Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit draws large crowd

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

In what may be the largest gathering related to creative placemaking in New Jersey, around 250 people participated in the Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit.

Jane Golden speaking at the Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit

They heard from a wide range of professionals at the intersection of community, cultural and economic development, including keynote speaker Jane Golden, founder of the internationally-known Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia.

The morning panel featured a former mayor (James Kennedy, Rahway), an artist and community planner (Anker West), an arts program administrator (Sheila McKoy of NJ Transit), a developer of an arts-oriented space (David Garsia of the Art Factory) and a community organization leader (Anthony Smith of the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District).

An afternoon panel featured leaders of three arts-related funding organizations -- Chris Daggett of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Lyz Crane of ArtPlace America, and Nicholas Paleologos of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Ann Brady and Richard Bryant (standing)
 of NCCP facilitating a breakout session

There was also a lot of cross-sector conversation beyond the panel discussions.  Participants, who included public and elected officials, organizational leaders, economic development professionals, civic-minded artists and urban planners, also engaged in peer-to-peer workshops and a great deal of networking.

"A lot of interesting and thought provoking points and ideas were bouncing around," said Meredith Lippman, Program Development Specialist at the Hudson County (NJ) Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development. "Jane Golden was tremendously inspiring and the breakout sessions not only allowed for more discussion but also provided a chance to meet some of the other attendees."

Participants in peer-to-peer sessions discussed the connection
of arts and artists to placemaking. Susan Schear (standing)
 of NCCP facilitates.

Several partners came together to organize and support this event -- the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, ArtPride NJ, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, PlanSmart NJ and Together North Jersey.  The State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation both made it possible through their support and advice.

NCCP is planning another large creative placemaking conference for 2015.  If you would like to get updates on future convenings, please subscribe to the NCCP mailing list.

The panel discussions and Jane Golden's presentation will be made available on YouTube by North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority.

Community coaching returns to New Jersey

By Leonardo Vazquez

Community coaching is a great way to build a plan for better creative placemaking in your community, as well as a team of stewards to help turn ideas into action.

It has been used in 14 communities in New Jersey and Louisiana since it was developed in 2011 by the leadership of The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking. Communities as small as hamlets and as big as regions have used community coaching to help them diversify their economy, bring artists together with other businesspeople, and address numerous social issues.

Community coaching has also been proven to build new partnerships and the ability of stakeholders to take

on more leadership roles in their communities.

In this program, a trained community coach is paired with a team of 12 to 30 community members who agree to work for 6 to 9 months on a set of creative placemaking strategies.  Teams meet every 3 to 4 weeks, and are guided by their coach to develop ideas and priorities, including implementation strategies.  Each team has a diverse mixture of artists, public officials, community representatives and businesspeople.

The next round of community coaching starts in October 2014.

Thanks to a partnership with PlanSmart NJ, community coaching is now being made available to communities throughout New Jersey.   Learn more about or register for the program in New Jersey.

To learn more about community coaching in general, please join us for our upcoming free webinar:  Community coaching -- a new way to speak truth to power.   It is June 3, from 2 to 3 pm eastern.  1 AICP CM credit is available.  Learn more or register

Due to overwhelming demand, Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit to be webcast

By Leonardo Vazquez

Most of the Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit, scheduled for June 19 in downtown Newark, will be webcast.  This will allow people who were not able to register for the program because it is sold out to watch the panel discussions and speakers on the Internet.  It also means that anyone who can't make it to Newark can also participate.

We are working to get a bigger room to accommodate as many people as possible.  So, if you want to attend, please feel free to put yourself on the waiting list, register for a half-day option, or register for the webcast.  If we are able to get a bigger space, we will contact you to see if you would like to join us in person.

Learn more or register for the event

Seats are filling up for the upcoming Certification in Creative Placemaking program

By Leonardo Vazquez, Executive Director, The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking

The Certification in Creative Placemaking program, beginning in August is over half full. Please register soon to guarantee your enrollment in this year's program.  You can join other professionals in the arts, public affairs or urban planning in a community of practice in a fast-growing field.

Students in the program get deep learning in various aspects of creative placemaking.  These include: community development, local economic development, team development and capacity building, site planning, and cultural tourism. Students also build their capacity to promote, influence and lead through a series of entrepreneurial leadership sessions.  The program is entirely online, but students will have opportunities to meet their classmates in person.

Please learn more about the program or register.  Or, please join us at an upcoming information session:

June 4, 12 to 1 pm eastern       Register
July 1, 12 to 1 pm eastern        Register
August 6, 6 to 7 pm eastern     Register

Questions?  Contact Leonardo Vazquez, Program Director, at 973-763-6352 or by email

For movers, shakers and doers: Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit, June 19, Newark, NJ

By Leonardo Vazquez, Executive Director, NCCP

The Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit, June 19, 2014 in Newark, NJ, offers you an opportunity to learn from successful practitioners, as well as share your own insights.  It will be held from 9 am to 4 pm June 19, 2014 in downtown Newark at North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, One Newark Center.

Get new ideas for making places better through arts and culture and building more creative communities.
Learn from experts in real estate development, public administration, arts management, and urban planning.
Share your insights in peer learning sessions.

The event features panel discussions that include an artist, developer, nonprofit administrator, former elected official and funders.  Keynoting the presentation will be Jane Golden, the founder of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Project.  This is an internationally-known program that connects public art with community development.

The event is free, but seats are limited.  As of the time of this writing, there were only about 50 seats left.
Learn more or register for the event.

From ripples to waves: NCCP’s thought leadership on creative placemaking

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

To influence beliefs and actions, quiet conversations can be as powerful as megaphones.  It’s not just about the message; it’s about having the right conversations with the right people at the right opportunities.

NCCP works to build the new field of creative placemaking.  This involves professionalizing the field – developing high standards for conduct and ethics and promoting good work.  We also work to show how creative placemaking is a new and different way of connecting arts and community improvement.

We’ve been busy.

Executive Director Leonardo Vazquez was on a panel to review proposals for the upcoming US GreenBuilding Council’s Greenbuild conference in Louisiana.

In April, Leo will be talking about creative placemaking at the TransAction conference April 8 in Atlantic City and at the AmericanPlanning Association’s national conference in Atlanta on April 29. In May, he will be talking about the Certification in Creative Placemaking program at the Association of Arts Administration Educators annual conference in Montreal.

Leo also wrote about creative placemaking and community coaching for the forthcoming book Introduction to Community Develoment, second edition.  (We’ll have more on that when the book comes out.)

Last month, we started a series of complimentary webinars on creative placemaking.  The webinars explain the concept and explore issues such as human needs placemaking, social equity, and sustainability.  Learn more about the webinars.

We are partnering with Creative New Jersey to conduct special community building events using ‘open space technology,’ in several communities.

The New Jersey Consortium for Creative Placemaking, a local affiliate of NCCP, is also partnering with the Together North Jersey initiative, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and ArtPride NJ Foundation on a creative placemaking leadership conference in Rahway, New Jersey on June 19.  (Please save the date).  Rahway is easy to get to by train from New York, Philadelphia or any other city on the NJ Transit/Amtrak Northeast Corridor line.  It’s also 15 minutes by car or 40 minutes by train from Newark airport.

Ohio State, NCCP offer free webinars in creative placemaking

By Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

Creative placemaking is a new and fast-growing set of strategies to improve communities through arts and culture.  The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, which has partnered with Ohio State University’s City and Regional Planning section to develop the Certification in Creative Placemaking,  have created a webinar series to explore key issues in creative placemaking.

The webinars will run monthly from February to July 2014.  Each is 60 to 90 minutes, free, and is entirely online.  All webinars will be submitted for AICP Certification Maintenance credits.   All times eastern

Everyone who registers for a webinar will receive a link to the webinar and a reminder at least a day before the session.

Please also join us for information sessions about the 2014 Certification in Creative Placemaking program. (see below for more information)

The lead presenter for all sessions will be Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP.  Vazquez is a national award-winning urban planner and a leader in the field of creative placemaking.  He founded and directs The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, and designed and directs the Certification in Creative Placemaking program.  He is also a Visiting Instructor at The Ohio State University, where he teaches courses in arts and entertainment planning, planning ethics and local economic development.  He is the author of Leading from the Middle: Strategic Thinking for Urban Planning and Community Development Professionals, the co-editor of Diálogos: Placemaking in Latino Communties, and the creator of The Placemaker’s Advisor blog.  He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and in 2012 was awarded the American Planning Association’s National Planning Leadership Award for Advancing Diversity and Social Justice in Honor of Paul Davidoff.

 

Date and time	Topic	Register at:
Tuesday, February 25, 2 to 3:30 pm	Creative placemaking: integrating community, cultural and economic development What makes creative placemaking a new way to make communities better through arts and culture?  How can creative placemaking promote social equity, sustainability, and prosperity?  Learn about a model developed by The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking that integrates community, cultural and economic development in ways that are sustainable and asset-based.  Also learn how our model fits in with the guidelines of the AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. This webinar to be submitted for 1.5 AICP CM ethics credits.	http://cpweb022514.eventbrite.com Note: By registering for this webinar, you are also agreeing to receive emails from The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.  All future updates about this session, including the link and login information, will be sent by email from NCCP.
Tuesday, March 18, 2 to 3 pm	Creative placemaking and human needs placemaking The arts aren’t a diversion or a luxury.  They are important for the well-being of individuals and communities.  Many people already know about the power of the arts to enhance economic development. This webinar will discuss how the arts can help people develop and keep intellectual skills, build social connections, and more.  We will explore how creative placemaking can support the elements of human needs placemaking. CM credits to be requested: 1	http://cpweb031814.eventbrite.com Note: By registering for this webinar, you are also agreeing to receive emails from The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.  All future updates about this session, including the link and login information, will be sent by email from NCCP.
Wednesday, April 16, 2 to 3 pm	History of creative placemaking in the United States The term ‘creative placemaking’ was coined only three years ago, but it has been happening in various forms in the US since at least the late 19th century.  This webinar will explore the earliest work in creative placemaking in America.  Participants will learn about the pioneering work of Charles Mulford Robinson, Edgar Lee Hewett and others, and discover how placemaking through arts and culture has evolved over more than a century. CM credits to be requested: 1	http://cpweb041614.eventbrite.com Note: By registering for this webinar, you are also agreeing to receive emails from The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.  All future updates about this session, including the link and login information, will be sent by email from NCCP.
Tuesday, May 13, 2 to 3 pm	Cultural districts and cultural institutions: suns or black holes? One of the first things that many people think about in creative placemaking is creating a cultural district or building a large cultural institution.  While districts and institutions can become catalysts for community-wide creativity and revitalization, they can also absorb a lot of time, energy and resources that could be used effectively elsewhere in the community.  Learn how creative placemaking can make it more likely that districts and institutions have a broader impact on their communities. CM credits to be requested: 1	http://cpweb051314.eventbrite.com Note: By registering for this webinar, you are also agreeing to receive emails from The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.  All future updates about this session, including the link and login information, will be sent by email from NCCP.
Tuesday, June 3, 2 to 3 pm	Community coaching: a new way to speak truth to power Community coaching helps stakeholders build sustainable plans – and the shared leadership to implement them.   This model helps build relationships between planner and client that makes it possible to address the big, difficult issues that keep a community from moving forward.  It is a different approach to current models of planning practice, and it may challenge you to think about how you work with communities. CM credits to be requested: 1	http://cpweb060314.eventbrite.com Note: By registering for this webinar, you are also agreeing to receive emails from The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.  All future updates about this session, including the link and login information, will be sent by email from NCCP.
Tuesday, July 8, 2 to 3 pm	How creative placemaking can help build more resilient communities With the damage caused from hurricanes, tornadoes and floods around the United States, more communities are looking to be more ‘resilient.’  Resiliency is not just about creative physical improvements to withstand storms; it is also connects to a community’s ability to revitalize quickly after disaster.  Arts and culture can play a big role in helping communities recover.  We will explore examples from Louisiana, New Jersey and Missouri, and discuss how to connect creative placemaking with resiliency in community dialogues. CM credits to be requested: 1	http://cpweb070814.eventbrite.com Note: By registering for this webinar, you are also agreeing to receive emails from The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.  All future updates about this session, including the link and login information, will be sent by email from NCCP.

Information sessions for Certification in Creative Placemaking

Information session will introduce participants to the Certification program, as students and faculty in the program.  Participants will have time to ask questions.  All sessions will be led by the program’s designer and director, Leonardo Vazquez.   Information sessions are one hour, online, and free. Unfortunately, there will be no CM credits given for the information sessions.

Note: By registering for this webinar, you are also agreeing to receive emails from The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking.  All future updates about this session, including the link and login information, will be sent by email from NCCP.

Session date and time	Register at
Thursday, February 20, 6 to 7 pm	http://ccpinfo0220.eventbrite.com
Wednesday, March 18, 6 to 7 pm	http://ccpinfo0318.eventbrite.com
Tuesday, April 1, 6 to 7 pm	http://ccpinfo0401.eventbrite.com
Thursday, May 1, 12 to 1 pm	http://ccpinfo0501.eventbrite.com
Wednesday, June 4, 12 to 1 pm	http://ccpinfo0604.eventbrite.com
Tuesday, July 1, 12 to 1 pm	http://ccp0701.eventbrite.com
Wednesday, August 6, 6 to 7 pm	http://ccpinfo0806.eventbrite.com