Stories
May 29, 2018
How could an electric power company help its community feel more connected and more grounded—beyond the obvious ways? The Tennessee-based Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB) is one of the country’s largest publicly owned power providers. In recent years, they’ve become known as an early supplier of gigabit-speed internet, and a partner in the city’s first community solar project. What drives... Read More
Jun 06, 2018
NEA Our Town Grant Application Guidelines are now posted! Matching grants for creative placemaking projects range from $25,000 to $200,000. The application deadline is August 9, 2018 for projects that start on or after July 1, 2019. Our Town is the National Endowment for the Arts’ creative placemaking grants program. These grants support projects that integrate arts,... Read More
Jun 13, 2018
Every place is home to a mix of assets and challenges. Much of rural America is blessed with close-knit communities, long-held traditions, and historic architecture, but shrinking employment opportunities, small tax bases, and unbalanced development can threaten residents’ quality of life. No two communities’ recipes for success are the same, but all have the potential to leverage... Read More
Jun 14, 2018
Over the past several decades, evidence has mounted to demonstrate that the arts have positive and measurable impacts on individual and community health. The field of arts in health has emerged from a rapidly growing number of arts programs in healthcare settings. Concurrently, creative placemaking initiatives across the United States have demonstrated that the arts are a... Read More
Jun 19, 2018
The mission statement of Coalfield Development is “We believe in developing the potential of Appalachian places and people as they experience challenging moments of economic transition by unlocking people’s creative power to transform perceived problems into opportunities in the communities we call home. We empower people to have faith in themselves to learn and grow. People who have never... Read More
Jun 21, 2018
Earlier this year we were lucky enough to sit in on a webinar run by The Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) in collaboration with Art of the Rural. They drew together experts in the field to talk about Creative Placemaking For the Next Generation in rural areas. Together they have created the Next Generation Theory of Change, a national collaboration that... Read More
Jun 26, 2018
Dierdre Morrison is an Americorps member whose focus is community and economic development through creative industries, at Elsewhere Studios, —an artist-in-residence program in Paonia, Colorado. She spoke to us about a summer (2018) project called INSPIRED: Art at Work —which is designed to advance area dialogue and help shift some of the polarization in our community as they consider... Read More
Jun 27, 2018
I work at the Appalshop — originally short for “Appalachian Film Workshop.” We were founded in 1969, with funding from the federal War on Poverty and the American Film Institute, as a program to teach young people in the mountains to make films. A few years later, when the government money stopped, some of those young people took it... Read More
Jun 28, 2018
The water sector needs new solutions and innovative collaborations to drive positive and lasting change in water management. Sharing the conviction that arts and culture strategies have the power to transform the way the nation views, values, and manages water, the US Water Alliance partnered with ArtPlace America to catalogue the best and brightest models and partnerships... Read More
Jul 04, 2018
What roles can artists play in city government? How can artists in residence support arts and culture strategies in the public arena? What do artists need for their municipal engagements to succeed?Artists Elizabeth Hamby, Jules Rochielle Sievert, and Onyedika Chuke joined ArtPlace’s Sarah Calderon for a discussion about what works and what doesn’t—and to what ends—for artists in residence in city agencies, with... Read More