Join a Creative CityMaking Community Celebration Nov. 22-23
Intermedia Arts and the City of Minneapolis are celebrating Creative CityMaking, a year-long partnership engaging local artists and city planners in community planning. Join us for THIS IS OUR CITY! a community celebration, exhibition opening, and forum to share and dialogue about this work over the course of 2013.
The Creative CityMaking community celebration and exhibit opening will be held on Friday, Nov. 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. with Speakers and Presentations at 6 p.m. at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S. A day-long forum will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23 at Intermedia Arts, and both events are free and open to the public. The day-long forum will be a great resource for artists, the planning and design community, and anyone interested in learning about innovative community engagement practices and creative placemaking.
Creative CityMaking is a partnership that fosters collaborations between local artists and City planners to develop fresh and innovative approaches for addressing the long-term transportation, land use, economic, environmental, and social issues facing Minneapolis.
The goals of Creative CityMaking are:
- to develop new creative strategies for community planning;
- to create a collaborative laboratory and learning environment that engages artists and City staff working with a city department;
- to engage artists in critical thinking and art making around city and urban issues, and to increase artists’ and planners’ ability to facilitate community change;
- to provide artists and planners with new tools for community engagement and working with traditionally underrepresented communities;
- to document and communicate lessons learned
In 2013, Creative CityMaking embedded seven artists in the Long Range Planning Division of the City’s Community Planning and Economic Development Department (CPED). These artists have been selected and paired up with five planning projects. The partnership of artists and planners is intended to forge, enhance, or develop new strategies for working through the creative processes inherent in visionary planing and city making. It is intended to engage artists in critical thinking and art making around City and urban issues and to increase artists’ and planners’ ability to facilitate community interaction and work collaborativley with the public to foster positive change in the quality and trajectory of social discourse about the city’s urban future. Their collaborative work will be showcased throughout the year at citywide community events, culminating in a public exhibition and forum at Intermedia Arts on Nov. 22-23, 2013.
The projects, artists, and planners include:
- Penn Avenue North Small Area Plan – City Planner Jim Voll and Artists Ashley Hanson & Wing Young Huie
- Southwest LRT Station Area Planning – City Planners Beth Elliott and Paul Mogush and Artist Diane Willow
- Linden Hills and Dinkytown Small Area Plans – City planners Haila Maze and Brian Schaffer, Artists Caroline Kent, Roger Cummings, and Samuel Ero-Phillips
- Capstone evaluation of the City’s 10-Year Historic Survey efforts – City planner Joe Bernard and Artist Witt Siasoco
For more information on the project, please visit the Creative CityMaking blog at http://creativecitymaking.wordpress.com.
About Creative CityMaking
Creative CityMaking is one of three Minneapolis initiatives funded in 2012 by ArtPlace America totaling $1.5 million dollars. The projects are designed to increase livability, vibrancy and economic development in communities throughout the city. Intermedia Arts was awarded a grant in the amount of $325,000 for Creative CityMaking, and those grant funds augment and enhance the City’s funding for these projects. It does not replace City funding, and the use of the ArtPlace funds does not take away from the City’s tax base or funding sources.
Creative CityMaking Partners
Intermedia Arts has been pioneering creative placemaking and community development for two decades. Intermedia Arts is a nationally recognized leader in empowering artists and community leaders to use arts-based approaches to solve community issues and whose mission is to be a catalyst that builds understanding among people through art. Annually, their work engages over 25,000 people, 1200 local artists, 2500 young people and 60 arts and non-profit partners. By stimulating broader civic dialogue and giving voice to artists and the issues and experiences of underrepresented communities, they contribute to a stronger, healthier society.
Intermedia Arts' Creative Community Leadership Institute is one of only a few programs nationwide to provide comprehensive, professional-level training and support for local community-engaged artists and community developers. Led by a core faculty of three of the leading thinkers in the field of community cultural development, the Creative Community Leadership Institute has trained 150 of the most active community artists, organizers and community developers in the region.
The City's Plan for Arts and Culture, established by the Minneapolis Arts Commission and the Minneapolis City Council, outlines a vision for bringing together artists and City Departments to explore creative ideas for addressing city problems. The mission of the City’s Arts, Culture and Creative Economy program is to leverage the creative sector towards strengthening social and economic growth in the City of Minneapolis. The program aims to achieve this goal in part by stimulating cross-sector collaboration that strengthens the arts economy and community in Minneapolis.
The Long Range Planning Division of the Minneapolis Department of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) is responsible for long term strategic planning for the City. This division of CPED coordinates City planning processes for Minneapolis and advises other public entities and neighborhoods on their own planning processes.
Published Nov. 14, 2013
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