concentration of, the community's cultural assets, according to Massachusetts Cultural Council representative Meri Jenkins, who was at the meeting.

She said the goals of the district are to attract artists and creative entrepreneurs, encourage business and job development, establish the district as a tourism destination, preserve and reuse historic buildings, and to strengthen and revitalize the community in general.

"It's a walkable compact area. That's the main thing," she said. "It's about keeping people in the community as long as possible and that translates to more dollars for the business in town."

Jenkins said the cultural district initiative, which was passed by the state legislature and signed into law in 2010, currently supports 27 districts across the state, with 45 other communities in the application process. It costs no money to apply to the program.

Jenkins said the program does not currently have any state funding, but anticipates that the legislature will come through with money in the next year or two.

She said that there are other assets and state agencies the program works with, such as the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, which can market the cultural districts to a national audience free of charge.

"We want to draw people to come here and to come back," said Paul Ciccotelli of the Wareham Cultural Council.

Areas such as Onset Village and Besse Park were brought up as possible cultural sites by Selectmen.

Selectman Patrick Tropeano said he liked the concept because it "accentuates the positives and specifically points out what's great about the community."

Selectmen voted to begin the application process and Selectman Alan Slavin said the board will try to set up a meeting in the next few weeks with Jenkins and the involved parties in town, such as the Onset Bay Association, the Wareham Village Association, the Wareham Historical Society, Community and Economic Development as well as local business owners, artists and other creative people in town.