How to do Creative Placemaking Webinar Series

The webinar series, How to do Creative Placemaking, offers practical and tactical advice for local leaders, artists, and community development practitioners.

Creative placemaking—the practice of integrating arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities—has become a widespread practice in communities of all shapes and sizes to advance local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. In 2016, the National Endowment for the Arts and The Kresge Foundation partnered to launch a pilot technical assistance program in collaboration with LISC and PolicyLink which served 16 communities across the country. This pilot program resulted in robust resources to help local practitioners meet the challenges of collaborative, and sustained creative placemaking; informing the topic areas of this webinar series. 

Our Town Creative Placemaking Technical Assistance Overview

This webinar is for FY2019 and FY2020 NEA Our Town grantees who would like more details about the creative placemaking technical assistance program.

Inspiration for Prospective Our Town Applicants

This webinar gives a brief overview of the Our Town application process and features projects from Jacksonville, FL and inspiration from Seattle, Washington.

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How to Apply and Prepare a Project Proposal

Hosted on Thursday, June 18, 2020
Led by NEA and LISC staff, this webinar offers an overview on how to apply to the Our Town Program, due August 2020.  NEA Staff review the application guidelines and offer advice to ensure your Our Town application is clear and compelling. This recording does not include the question and answer section of the original webinar. 



Setting the Table: Developing Partnerships & Shared Values

Hosted on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 | 2:00 PM ET 
How do you set common goals and create a shared vision for your project early on with local partners? Webinar attendees will learn how to define relationships, roles and responsibilities when embarking on a creative placemaking project.  Julie Garreau, Executive Director, of Cheyenne River Youth Project and NEA Our Town Recipient will share the process she utilizes in preparation for the Red Can Jam on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. 

A video recording is unavailable for this webinar.

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Digging Deep: Community Engagement Methods & Techniques

Recorded on Wednesday, December 12 | 2:00 PM ET
What methods and techniques can be utilized to engage multiple and varied community voices? How can project leaders create the conditions necessary to inspire participation and a sense of agency amongst residents and community stakeholders? Webinar participants will learn how to recognize existing assets their community and incorporate community voices into their process as part of an equitable, asset based approach to their creative placemaking projects.

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Crafting an Evaluation Plan & Measuring Impact

Recorded on Wednesday, January 9 | 2:00 PM ET
How does a creative placemaking evaluation plan work and what does it measure? This webinar explores best practices in creative placemaking evaluation techniques and helps participants create or refine their own evaluation strategies for their projects.

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Documenting the Process & Communicating Success

Recorded on Wednesday, February 13 | 2:00 PM ET
Why is project documentation important and what are good ways of talking about and communicating the value of the work? A solid documentation and communication strategy help community members stay up to date on a project, inform potential constituents,and provide a record of the project for the future. This webinar will cover the basics of documenting and communicating the value of a creative placemaking project.

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Hiring and Contracting Artists: RFPs, Calls for Entry & Commissions

Recorded on Wednesday, March 13 | 2:00 PM ET
What are different ways to structure opportunities for artists? How might one structure resources, and what scale of resources are appropriate for a creative placemaking program? Where and how can opportunities be shared in order to connect with the appropriate artist for a project? This webinar will discuss how to structure a call, grant, or commission in a way that will yield the kinds of relationships and projects that will help achieve the goals set for a project.

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Formalizing Partnership: Contracts, MOUs & Agreements

Recorded on Wednesday, April 10
What does a contract for a performance or public art installation look like? When and how should a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) be used?  This webinar will offer complementary perspectives on how to structure contracts and MOUs that will set expectations and accountability for all parties involved while also allowing room for creativity and flexibility in the process and end product.

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