ArtPlace America

The Creative Youth & Community Development research initiative, commissioned by ArtPlace America and led by Creative Generation, investigates the intersections of arts and culture, community development, and youth development. The initiative produced a series of web-based tools and resources created by and for practitioners that live on the ArtPlace America website. “Centering Creating Youth in Community Development: A Creative Placemaking Field Scan,” addressed this question: What impact do creative youth have on communities? Their answers offer sets of findings: community benefits defined by young creatives, opportunities for partnering to expand the reach of projects, and defining success in new ways. Read more here.

ArtPlace America and Welcoming America have released a report exploring how arts and cultural practitioners have long been and may increasingly be partners in helping to achieve community development goals: Bridging Divides, Creating Community: Arts, Culture, and Immigration. ArtPlace America recently completed its ten-year mission as a leading funder of creative placemaking in the U.S., and they are publishing their learning in a series of reports. This report is the eighth in their series of cross-sector field scans, examining arts and culture as “a platform that helps immigration policy expand beyond a singular focus on border security to one that embraces a broader national vision of inclusive economic development, community connection and cohesion, and welcoming communities in which all people can thrive.”

ArtPlace America celebrates its 10th year as a collaboration among foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions that support and strengthen a field of creative placemaking—the field that increasingly uses artists in planning and developing equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities. To celebrate, ArtPlace is offering its annual Summit virtually (October 26-30) and for free this year (you must register); it includes over 50 sessions, and affinity groups you can join to engage personally.