PEER EXCHANGES
Sharing and Caring

Join a conversation with practitioners who are at the leading edge of innovation in creative placemaking. Facilitated peer-to-peer discussions provide space to share common experiences, challenges, and insights. Extend your network and apply your learning to conversations that will help others advance their work. Sessions are organized by topics of interest and are led by practitioners from around the country.

BRIDGING DIVIDES THROUGH GRASSROOTS CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Facilitated by Esther Calhoun, Ben Fink (Appalshop) and Donna Neuwirth (Wormfarm)
How have historically exploited communities worked together to create a common vision across regional, racial, and geographic lines? Discover the power of organizing at the grassroots level to assemble and lift up community-owned centers of power. Share your own stories of community cultural work and organizing to examine the possibilities and the complications.

EPIC CREATIVE PLACEMAKING FAILS
Facilitated by John Davis (Lanesboro Arts)
If failure is, as Oprah said, “just life trying to move us in another direction,” how have survivors of epic placemaking fails redirected their defeats into moments of innovation? Share your experiences with failure and hear about 5 specific examples in which mistakes were overcome and failures were reframed as new opportunities for success.

THE HEALING POWER OF CREATIVE PLACEMAKING
Facilitated by Savannah Hall (Appalachian Artisan Center) and Abdurrahman Mahmud (Mixed Blood Theatre)
How do arts programs and creative placemaking initiatives improve community health? Hear from two very different projects about their work at the intersection of arts, narrative, and science to improve community health and well-being. Share ways you’ve navigated obstacles and challenges in your own efforts.

INTEGRATING ARTS, CULTURE, AND CREATIVITY INTO NON-ARTS ORGANIZATIONS 
Facilitated by James Arentson (Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership), Joseph Claunch (Zuni Youth Enrichment Program), Adela Park (Fairmount Park Conservancy), Erica Reed (Jackson Medical Mall Foundation), and Tyler Robinson (Cook Inlet Housing Authority)
Looking to integrate creative placemaking into a non-arts organization? Join this peer dialogue with reps from six community-development organizations for perspectives on how to bring your board, staff, partners, and community along. Gain the resources you need to get your colleagues onboard and turn skeptics into ambassadors.

LAND, FOOD, AND CULTURE: CONNECTING AND INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION 
Facilitated by Lorena Andrade (La Mujer Obrera), Lisa Bellanger (Three Fires Ojibwe Spiritual and Educational Society), Darnella Burkett Winston, and Lorette Picciano (Rural Coalition)
How can creative placemaking create lasting and meaningful connections between youths and their land and culture? Listen as leaders in the field share their work inspiring young people to bond with the places and people that shaped them. Share your own stories of strengthening the next generation’s appreciation for their land, food, culture, and community.

NAVIGATING CHANGE
Facilitated by Lizzie MacWillie (buildingcommunityWORKSHOP), Rachel Parish, and Chandra Williams (Crossroads Cultural Arts Center)
How do you maximize opportunity during times of change while engaging new leadership from among the community itself? Share how change has impacted your work and hear how others are developing strategies for navigating times of uncertainty. Discuss the roles transparency and communication have in bringing the community into your work throughout a transition.  

ENGAGING YOUR FUNDRAISING FAMILY
Facilitated by Sarah Calderon (ArtPlace America)
Looking for ways to address the perennial problem that is fundraising? Share your alternative sources of funding, as well as tips and techniques on what gets you noticed when engaging your fundraising family and writing a grant application, and how to bring your unique authenticity into your fundraising game.

EQUITY-CENTERED FACILITATION SKILLS FOR CREATIVE PLACEMAKING
Facilitated by Maura Cuffie (ArtPlace America)
Facilitation can  powerfully enhance the way we hold space and help us understand how we belong. These are necessary components of any creative placemaking effort. This participant-driven session will focus on the idea of facilitation as a method and skill to create spaces rooted in connection and belonging.

GALLERY TALK: ARTISTS AND COMMUNITY CHANGE
Facilitated by Jamie Hand (ArtPlace America)
What does creative placemaking look like when it is locally defined and informed and centers the people who live, work, and play in a place? Come see ArtPlace’s traveling exhibition at The Arts Center of Mississippi, featuring 10 creative placemaking projects from across the country, each addressing a community need and each working within a traditional community planning and development sector.
The Arts Center is located across the street from the Jackson Convention Center at 201 East Pascagoula Street, Jackson, MS 39201. Space is limited and pre-registration is required at the Summit registration table on Monday, May 20 between 12:00 and 4:00 PM.

THE STORY DOCTORS ARE IN
Facilitated by Megan Bullock and Elizabeth Turner of MESH
Is your story due for a checkup? Join the creative force behind ArtPlace’s upcoming #CreativityLivesHere campaign, a homegrown collection of creative placemaking stories from across the country. They’ll help you refine your story and prepare to reach new audiences more effectively.

Our hashtag throughout the summit is #ArtPlaceSummit. For more details and live updates go to the ArtPlace Summit Guidebook App.