(PNAN-DC) – The recent publication by the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD), “Creative Placemaking” is a 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 neighborhoods, cities and towns. In the words of the report, “Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired.”
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said the, “…report lays out the elements, benefits, challenges, and how-tos of using the arts in smart and sustainable community design. Art works across America to help shape communities where residents want to live, work, and play.”
Elizabeth Kautz, who is the Mayor of Burnsville, North Carolina and U.S. Conference of Mayors President said, “As a mayor who has supported efforts to stimulate my city’s economy through creative placemaking techniques, I believe this report will be valuable to mayors who want to learn about best practices that have worked in other cities that promote the arts and economic development.”
Since 1986, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. “Urban design is one of the tools mayors have used to create the environment for creative businesses to grow. The National Endowment for the Arts support of the Mayors Institute of City Design program for the past 25 years has been critical in allowing mayors to create opportunities for arts and cultural enterprises to flourish,” said Joe Riley, Mayor of Charleston, South.
The report concludes with fourteen case studies from different communities across the country: Art – Rural Community’s Newest Crop: Arnaudville, Louisiana; After Autos … Artists: Artspace Buffalo Lofts: Buffalo, New York; After School Matters in Chicago, Illinois; Community Developers Partner with Theaters: Cleveland, Ohio’s Gordon Square Arts District; Art as Healing: Fond du Lac Reservation, Minnesota; Art Shores Up the Walk of Fame: Remaking Los Angeles, California’s Hollywood; Chasing Artists, Not Smokestacks: Paducah, Kentucky Artist Relocation Program; Transforming Neighborhoods and Lives: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Mural Arts Program; Animating Infrastructure: Phoenix, Arizona Public Art Program; Building Community, Boosting Ridership: TriMet’s Interstate MAX Public Art Program: Portland, Oregon; Mayors and Artists Spark a Renaissance: Providence, Rhode Island; Marrying Art to Technology: 01SJ Biennial: San José, California; Artists, the Third Leg of the Cultural Stool: Creative Entrepreneur Project, San José, California; and Unusual Bedfellows Transform the City of Music: Seattle, Washington. The report is available on NEA website at www.arts.gov along with other arts and community design resources.