After 10 years of collaborating with a range of foundations, federal agencies and financial institutions to support and strengthen the field of Creative Placemaking, ArtPlace America announced it is officially sunsetting in December 2020.

The announcement came during the final ArtPlace Summit held Oct. 26-30, where ArtPlace and its funding partners shared gratitude, looked ahead at what will come next year and beyond, and announced the launch of a new book, ArtPlace: 10 Years. The book is now available in digital format and will soon be available as print-on-demand.

“Established in 2011 as a 10-year entity to amplify the power of the arts in building healthy, equitable and sustainable communities, ArtPlace did something that had never been done before. It brought together a range of private philanthropy into coordinated partnership, then funded nearly 300 Creative Placemaking, placekeeping and placetending initiatives across the country,” according to an overview of the new publication.

ArtPlace and its partners have worked to position arts and culture as key drivers of equitable community planning and development by enlisting artists as allies.

The Kresge Foundation’s President and CEO Rip Rapson, who also serves as ArtPlace Board Chair, and Arts & Culture Program Managing Director Regina Smith, joined the ArtPlace Summit “Endings and Beginnings” plenary on Oct. 30 to celebrate ArtPlace and provide an update on the planning process to explore building on and extending this work. Artists, community developers, culture bearers, designers, government officials, philanthropists and researchers also joined the full weeklong virtual summit, which included 50+ sessions and more than 100 speakers from around the country.

Below is an excerpt from Rapson featured in the new book, ArtPlace: 10 Years:

“Creative Placemaking has already unlocked new ways of thinking within both community development and arts and culture. Community development is a different creature entirely when it moves beyond bricks and mortar to the animating principles of equitable human development. 

It’s imperative that we work together to ensure that Creative Placemaking’s ways of working live on, regardless of what specific model or support structure might emerge.  Whether in the block club or the national think tank, we must all think critically about how we ensure that arts and culture can bolster the social and racial justice work ahead of us. We must continue to safeguard the artists, community development practitioners, and resident leaders from the vulnerability that comes from challenging systems – a vulnerability that may be even more pronounced in the months and years to come. 

That’s the way that we do justice to the immense work that ArtPlace’s staff have already carried out over the turbulence of the past decade, and it’s how we fuel the next phase of the creative change that our country so desperately needs.”

~Rip Rapson, president & CEO of The Kresge Foundation and ArtPlace Board Chair

Download the book: Forecast Public Art collaborated with the ArtPlace team to tell its story. Click here to download the book, ArtPlace: 10 Years, in digital format. It will soon be available as a print-on-demand book.

Watch the recording: View a recording of the ArtPlace Summit Plenary: “Endings and Beginnings,” which also features a commemorative video celebrating ArtPlace. Speakers during the ending plenary included: Jamie Bennett of ArtPlace America; Mallory Rukhsana Nezam of Justice and Joy; Rip Rapson of The Kresge Foundation; Judilee Reed of the William Penn Foundation; Regina Smith of The Kresge Foundation; and Gabrielle Uballez of Asset Funders Network. You can also view all Art Place Summit recordings here.