The Arts on Chicago initiative is coming to the end of an exciting and groundbreaking year. Some folks in the neighborhood are even calling it historic. With all of the tremendous creative accomplishments, art works produced, and relationships built or deepened over the past year we recognize that we have enormous momentum moving forward.

There are things that seem simple, but are easily lost in the fray of something as layered and complex as creative placemaking. One thing we always reminded ourselves is that it’s about art and engaging people. Working professional artists MUST be a significant voice and component of your initiative. If the voice and experience of artists is not represented at the table, then your table is missing a leg.

Every project or initiative is unique. Hold true to your vision and values. Everyone in your community (peer organizations, funders, community members, the elected) will be watching, listening, criticizing, and weighing in on what you are doing. This is not necessarily a bad thing but something that you will have to sift through every day. And there are also a fair number of people (many whom are non-artists) that are actively driving the national conversation around creative placemaking in ways that support your efforts or oppose them. Be a good listener, participate in the dialogue, and then go back and ask practicing artists what they think and how they would drive to the conversation. Always remember to return to your constituents and make sure you are engaged in an ongoing dialogue with them first and foremost.

Don’t run from controversy or difficult issues (e.g. Gentrification). Embrace them and use art as a tool to tackle the thorny issues head on. Now that we are near the end of our yearlong project, one of the critical pieces for us now is to effectively tell our story. There are many different indicators being used in the field on a national level, but they might not be a true fit for the goals and outcomes of your ArtPlace funded project. For example, many of the metrics that are being used to show vibrancy are economic indicators. Although these existing metrics are important we found that we are more interested in trying to measure connection among individuals within the community we are engaging. We were fortunate to have enlisted Rachel Engh, David Milavetz, and John Briel whom were a team of three graduate students from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of MN. They worked tirelessly to develop indicators and evaluation tools that aligned with our projects goals and values, which we embedded and implemented into our artists community practice. One year is not a lot of time to engage in a comprehensive evaluation of your project or initiative and you don’t want to miss out on collecting data as you are engaging people in your amazing project. Engage your evaluation process from the beginning!

There were so many things that fell into place to help make our project a success. Two of the key components we discovered that helped us leverage our ArtPlace grant were our ability to develop really strong partnerships and having the resources to have a dedicated fulltime staff person to manage our project.

Our partnerships allowed us to develop a leadership team comprised of key stakeholders in the initiative. This team included professional artists, arts administrators, community organizers, and our elected council member. With this team, we were able to find a sweet spot of not being too large, or too small. Everyone involved had a stake in the project in both their own self interests (as individuals and/or organizations) as well as the shared interests of the collective. The Leadership Team was charged with reviewing and selecting our 20 artists projects, which helped deepen their ownership of all of the projects, not just their own.

Being an ArtPlace grant recipient has the power to impact your work in many ways. It raises your collective profile and can bring new along opportunities. Remember what you are in it for, and be mindful of your intentions. We are and have been in it for decades, and this is part of a long game strategy.

The ArtPlace funds have had a significant impact on our artists, neighborhoods, organization, and the members of our Leadership Team. In the end, it’s a one-year grant so you better make the most of it. I say this because this injection of resources will come and go quickly. It would be a shame to look back on one year and feel as if you could have done more, or could have taken more significant risks. And I posit that if we are not taking risks (isn’t that what artists excel at?) or pushing ourselves out of our comfort areas, then what are we really learning? Through significant risk taking you have the opportunity to grow exponentially, which in turn creates a renewed understanding or clarity around where you want to go into the future.