Thursday, November 16, 2017

NCCP building a community of creative placemakers in New York City

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

Where do creative placemakers in New York City gather to share ideas and support one another?  We don't know either. So we have started working with colleagues from some nonprofit organizations in the city to help build a community of practice for creative placemaking. 

We have been building a professional community in New Jersey for a year, and now have more than 200 members around the state.

We are planning an event in late January or early February to bring together creative placemakers in New York City to share their insights and talk about what resources they need to be more successful (besides funding, of course.)

If you'd like to get involved with this effort, please contact NCCP Executive Director Leonardo Vazquez by email or at 973-763-6352, x1.  Learn more about The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/en/street-art-new-york-art-graffiti-1319752/

Northeast Corridor Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit likely to be held in Madison, NJ May 3 and 4

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

After three years in Newark, the Northeast Corridor Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit will be in Madison, New Jersey on May 3 and 4, 2018.  NCCP is in talks with Drew University to hold the two-day event at the school's campus.

Madison is a small urban village about an hour's train ride, or a 45-minute drive, from New York Penn Station.  It is about a half-hour drive, or an hour's train ride, from Newark Airport.  There are hotels near the university.

It shouldn't be surprising that a regional conference focused on arts and community improvement would happen in a small, suburban community.  "There are a lot of communities in Jersey with a strong presence of arts," said NCCP Executive Director Leonardo Vazquez.  "Anyone coming in for the Leadership Summit should check out the different types of arts in towns along the train line:  Dover, Boonton, Morristown, Millburn, Maplewood, South Orange, Orange and Newark."

At Creative Placemaking Leadership Summits, artists, policymakers, developers, urban planners, teachers and more participate in interactive workshop and share ideas through peer exchanges.  There will also be workshops in various communities in New Jersey and at least one social/networking event. 

Major themes of the Northeast Corridor Leadership Summit are gentrification, making space for creativity (physical design), and sports and arts. Subtopics including introducing creative placemaking to communities and funding  

The sessions are still being developed.  NCCP has put out a call for session proposals; the deadline is Wednesday, November 22.  Learn more or submit a proposal.

Registration will open in December.


Several organizations are supporting the Northeast Corridor Leadership Summit.  They include:  American Planning Association (New England, New Jersey and New York Metro chapters), ArtPlace America, ArtPride New Jersey, Civic Eye Collaborative, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, Metris Arts Consulting, Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation, Noyes Museum of Art, New Jersey Community Capital, New Jersey Health Initiatives, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, PlanSmart New Jersey, South Jersey Cultural Alliance


ArtPlace America to co-present Creative Placemaking Leadership Summits with NCCP

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

ArtPlace America joins a host of partners to co-produce the 2018 Creative Placemaking Leadership Summits with The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking. The five regional summits are attracting hundreds of artists, planners, and community development practitioners.

Now entering its fourth year, the annual Creative Placemaking Leadership Summits bring together people from across the country who strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric of their communities through arts and local cultural activities.

Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town program, the convening is expanding to five regional Leadership Summits in 2018. The newest collaborator with The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking (NCCP) is ArtPlace America (ArtPlace), one of the nation’s leading organizations in creative placemaking.

Between March and October 2018, Leadership Summits will be held in Chattanooga (TN), Denver (CO), Newark (NJ) area, Charleston (WV), and College Park (MD). The Summits will bring together communities from rural to urban, and cover a wide range of topics, including public safety, gentrification, equity, and economic development.

For more information go to the Summit website. www.cplsummit.org. To talk with us, please contact NCCP Program Coordinator, Thomas Young, at tyoung@artsbuildcommunities.com or 973-763-6352, x2. 

“We’re excited to be working with ArtPlace America,” said NCCP Executive Director Leonardo Vazquez.  “The Leadership Summits are great. With ArtPlace America, they’re going to reach another level altogether.”

“NCCP is investing in the people who make our communities stronger,” said ArtPlace Communications Director Adam Erickson. “By connecting regional networks, they are anticipating the growing need for community leaders to escape siloes and build bridges to creatively solve the most pressing issues of our time, together. We are thrilled to work with NCCP on this effort.”

Additional partners include Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation, New Jersey Health Initiatives, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, South Arts, Tamarack Foundation, University of Denver, University of Maryland, and 11 state arts agencies.


About ArtPlace America
ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) is a ten-year collaboration among 16 partner foundations, along with 8 federal agencies and 6 financial institutions, that works to position arts and culture as a core sector of comprehensive community planning and development in order to help strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric of communities. 

ArtPlace focuses its work on creative placemaking, projects in which art plays an intentional and integrated role in place-based community planning and development. This brings artists, arts organizations, and artistic activity into the suite of placemaking strategies pioneered by Jane Jacobs and her colleagues, who believed that community development must be locally informed, human-centric, and holistic.

About The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking
The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking (NCCP) builds connections, capacity and community for creative placemaking.  NCCP offers webinars, workshops, conferences for the public, as well as coaching and advisory services for communities.

Contacts:
ArtPlace America – Adam Erickson, Director of Communications, adam@artplaceamerica.org, 347-853-7818  x305


The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking – Leonardo Vazquez, Executive Director, leo@artsbuildcommunities.com, 973-763-6352, x1