Author Archive

19Mar

Ann Markusen – How do we know Creative Placemaking is working? [VIDEO]

Ann Markusen is Director of the Arts Economy Initiative and the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and Principal of Markusen Economic Research. She is a researcher, frequent public speaker, and advisor to public agencies, policymakers, businesses, economic developers, and nonprofit organizations across the US, in Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia and Brazil. Her expertise is in economic development at the state and local level, where she brings analytical skills to bear on the ways that industries and occupations shape possibilities for creating good work. Markusen is currently serving as research and writing consultant for the Minnesota House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs.

Her 2010 report Creative Placemaking, authored along with Anne Gadwa, is still considered the defining document of the creative placemaking movement. The report remains a key resource for mayors, arts organizations, the philanthropic sector, and others interested in understanding strategies for leveraging the arts to help shape and revitalize the physical, social, and economic character of place.

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18Mar

NEA Update of Creative Placemaking Research and Program – Part 2 [VIDEO]

Sunil Iyengar
Research & Analysis Director at the National Endowment for the Arts

Sunil Iyengar directs the Office of Research & Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. Since his arrival at the NEA in June 2006, the office has produced more than 25 research publications, hosted several research events and webinars, twice updated the NEA’s five-year strategic plan, and overseen a new and expanded survey about arts participation. In that time, the office also has created an arts system map and long-term research agenda, and has launched a research grants program. Sunil also chairs the Interagency Task Force on the Arts and Human Development.

Some of the NEA’s most recent research includes Valuing the Art of Industrial Design (2013), The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth (2012),  An Average Day in the Arts (2012), and The Arts and Human Development (2011). Sunil and his team have partnered with organizations such as the Brookings Institution, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Institutes to Health to study the arts in relation to such topics as economic development and the health and well-being of older adults. For a decade, Iyengar worked as a reporter, managing editor, and senior editor for a host of news publications covering the biomedical research, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries. He writes poetry, and his book reviews have appeared in publications such as the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The American Scholar, The New Criterion, Essays in Criticism, and Contemporary Poetry Review. Iyengar has a BA in English from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

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27Feb

NEA Update on Creative Placemaking Research and Programs – Part 1 [VIDEO]

Jason Schupbach became director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts in May 2010.  In this position, he manages the NEA’s grantmaking for design and the NEA’s design initiatives, such as the Mayors’ Institute on City Design as well Our Town, which provides funding in recognition of the role that the arts can play in economic revitalization and in creating livable, sustainable communities.

Prior to coming to the NEA, Schupbach held the first-in-the-nation position of creative economy industry director for the Massachusetts Office of Business Development where his accomplishments included coordinating the growth of new industry cluster groups, such as the Design Industry Group of Massachusetts (DIGMA), and launching a Design Excellence initiative, an effort to improve procurement processes in Massachusetts in order to build more sustainable and longer-lasting buildings and communities, and increase the number of designers being offered contracts.

In December of 2014 Jason along with his colleague Jane Chu from the NEA published the paper Our Town: Supporting the Arts in Communities Throughout the United States which was included in the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Community Development Investment Review.

Why are a farm, a church, a museum, an arboretum, and a festival working together to create a new environmental arts center in rural Freeman, South Dakota? Why are a community loan fund and an office of economic and workforce development working with a local arts agency in San Francisco to secure permanent space for arts organizations? Why are a bank, an energy company, and a music organization collaborating on a series of pop-up performances in suburban Maize, Kansas? The answer: They are all working on projects funded by Our Town grants.

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26Feb

30 Years of Creative Placemaking in Providence

In this panel discussion Bert Crenca, artistic director and co-founder of AS220; Barnaby Evans, executive artistic director of WaterFire Providence; Clay Rockefeller, co-founder The Steel Yard and partner at The Dean Hotel; and Lynne McCormack, director of Art Culture + Tourism for the City of Providence share their experiences in building and supporting creative cultural institutions that helped redefine a city. This panel was moderated by Anne Gadwa Nicodemus.

Since its settlement in 1636, by Roger Williams, Providence has held a unique position as a City where free-thinking and creativity abound. Founded on the idea of individual liberty Providence has long been a haven for artist and creative thinkers. Home to both Brown University and The Rhode Island School of Design the city has produced and nurtured creative groups and individuals. The modern creative renaissance that began here over thirty years ago was jump started and kept alive thanks in no small part to the players in this discussion.

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16Jan

What can cities and state governments do to foster creative development? [video]

Creative communities: what are the ingredients of building a creative community? What can cities and state governments do to encourage creative development? How do we break down the silos and encourage collaborations? Come listen and discuss with a panel of creative placemakers working inside government to connect and navigate the landscape of planning, economic development, education, transportation and the arts.

In this panel discussion moderator Jack Becker, the publisher of Public Art Review, asks creative placemaking civic leaders to talk about how city, state, and even federal government agencies can work with artists and community organizers to foster creative initiatives that will help develop creative and resilient communities. Panelists for this discussion include: Gülgün Kayim, Director of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis;  Kip Bergstrom, Deputy Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development; Marty Pottenger, director, Art at Work, Portland, ME; Lynne McCormack, Director, Department of Art Culture + Tourism, City of Providence, RI and  Erin Williams, Cultural Development Officer for the City of Worcester, MA and Executive Director of the Worcester Cultural Coalition.

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