Category Archives: Culture and democracy
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State owned facilities turned into artist live/work spaces. Pedestrian friendly streets with cafes and shops. Open studios where you can drop in and see sculptors and painters at work. Street art that is street art and not gang tags. It … Continue reading
Sticky Madness
For the concluding session of the recent Pave symposium on Entrepreneurship, the Arts, and Creative Placemaking, we wanted to bring the discussion to a local level, so recruited the Phoenix chapter of Emerging Arts Leaders (EALPHX) to lead an interactive … Continue reading
An Alphabet of Culture and Community
As part of the third biennial Pave symposium: Entrepreneurship, the Arts, and Creative Placemaking held April 12-13, the Phoenix chapter of Emerging Arts Leaders facilitated a workshop on connecting arts to communities in the Phoenix metro area (or “The Valley” … Continue reading
Spiraling Up
I went to a talk by my visiting colleague Nan Ellin recently. Nan is an urbanist and visionary, as well as well-respected scholar. She was talking about her new book, “Good Urbanism.” Her thesis is a simple one: in order … Continue reading
Cultural Infrastructure, Cultural Districts, and Creative Places
I was excited by the title of a recent post on the Americans for the Arts blog earlier this week. “Assessing Cultural Infrastructure,” would seem to be right up the alley of my interests in evaluation and creative placemaking, but … Continue reading
From Reformation to Aggregation
Two years ago, when Ben Cameron of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation delivered the keynote address at the Second Biennial Pave Symposium on Entrepreneurship and the Arts, and in his Ted talk of 2010, he spoke of the arts being … Continue reading
Michelle Obama’s Bully Pulpit
“every day through engagement in the arts, our children learn to open their imaginations to dream just a little bigger and to strive every day to reach those dreams.” The numbers aren’t in yet, but it is estimated that a … Continue reading
Diversity, Equality, Bus Lanes, and Arts
I had the opportunity to hear urban theorist and former mayor of Bogotá Enrique Peñalosa speak this week about his vision for more sustainable and egalitarian cities. He is a public transportation and urban greenspace evangelist. One of the basic … Continue reading
Catch 23 in Kansas
Wichita Public Radio did a story this week* about the before-and-after effects of the decimation and then partial restoration of the Kansas Arts Commission, now the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission. The change is not just rhetorical. The piece lists … Continue reading
