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Arts and Culture at the Core

American Artscape | 2012 No. 3
NEA Arts cover no 3 2012
An evening view of the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where ArtsQuest and the city repurposed the Bethlehem Steel industrial site into an arts and cultural facility with a movie theater, arts gallery, and numerous outdoor performing arts spaces. Photo by Jeffrey Totaro
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About this Issue

At the NEA, we have been focusing on creative placemaking for the past few years. Chairman Rocco Landesman has traveled the country, seeing how the arts improve communities in many different social, physical, and economic ways. In 2011, the NEA made creative placemaking one of its flagship initiatives with the Our Town grant program, funding partnerships led by arts organizations and local governments to increase the livability of communities through the use of art. Over the past two years, the NEA has invested $11.58 million in Our Town projects in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

In this issue, we take a look at some of the exciting transformations taking place across the country, in big cities and rural areas alike, in places like Baltimore, Maryland; Driggs, Idaho; and San Jose, California. In addition, we look at how other organizations -- foundations, local government agencies, and consortiums such as ArtPlace -- are also looking to the arts for community improvement.

We also have online-only stories, such as how arts organizations in Jackson, Mississippi, are creating projects to revitalize the city; a slideshow on the Tribal Canoe Journey of the Squaxin Island Tribe and its impact on the community of Olympia, Washington; a multimedia piece on how the city of Wilson, North Carolina, embraced local artist Vollis Simpson and is creating a park for his art; and more.

The best place to start, though, is with a strong understanding of what exactly creative placemaking is. So we had our Design Director Jason Schupbach talk with cultural and economic development experts Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa Nicodemus about the philosophy of creative placemaking and how it can be applied successfully in communities throughout the country.

Don't forget to visit our Art Works blog to comment on this issue or to share information on arts in your community, and join us onFacebook and Twitter.

Included in this Issue

Cover of Creative Placemaking report

Defining Creative Placemaking

A Talk with Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa Nicodemus

Smokestack Lightning

The Rebirth of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Not Just Another Point on the Map

The Artful Reinvention of Driggs, Idaho

Signs of Life

The Station North Arts District in Baltimore, Maryland

A Vibrant Transformation

Cities and States Take Creative Placemaking to New Heights
Cocoon Jackson, a temporary community sculpture and performance piece in the Art Garden in Jackson, Mississippi. Photo by Julian Rankin

Just Add Light

Arts at the Center in Jackson, Mississippi
Marquee

The Purple Rose Theatre Company

Audio Available
A man poses in front of a large pole topped by a scuplture.

Vollis Simpson: Making Something Out Of Nothing

Video Available
A group of canoe families conclude their journey, preparing to land on the shore of North Point in the Port of Olympia, Washington. Photo courtesy of ThurstonTalk.com

A Journey of Culture: The Tribal Canoe Journey in Olympia, Washington

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