MAKING SENSE OF MEANING: HOW CREATIVE DOCUMENTATION ENHANCES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The effort to document and research the Community Development Investments initiative grew up alongside the program itself, and the analytical approach reflects a balance between conveying the unique features of six distinct experiences and producing lessons of broader relevance to various fields of practice. This essay describes the ways in which the PolicyLink team, in close consultation with ArtPlace America, the grantees of the program, and a number of advisors, created and carried out an approach that was suited to the unique features and dimensions of the initiative.

MAPC ARTS & PLANNING TOOLKIT
A round-up of MAPCs favorite toolkits, resource guides, reports, and case studies pertaining to the intersection of arts, culture, planning, and community development.

MOVING FROM ENGAGING TO ORGANIZING WITH ARTS AND CULTURAL STRATEGIES
This is the third in a series of briefs that describe the changes, insights, and lessons when arts and cultural strategies are deployed in service of comprehensive community development and planning. During ArtPlace America's Community Development Investments initiative, six participating organizations which had not previously focused on the arts developed creative placemaking projects and cultural strategies that could help them more effectively achieve their missions. PolicyLink conducted a research and documentation project to measure the progress, immediate outcomes, and impacts of those projects. This brief examines how community developers working with artists created innovative ways of organizing residents and building power for policy change.

MUNICIPAL ARTIST PARNERSHIPS
A “relationship guide” to forging strong and sustainable creative partnerships between local governments and artists. It reflects their interest to understand what good municipal/artist partnerships look like, from the experiences of practitioners who have effectively done good work together. The goals were to communicate the artfulness, dynamics, best practices and common challenges of these partnerships and their resulting creative projects; and assist those who want to integrate creative practices to advance civic goals and improve the workings of municipal government.

NACO CREATIVE PLACEMAKING TOOLKIT FOR COUNTIES
NACo, in partnership with Americans for the Arts and with support from the NEA has launched the Creative Counties Placemaking Initiative to support counties as they work to identify and strengthen ways to integrate arts into solutions to local challenges.

NARRATIVE PROCESSES IN URBAN PLANNING
A case study on a town suffering from the effects of jobs losses and outmigration that occurred when labor intensive farming transitioned to the machine. A theater project has led to purported claims of community revitalization, new relationships, personal empowerment; the coproduction of an emerging and diverse community identity; and institutional and economic development.