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Creative Placemaking Forum: Forging Community Development and Creative Communities

Hosted by the Mel King Institute, MAPC co-sponsored an innovative forum with MACDC and MASSCreative to highlight the stepping stones and barriers in advancing creative placemaking.

This summer, the Mel King Institute, MassCreative, and MACDC requested technical assistance from MAPC’s Arts and Culture division to implement three Creative Placemaking Immersion workshops that would allow CDCs and artists across Massachusetts to connect, network, and collaborate.

Guided by the National Association of Community and Economic Development Association (NACEDA)’s Creative Placemaking Program, MAPC developed a fundamental workshop module that was carried out in Holyoke, Worcester, and Salem.

Through these workshops, participants learned how communities are coming together to help advance four core objectives of this work: 1. To build social capital, 2. To spur neighborhood revitalization, 3. To enhance public safety, and 4. To preserve and promote the cultural and historic heritage.

The Creative Placemaking Innovative Forum that took place on October 3, 2017, recapped these three workshops and showcased the phenomenal work that has been done locally and nationally. The day began with remarks by Lynne McCormack, the national Director of Creative Placemaking, who talked about the state of practice nationally, followed by a discussion panel of local practitioners facilitated by MAPC’s Arts and Culture Manager, Jenn Erickson.

The success of this event wouldn’t have been possible without our partners, MACDC, MassCreative, and Mel King Institute. Additionally, MAPC wouldn’t have been able to provide this technical assistance without MAPC’s Arts and Culture Division’s Jenn Erickson, Carolyn Lewenberg, Annis Sengupta, and MAPC’s Community Engagement Specialist, Carolina Prieto.

MAPC’s Arts and Culture team hope to continue their work in bringing arts, culture, and creativity into government, community-led planning, and community development efforts through these programs.

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Learn more about MAPC’s Arts and Culture division here.