In partnership with Civic Arts, ArtPlace has worked to support and grow the different ways in which local government staff and elected officials draw on the power of arts-based development practices for their communities. To accomplish this task, ArtPlace worked with two professional development organizations to help frame, create, and disseminate local government specific materials on creative placemaking, and grow the networks needed for this area of practice to develop into the future.

These partnerships focus on:

Validating & Guiding: International City/County Management Association

The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) is a professional association for city and county managers and others who work with local governments in the United States and abroad. Through leadership, management, innovation, and ethics, ICMA provides support, publications, data and information, peer and results-oriented assistance, and training and professional development to more than 13,000 city, town, and county experts and other individuals and organizations throughout the world.

ArtPlace worked with Civic Arts and ICMA to:

• Create a framing/wayfinding guide on creative placemaking for local government leaders and staff to validate and frame the practice, share stories, and orient city staff to other resources and materials.
• Promote diffusion of creative placemaking processes through experiences and exposureto the guide (through conferences, webinars, social media, print publications, etc.).

Problem-Solving through Arts & Cultural Strategies: A Creative Placemaking Wayfinding Guide was published in December 2020 as a part of this work. 

Activating & Deepening: Engaging Local Government Leaders

Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) is an “accidental professional association” that began in 2012 with a 16 member dinner group, and has now grown to over 4800 members from all 50 states plus Canada, UK, Israel and Australia.  Focused on all levels of local government (from analysts to mayors; librarians to planners; and everyone in between), ELGL’s mission is to engage the brightest minds in local government by providing timely and relevant content through podcasts, blogs, webinars, social media and conference gathering, with the objective of fostering authentic and meaningful connections that are grounded in practices of equity and inclusion.

ArtPlace worked with Civic Arts and ELGL to:

• Host an ELGL blog series with the voices of members and experts discussing their forays into creative placemaking work
• Host ELGL Webinars in collaboration with Civic Arts to provide the creative placemaking technical assistance needed for members to both start and support new projects.
• Host monthly GovLove Podcasts with ELGL members and experts
• Develop a series of Creative Collaboration Cohorts: peer-to-peer professional development groups based on a case study model.
• Develop a crowd-sourced local government Resource Library for creative placemaking related projects.

To learn more about these initiatives, check out the announcement blog here, and ELGL's Creative Community hub here!

Coordinating & Sustaining: Civic Arts

Civic Arts is a non-profit organization that works at the intersection of art, urban planning, and community development to find creative solutions for complex local challenges. Harnessing the power of local arts and culture sector, the organization builds policy, engagement, and field building opportunities for arts and culture organizations that can inform, inspire, and create collective and equitable responses to current urban and rural needs.

ArtPlace worked with Civic Arts to:

• Partner with ArtPlace to guide and administer the partnerships.
• Shepherd emerging creative placemaking leaders within the larger project opportunities
• Develop a new Creative Placemaking Resources hub oriented for local government staff.

If you are interested in learning more or getting involved in either of these initiatives, please contact Civic Arts to share more about your interest!  We have lots of opportunities to highlight leaders and voices in the field.

Further Resources

Looking for more resources on local government work in creative placemaking?  Check out the following!

• Municipal Artist Partnership Guide (A Blade of Grass & Animating Democracy), which provides nuts and bolts advice, project examples, and templates for all kinds of partnerships between artists and local government entities!
• ArtPlace's Resource section for Local Government
• American Planning Association Knowledgebase on Creative Placemaking
• Americans for the Arts Blog Salon on Artist-Municipal Partnerships
• NEA's Exploring Our Town, featuring stories and lessons of projects led by local government in partnership with the arts sector