MICROFEST: A SYNTHESIS OF LEARNING ABOUT ART, CULTURE & PLACE
MicroFest USA: Revitalize, Reconnect, Renew was a journey—part festival, part learning exchange—orchestrated in 2012–2013 by the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) to take a fresh look at the roles of art, culture, and artists in creating healthy vibrant communities. NET’s intent was twofold: to acknowledge and advance the pioneering and current work of ensemble theaters committed to community-based practice and positive community change, and to foster mutual learning with a wider spectrum of artists, cultural workers, and community partners also contributing to community well-being and social change.

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.

PORCH LIGHT PROGRAM: FINAL EVALUATION REPORT
Can public art promote public health? This is the central question addressed in this four-year evaluation of the Porch Light Program, a collaborative endeavor of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disability Services (dbhids). Porch Light creates public murals that seek to transform neighborhoods and promote the health of neigh-borhood residents and individuals who help create the mural. This collaboration involves a variety of stakehold-ers, including behavioral health consumers, artists, family members, service providers, neighborhood residents, and the leadership and staff from two city departments.

PROBLEM SOLVING THROUGH ARTS AND CULTURE STRATEGIES: CREATIVE PLACEMAKING GUIDANCE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
This comprehensive resource is for local government managers and their staff considering, launching, or continuing a creative placemaking journey. It explores how outside-the-box processes can offer new ways for government staff and community stakeholders to communicate, build trust, and collaborate. It illustrates roles artists can play across a wide range of contexts, and provides guidance on navigating these processes from defining the opportunity to building the team to structuring and sustaining partnerships. The document is also full of case studies, testimonials, links to tools and additional resources, and prompts to help managers consider how these approaches might benefit their own communities.

REPRESENTATION MATTERS: CHANGE IS HAPPENING
Every day, Next City tells the stories of designers, planners, entrepreneurs and other urban professionals who bring a diverse group of voices into the conversation about cities through equitable business models, new collaborations and inclusive engagement. In this issue they’ve assembled nine stories in this ebook that illuminate this work, in sectors ranging from tech to transportation to parks to healthy food access and more.