Art Just Became Even More Essential
Coming mere days after the election, the reference to the famous Audre Lorde declaration, “Art gives us tools other than the master’s tools,” felt apropos. The people in the room were ready to hear any message of hope. I was no exception.
Working Through Growing Pains in Artist/Community Developer Collaborations
At their roots, both the arts and community development amplify a people’s voice. And while this connection makes sense on paper, it can look a lot different in practice. We would like to share three insights from our work together that speak to the promise, and peril, of such collaboration.
The Sound of Music City: Orange, NJ
Music naturally brings people together. In Orange, New Jersey, organizers show how “creative placekeeping” finds its strength in the relationships that are formed within the community.
Unlikely Poets / Guerrilla Haiku Movement / Sharing The Sidewalk
We hailed down a police car in Orange, N.J., and Police Director John Rappaport pulled over. We explained our situation. He thought for a moment. Then he was inspired.
“Oh fire hydrant,” Rappaport wrote next...
Art in the Face of Gentrification
Four representatives of New York City organizations discuss their employment of art and artists to empower residents in the face of gentrification.
Don’t Wait to Call in the Artists
If artists are going to bring their creative problem-solving selves to projects, they need to get involved when the problem is being identified.
Poetry on the Panel
Attendees at the 2015 PolicyLink Equity Summit experienced something unexpected when they walked into many of the panels and workshops: a poetry performance.
Using Art to Create Community at a Clinic
Arts projects at a Minneapolis clinic created a natural connection between people who might not otherwise interact.
Arts for Community Control: Planning an Arts and Innovation District Without Displacement
Jason Moreno first learned about redevelopment efforts taking place in his Boston neighborhood on a sunny summer afternoon in July 2018 at his local outdoor basketball court. Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) had set...
An Island Where There Is a Standard
Like so many of its counterparts across the country, Brick’s is more than just a barbershop in Albany, N.Y. It’s a haven in a troubled neighborhood.
Flipping the Script
A nonprofit forgoes the typical community meeting for a "living charrette," which leads to greater neighborhood feedback about a proposed 24-acre development in Austin, Texas.
Arts, Culture, and Community Mental Health
Examples of projects around the country that are infusing community development with creativity and collaboration and stimulating the potential for unique mental health benefits.
“My City’s So White, I Moved”
We sit down with Carlynn Newhouse, a spoken word artist, to discuss her latest poem on gentrification in Seattle and D.C.
Conflict and Placemaking in Humboldt Park: Paseo Boricua
The area surrounding Paseo Boricua is not exclusive space, but in a gentrifying part of the city, it is undeniably—and perhaps unavoidably—contested space.
Could Public Art on Utility Boxes Displace Communication?
What's not to like about colorful art on utility boxes? Well, in some places that drab infrastructure might be performing informal community functions...
Parks, People, and Inclusive Collaborative Planning
A Philadelphia park conservancy develops arts-based partnerships within the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood to strengthen the community's cultural identity.
Keeping Your Artists Close to Home
New Orleans relies on its artists as a core part of its economy. What can be done when those artists can no longer afford to call the city home?
Generating Civic Power in North Philadelphia
An organization embarks on a community-driven design process to transform two vacant row homes into a site for residents, artists, and law enforcement to collaborate on new public safety strategies rooted in care rather than control.
More Than a Mural: How Arts and Culture Advance the Mission of the Seattle...
Arts programs at one public housing development in Seattle have eased the challenges of redevelopment by helping residents define what the community means to them.
Educate, Motivate, Organize
An Interview with Chokwe Lumumba, mayor of Jackson, Mississippi