Monday, January 30, 2017

Register by February 5 to get the lowest-priced tickets for Thriving Together -- the 2017 Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit

If you wait until May to register for Thriving Together, the 2017 Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit, you will probably pay $150.  But if you're one of the first 45 who register by February 5, each ticket is only $50.
Why wait? More than 9 out of 10 people who went to earlier Leadership Summits enjoyed them and got new knowledge or connections (and most likely both).  
Workshop at CPLS2016
How do you make creative placemaking last beyond a few projects? How do you build high-performing partnerships? How can creative placemakers more effectively promote social equity?
Explore these and more in NCCP’s annual gathering that gets to the “how to’s” of creative placemaking. The Leadership Summit offers you interactive workshops and other opportunities to build your skills and knowledge – as well as professional connections.
Unlike other conferences with an overwhelming number of sessions and people, the Leadership Summit brings together a few hundred creative placemakers to focus on a few key themes. At this event, the themes are:  Sustaining creative placemaking for the long term, growing strong partnerships, and building social equity.

The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking relaunches Certificate in Creative Placemaking Program in partnership with New Hampshire Institute of Art

By New Hampshire Institute of Art and The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking

The Certificate in Creative Placemaking is returning – starting August 2017.  The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking (NCCP) is now producing the unique 10-month program with the New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA).

This new and better program will include two short in-person sessions – called residencies – and connect students to a wider array of creative placemakers.

Creative Placemaking is a fast-growing field that integrates resources and ideas from urban planning, community development, the arts and design to help individuals and communities strategically shape their communities and environments to improve quality of life, economic opportunity, and the climate for creativity.

NHIA’s and NCCP’s new 10-month-long Certificate in Creative Placemaking program is one of the only programs of its kind in North America and the only hybrid online/low-residency program designed to allow busy professionals working in the fields of arts management, design, urban planning, economic development, community development, and government policy, to gain deep, practical knowledge from nationally recognized experts in the field of creative placemaking.

“We’re incredibly excited about this new program,” said NHIA President Kent Devereaux. “It capitalizes on the academic strengths of NHIA and our experience in delivering high-quality low-residency professional development and graduate level courses while leveraging NCCP’s broad network of contacts and expertise in the emerging field of creative placemaking.”

Students in the new Certificate in Creative Placemaking program, which starts in August, will have the opportunity to enroll in the program for either professional development or graduate course credit. Additionally, the program has been designed to allow students to:
  •          Come together for short 3-day and 2-day residencies at the beginning and end of the program and learn from a diverse pool of creative placemaking experts from around the United States;
  •          Complete the six modules comprising the Certificate curriculum (community development, economic development, financial analysis, building community capacity, site planning, and marketing) entirely online;
  •          Get coaching in collaborative leadership and culturally competent practice;
  •          Complete a creative placemaking plan, proposal, or analysis for a community of their choice;
  •          Join a professional community of creative placemakers and make connections with possible future colleagues, clients, or funders;
  •          Get discounted access to workshops, conferences, and other learning opportunities offered throughout the country by NCCP.

This program will benefit anyone committed to improving communities through arts and culture,” said Leonardo Vazquez, Executive Director of NCCP. “Civic artists can learn more about the inner workings of communities and local economies. Urban planners and public policy professionals will understand better how to engage and support the arts and artists.”

Individuals interested in learning more about the Certificate in Creative Placemaking program and possibly enrolling for the inaugural session in August 2017 should contact the program office at placemaking@nhia.edu or visit www.nhia.edu/creativeplacemaking.

About Creative Placemaking
“Creative Placemaking” is a term coined in 2010 by Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa Nicodemus to describe a range of creative activities designed to foster more creative, livable, economical viable, sustainable, and equitable communities. As they wrote:

“In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region around arts and cultural activities. Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired.

“In turn, these creative locales foster entrepreneurs and cultural industries that generate jobs and income, spin off new products and services, and attract and retain unrelated businesses and skilled workers. Together, creative placemaking’s livability and economic development outcomes have the potential to radically change the future of American towns and cities.”

About the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking
The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking (NCCP) is dedicated to building the capacity of artists, public officials, citizen activists, planners, researchers and everyone seeking to do high-quality creative placemaking. NCCP is led by a national steering committee that includes leaders from a wide variety of organizations in the fields in arts, community, and economic development.

The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking is managed by a four-person team led by Executive Director Leonardo Vazquez, a nationally award-winning urban planner. NCCP is based in Union, New Jersey. For more information visit: www.artsbuildcommunities.com

About the New Hampshire Institute of Art
The New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA) is the oldest and largest non-profit arts institution in New Hampshire, founded in 1898 and today offering undergraduate (BFA, Dual Degree BFA/MAT), graduate (MFA, MAAE, MAT), and community education programs (Youth Arts, Pre-College, Community Education, and Professional Development) serving over 2,000 students annually on two campuses in Manchester and Sharon/Peterborough, New Hampshire.


NHIA is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). NHIA is also a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD). For more information visit: www.nhia.edu

Monday, January 9, 2017

Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit 2017; Propose a workshop, take advantage of special early bird rates

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

Do you have special insights on how to sustain creative placemaking efforts beyond a few projects, how to build high-performing partnerships, or making communities more equitable and fair through the arts?

Propose a workshop for Thriving Together, the 2017 Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit. It will be May 5, 2017 in Newark, NJ.

Leadership Summits are interactive. Image: Leonardo Vazquez
Session proposals are due by January 25. Session organizers/instructors get a free ticket to the convening and a big discount on exhibit space.  Propose a workshop.

We're also offering a very special early bird price for the conference. The first 50 people who register by February 5 pay only $50. After February 5, the fee goes up monthly. If you wait until May to register, you would pay $150.

Why wait? If you enjoyed the Summit last year, you'll probably like it again. Even if you didn't go, you'll probably enjoy yourself. 98% of last year's participants did, according to our surveys.



Building the creative placemaking field: NCCP 2016 accomplishments and 2017 initiatives


The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking accomplished a lot in 2016 to help build the field of creative placemaking. We are planning to do even more in 2017

2016 accomplishments:
Yarn It project in Glassboro. Courtesy of Mary Salvante
  • Promoted and taught creative placemaking to arts organization leaders and public officials in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
  • Helped nearly 300 people learn how creative placemaking can enhance social equity and public health through the Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit and Creative Placemaking Knowledge Exchange.
  • Also through the Knowledge Exchange, provided opportunities for innovative thinkers and researchers to share new ideas and success stories.
  • Boosted creative placemaking in Perth Amboy, NJ by helping the city win a statewide award for its creative placemaking plan.
  • Helped Glassboro, NJ and Hackensack, NJ adopt creative placemaking strategies to enhance their downtowns and build stronger connections among stakeholders.
  • Helped PlanSmart NJ win a two-year National Endowment of the Arts grant to build a creative placemaker community in New Jersey.
  • Provided Hackensack, NJ and Englewood, NJ free landscape architecture design services by teaching a studio class at Rutgers University.
  • Through our leadership in and partnerships with Sustainable Jersey, created incentives for more New Jersey communities to adopt policies that support the arts.
  • Started new partnerships for creative placemaking with more influential organizations, such as:  Atlantic Health System, Creative Start Ups, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Montclair State University, New Hampshire Institute of Art, New Jersey Community Capital, South Arts, Support Center of New York and New Jersey, University of Denver, Shelterforce, Next City and more than 10 state arts agencies.
  • Provided eight free webinars to help introduce creative placemakers to more useful issues and ideas.
  • Through the American Planning Association's PAS Memo series, published a creative placemaking guide for urban planners.
  • Helped several clients and potential clients make stronger arguments and pursue funding for creative placemaking.
  • Completed a fourth year of the Certificate in Creative Placemaking program.

For 2017:

Sharing ideas at the 2016 Creative Placemaking Leadership
Summit. Image: Leonardo Vazquez
  • Creative Placemaking Leadership Summits in the southeastern United States, Denver and West Virginia.
  • A Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit in Newark, NJ on May 5 that focuses on lasting creative placemaking, social equity and partnerships.
  • Creative Placemaking Knowledge Exchanges in the Southeast and Southwest.
  • A series of workshops in New Jersey and New York to help you develop your leadership skills, beginning in January with Building Teams and Public Support for Creative Placemaking.  The first one: Building Teams for Creative Placemaking, March 21 in New York City.
  • A new and improved Certificate in Creative Placemaking program.
  • A new NCCP membership program that will provide special benefits and additional resources for creative placemaking.
  • More, to be announced soon.