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Program officer’s compilation of resources helps answer the question, “What the heck is Creative Placemaking?”

Arts & Culture

What the heck is Creative Placemaking and how can it help strengthen equitable community development in cities across America?

Kresge Arts & Culture Program Officer Michelle D. Johnson helped answer those questions during a learning session revisited earlier this month by ArtPlace America. The organization shared its top takeaways from an ArtPlace Summit session led by Johnson, titled, “Creative placemaking tools: What exists? Where are they? What’s missing?”

Images featured in one of the Creative placemaking reports
Images featured in the report “Crossing the Street: Building D.C.’s Future Though Creative Placemaking,” one of the reports featured in the Creative Placemaking learning session at the ArtPlace Summit.

The roundup of resources includes materials from some of the top Creative Placemaking players in the field including:

  • A policy and practice primer from PolicyLink.
  • A guide for Creative Placemaking in parks from the Trust for Public Land.
  • An examination of work in Washington D.C. from that city’s Office of Planning.
  • Transportation for America’s field scan.

ArtPlace Executive Director Jamie Bennett said Johnson’s resources list made their year-end highlight compilation for good reason.

“As usual, Michelle’s insights and connections were invaluable. It’s more than a list of Creative Placemaking resources, it’s a curated selection that helps practitioners on the ground, making it both useful and – more importantly – actually used!”

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