Agenda and presentations for 2015 Creative Placemaking Knowledge Exchange

Here is the preliminary agenda for the 2015 Creative Placemaking Knowledge Exchange, to be held June 26 at the Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration in Newark, NJ.

8:30 to 9 am:  Registration
9 to 9:20 am:  Welcome and introductory remarks
9:20 to 9:30 am: Break
9:30 to 11:50 am: Presentations on creative placemaking
11:50 am to 12 pm: Break
12 to 12:45 pm:  Lunch and honoring of Certification in Creative Placemaking program graduates
12:45 to 1:20 pm:  Walking tour of new art center and adaptive reuse in downtown Newark
1:20 to 1:30 pm :  Break
1:30 to 3:50 pm:  Open space (peer guided and facilitated conversations)
3:50 to 4 pm:  Goodbyes

Here is the most updated list of presentations for the morning sessions:

• Arts as the driver for innovative, award-winning cultural, economic and community transformation: Shreveport Common, Wendy Benscoter, Shreveport Common and Certification in Creative Placemaking program. Ohio State University
• Measuring what matters: debating standardized outcome metrics for creative placemaking projects, Larry Bomback, Cultural Data Project
• Creating the space to talk about place: creative placemaking in the arts management classroom, Brea Heidelberg, Rider University
• Skateboarding and sewing help spark revitalization in Camden, New Jersey, Kate Dowd, Drexel University
• The Empty House Studio, Sarah Coffin D'Alessandro, George Mason University
• Placemaking via community design: planning for green stormwater infrastructure, Jason Hachadorian, Temple University's Center for Sustainable Communities
• Definitions of creative placemaking: a PechaKucha literature review (A PKLR), Julie Hawkins, Drexel University
• A capabilities approach to creative placemaking in West Philadelphia, Andrew Zitcer, Drexel University
• The entrepreneurial creative placemaker in the public sector, Debra Rose, City of Pinellas Park, Florida and Certification in Creative Placemaking program, Ohio State University
• The growth of freelance artists in New Jersey: implications for community and local economic development, Leonardo Vazquez, The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking and Certification in Creative Placemaking program, Ohio State University

Register or learn more

Submit a proposal for a presentation

Join us for the 2015 Creative Placemaking Knowledge Exchange

Register or learn more

NCCP building a community of creative placemakers in New Jersey

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

There are at least 46 teams doing creative placemaking in New Jersey -- as well as many people who are not part of identified teams. The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking is working to bring creative teams and creative placemakers together to build a supportive, learning community of practice.

On May 13, we and Monmouth Arts held the first Creative Team Roundtable at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, NJ.  Eighteen people from seven communities came together to explore key questions and share ideas for creative placemaking.

The two key issues the participants explored were:

• What are the best ways to engage landlords and property owners to help move public art projects forward?
• How to bring community strength to our region via creative placemaking?

The questions were chosen by participants from among 12 that were suggested by the 30 people who registered for the event.

Participants at the Creative Team Roundtable in Red Bank, May 13

Some of the recommendations for working with landlords and property owners are to:

• Partner with local governments and special improvement districts
• Encourage local governments to provide incentives to property owners
• Make a financial case (such as the number of visitors that could be drawn to a work of public art, or that art can help improve blighted areas)
• Make the process fun, and ensure that property owners are clear on their rights, and clarify what would happen if the property gets sold. (Putting wall art on frames can make it easier to move it off-site)

Recommendations for bringing community strength through creative placemaking include:

• Get government involved early on.  While artists may want to start the process of creative placemaking, the efforts are strengthened if government officials are involved at the start
• Create a central space for arts and creative people to come together
• Be clear about the community you want to serve and what its identity is or should be
• Build on existing strengths in the community
• Provide opportunities for entrepreneurship

NCCP will be conducting another Creative Team Roundtable in Fall 2015, and offers other opportunities for creative placemakers to learn from one another.  On June 26, in partnership with Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University-Newark Department of Arts, Culture and Media and Ohio State University, NCCP is hosting the Creative Placemaking Knowledge Exchange.  NCCP is also developing additional programs and opportunities for those interested in creative placemaking to come together.

To learn more or get updates on upcoming events, please follow NCCP on Facebook or Twitter or subscribe to our newsletter.

Creative teams finding success through community coaching

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

Several creative teams coached by The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking are already getting results.  Perth Amboy, Hackensack and Long Beach Island -- three New Jersey communities that have been involved in the community coaching program -- all have creative events scheduled for May and June.

The Perth Amboy Creative Team has succeeded in building a city Arts Council and changing a local law to make it legal to paint murals.  The Arts Council -- whose members are made up mostly of Creative Team members -- is now managing the city's art gallery and producing a waterfront festival on May 23.

Perth Amboy Arts Council members and artist Tom Ward show off Ward's artwork,
 which will be for sale at the waterfront festival. Image courtesy of Perth Amboy Arts Council

The festival furthers two key elements of the team's creative placemaking plan -- encourage more residents and visitors to enjoy the Perth Amboy waterfront and promote the wealth of local talent in the city.  According to the Council, "60 artists and artisans will display, demonstrate and sell their works along the scenic waterfront. Six musical acts will grace the festival stage. A food court will feature local restaurants and outrageous food trucks. There will be a pig roast!"

On May 28, Creative Hackensack will be sharing its vision for making the North Jersey city a better place through arts and culture: "Over the next decade, Hackensack will be more walkable, safer, healthier, greener, cleaner and more fun. Residents and visitors will have lots of choices of activities and find it easier to get around.  Over time, Hackensack will feature new attractions and attributes that will target its diverse population and visitors.

Hackensack will continue to be unique and eclectic; a diverse, inclusive and affordable place where people are friendly and have a strong sense of pride in their community.  Hackensack will do more to honor its diverse histories, from the time of the Lenni Lenape through the colonial period to today.  But it will also be modern and futuristic.

It will be a more vibrant, engaging and human-scaled city that offers good experiences day and night for families, college students, young adults (or mature adults who are young at heart).  Hackensack residents and visitors will have stronger connections to the Hackensack River."

Members of Howdy Stranger, one of several organizations involved in Creative Hackensack.
 Image courtesy of Howdy Stranger and Creative Hackensack.

To hear more about the vision and how it can be realized, please join a public meeting at 6:30 at the Johnson Public Library before an open mic night.  The open mic night was developed by a partnership between the local improv group Howdy Stranger and the Johnson Public Library.  This partnership happened because both organizations are involved with community coaching. 

Like many communities, Long Beach Island has more creative people and artists than many people realize.  The Creative Arts Action Council -- an island-wide creative placemaking group -- was formed in 2014 and will be producing an artists' studio tour on June 27 and June 28.  More than 120 artists are now involved with CAAC, and Long Beach Township received points through Sustainable Jersey for its involvement in developing the council. 

Community coaching is a unique program of NCCP proven to help build sustainable partnerships for creative placemaking. Diverse teams of at least 12 people work together for six to nine months on a creative placemaking plan and projects to help realize the plan.  (The plan is a set of strategies to address social and economic issues in the community through arts and cultural activities.)

NCCP has provided community coaching to 15 communities in New Jersey and Louisiana. Community coaching is available to individual communities within two hours of Newark, NJ.  We can also provide community coaching to a set of five or more communities in the same state anywhere in the United States.

For more on community coaching, please contact NCCP Executive Director Leonardo Vazquez by email or by phone at 973-763-6352

Special discount on Certification in Creative Placemaking program for NCCP subscribers and members of partner organizations

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

Thanks to our partnership with The Ohio State University, subscribers to the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking's newsletter, Facebook page and Twitter account can get $300 discount on the upcoming Certification in Creative Placemaking program

This is a unique and challenging program that can help you stand out in the growing field of creative placemaking.  It can help you learn more about how to invigorate local communities and economies through arts and culture, be more cost effective in measuring success, build successful and sustainable teams, identify the best places for cultural activities, and market your community as an arts destination. You will also learn entrepreneurial leadership skills to help you get things done better and faster.

To learn more about the program, please join an upcoming information session.  The next one is May 12 at 2 pm eastern, but the sessions are monthly through August.

The discount code is: CPPartner2015

Members and constituents of partner organizations are also eligible for the $300 discount to the program.  These organizations include:

*American Society of Landscape Architects -- New Jersey chapter
*American Planning Association Small Town and Regional Planning division
*ArtPride New Jersey
*Creative Jersey
*New Jersey Health Initiatives
*Northern New Jersey Community Foundation
*The Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture
*PlanSmart New Jersey
*Rutgers University Newark, Department of Arts, Culture and Media
*Rutgers University - School of Public Affairs and Administration
*Sustainable Jersey

For more information on the program, please contact program director Leonardo Vazquez by email or at 973-763-6352

New roundtable series helps creative team members share insights with one another

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

If you're on a Creative Team in New Jersey, or would like to start one in your town, please join us for the first Creative Team Roundtable, Wednesday, May 13, 3:30 to 5 pm at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank.  This is a peer learning and community building effort to help Creative Teams in New Jersey become more effective.In this get-together, you'll learn about the work of the MoCo Arts Corridor Partnership.  Then you can help select the key issues that you and your colleagues from other Creative Teams will explore. Then stay from 5 to 6 pm  to network with your colleagues at the Oyster Point Hotel (cash bar).

The Perth Amboy Creative Team mapping their strategies

To register for this free event, please go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-team-roundtable-tickets-16585372295

The Creative Team Roundtable is produced by the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking in partnership with Monmouth Arts and the MoCo Arts Corridor Partnership. For more information, please contact NCCP Executive Director Leonardo Vazquez at leo@artsbuildcommunities.com or 973-763-6352.

--