creative placemaking - arts midwest · jane golden and seasons of youth mural. photo by shea roggio...

Creative Placemaking

Anne Gadwa Nicodemus September 14, 2012

Taste of Summ

er © 2008 C

ity of Philadelphia Mural A

rts Program/A

nn Northrup and R

eentry Workers

Photo © JackR

amsdale.com

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Legacy © 2006 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program/Josh Sarantitis

Jane Golden and Seasons of Youth mural. Photo by Shea Roggio courtesy of Philadelphia Magazine

Design in Motion © 2009 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program/Desiree Bender & Big Picture Youth. Photo by Steve Weiinik

Ann N

orthrup and inmate artists at R

iverside Correctional Facility celebrate G

oing Hom

e, the mural on w

hich they collaborated. Photo by C

lem M

urray for the Philadelphia Inquirer

Garden of D

elight © 2010 C

ity of Philadelphia Mural A

rts Program/D

avid Guinn

Arnaudville, Louisiana

Musician Joe Hall Photo © Lorrae Lantier

Photo © D

an Bertrand

Weekly fiddle jam Photo © Tom Pierce, 2009

Monthly French Table at the Deux Bayous Gallery Photo © George Marks

Paducah, Kentucky

Creative Placemaking?

Creative placemaking:

* partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors

• strategically shape

• the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region

* around arts and cultural activities

Place Arts &

Cultural Activities

Creative Placemaking:

Cross-Sector Partners

Place Arts &

Cultural Activities

Creative Placemaking:

Cross-Sector Partners

animates public/private

space

brings diverse people together to

celebrate, inspire + be inspired

rejuvenates structures + streetscapes

improves biz

vitality

improves public safety

Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts, Seattle Washington. Photo from Artspace collection

Brick and Mortar

Planning/Arts Districts

Design in Motion © 2009 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program/Desiree Bender & Big Picture Youth. Photo by Steve Weiinik

Art advancing other functional domains

Before I Die by Candy Chang. Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Shake Shack

Ephemeral Interventions

WaterFire Providence® by Barnaby Evans. Providence, RI. Photo © Michael Melford

Festivals/iconic (public) art

Artwork’s SpringBoard Cincinnati

Creative Economy Initiatives

Place Arts &

Cultural Activities

Creative Placemaking:

Cross-Sector Partners

animates public/private

space

brings diverse people together to

celebrate, inspire + be inspired

rejuvenates structures + streetscapes

improves biz

vitality

improves public safety

!"

“a means of investing in art and culture at the heart of a portfolio of integrated strategies that can drive vibrancy and diversity so powerful that it transforms communities.”

Rocco Landesman, Photo © Chicago Tribune

“Vibrant is a quality you find in cities or neighborhoods where there is an arts or music “scene,” lots of restaurants and food markets of a certain highbrow type, trophy architecture to memorialize the scene’s otherwise transient life, and an audience of prosperous people who are interested in all these things.”

-Thomas Frank, The Baffler

“The blind love of creative placemaking that is tied to the allure of speculation culture and its economic thinking of ‘build it and they will come’ is suffocating, unethical, and supports a politics of dis-belonging employed to manufacture a ‘place’.”

-Roberto Bedoya Arts in a Changing America

Where do we go from here?

•  Embrace the good – Cross-sector partnerships=real innovation –  Infuse arts and culture into community

development

•  Responsiveness: shore-up rhetoric and practice based on criticism

•  Investigate, learn, and share to strengthen practice and inform investments – Get specific!

Place Arts &

Cultural Activities

Creative Placemaking:

Cross-Sector Partners

animates public/private

space

brings diverse people together to

celebrate, inspire + be inspired

rejuvenates structures + streetscapes

improves biz

vitality

improves public safety

Ingredients

•  Prompted by an initiator with vision and drive

•  Tailors strategy to distinctive features of place

•  Mobilizes public will

•  Attracts private sector buy-in

•  Garners support of local arts and cultural leaders

•  Builds partnerships across sectors, missions, and levels of government

Challenges •  Countering Community

Skepticism

•  Forging and Sustaining Partnerships

•  Assembling Adequate Financing

•  Clearing Regulatory Hurdles

•  Ensuring Maintenance and Sustainability

•  Avoiding Displacement and Gentrification

•  Developing Metrics for Performance & Evaluation

Anne Gadwa Nicodemus gadwa@metrisarts.com metrisarts.com