The Next Generation of Indigenous Knowledge Keepers
A tribal college program works to preserve crucial Native American cultural elements while training indigenous women to step into leadership roles in their communities.
Creating Miles of Art in the Mile High City
How a Denver organization intends to create a 9-mile art-, health-, and heritage-themed bike and pedestrian trail that will feature authentic cultural expression.
Let’s Turn this Old Barn into a Theater…Part II
Moving into a newly adapted space usually entails a leap in operations—not a slow, steady climb.
If We Want the Arts in Baltimore, We Need Its Artists
Artists have left their mark on Station North and paved the way for an arts district, but the organically-developed communal live/work spaces that play such a vital role in helping make Baltimore an arts mecca are an endangered species.
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.
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.
Poem: “Tires Stacked in the Hallways of Civilization”
Yes, Your Honor, there are rodents, said the landlord to the judge, but I let the tenant have a cat. Besides, he stacks his tires in the hallway.
How This Museum Supports Community Integration and Trauma Recovery
Using artistic expression to de-stigmatize and treat trauma.
Poem: “What Must Be Done”
Do not hate them.
Do not be angry with them:
The real estate agents, appraising
the value of other peoples lives,
calculating the profit that someone’s home
of twenty...
Interview with Rip Rapson, president and CEO of the Kresge Foundation
If you look at what Rip Rapson has accomplished and the insight he brings to his current work, you'll get a much better picture of who he is and the challenging work he spearheads at the Kresge Foundation.
The (In)Efficiencies of Scale
ArtsBlog (the blog of Americans for the Arts) recently hosted a forum called: “So, Does Size Matter?” The short answer is hell yes it...
Poem: ms. margaret on her landline phone with ruth, talking about her new neighbors...
A poem engaging equity for the author's godmother and other women who begin their sentences with the word "chile."
Exploring Foreclosure Through Art
In Minneapolis and Boston, artists help explore the losses (and gains) of foreclosure with work that supports advocacy and community building.
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...
The Cultural Ramifications of Gentrification in New Orleans
Gentrification is not just physical displacement; it’s cultural appropriation across entire neighborhoods. Artists have an obligation not to participate.
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.
Artists as Organizers
Creative placemaking means more than merely adding public art into the mix. To be sustainable it needs to build relationships—and power.
Reimagining a Neighborhood, The Way It Ought To Be
The arts have a long history of highlighting social issues and creating public conversation that results in measurable change. As an arts administrator with...
Placemaking for, and by, Whom?
Place-Making in Legacy Cities: Opportunities and Good Practices, prepared by New Solution Group LLC in partnership with Center for Community Progress, December 2013.
Who Is It For?
A Washington, D.C. nonprofit undertakes a redevelopment project and tackles the issue of cultural displacement.