Q&A with Kate Speed, LISC Twin Cities

Since 2013, LISC Twin Cities has supported creative placemaking programming, specifically focused on cultural commercial corridors. Can you elaborate what a cultural commercial corridor is and how you went about identifying this as a viable economic development strategy? 

LISC Twin Cities defines cultural corridors as places where businesses and community-based organizations are working to activate arts and culture to create vibrant business districts that celebrate local diversity, bring residents closer together, and strengthen neighborhood economies. These are typically established business districts that already have a cultural identity that was developed organically over time.  

While LISC Twin Cities has been supporting commercial corridor efforts for 30 years, many along what we would now define as cultural corridors, our cultural corridor strategy really took shape in advance of the development of the Green Line LRT, (light rail train) which runs between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. The C4 (Central Corridor as Cultural Corridor) program worked with community partners to explicitly leverage arts and culture for economic development. The 11-mile Green Line runs through many different neighborhoods that have historically been marginalized and disregarded. In fact, the I-94 freeway cut through the middle of the historic Rondo neighborhood in the late 1960s, displacing the largest African-American community in St. Paul and destroying dozens of businesses. The C4 program was developed not only to ensure that businesses and residents not be displaced by the Green Line, but that their communities be strengthened physically, socially and economically. 

Some of LISC’s creative placemaking core values include: enlist and support artists as leaders, purse racial equity, and support approaches that are community driven, comprehensive and collaborative. How have you been able to uphold these core values when working with artists and the community?  

LISC is really a supporter and convener of an incredible group of organizations that is doing this work on the ground. These organizations hold LISC, and one another, accountable on our values around racial equity, supporting artists, and advancing projects and initiatives that are truly community-driven. Collectively, from 2013-2016, our C4 partners hired 1,246 artists for projects, 85% of whom were artists of color. During that same time they worked with 627 businesses and entrepreneurs, 57% of which were owned by people of color. These organizations also spend a lot of time working to lift up community voices, build partnerships and collaboration with a broad set of stakeholders, align investments, and ultimately effect positive change through arts and culture in their districts and neighborhoods. They share how they do this with one another through a peer network, which LISC convenes. The peer network has been an excellent way to build community and trust, share learning and information, and drive innovation and collaboration among the partners.  

Concerns of causing displacement as a result of this type of investments has been an issue at the forefront of practitioner’s minds. Do you have any policy or practice recommendations to help ensure that these types of projects can be completed in neighborhoods without pushing people out? 

Gentrification and displacement have long been the story of artists and creatives who move into affordable neighborhoods, build community and improve the conditions around them, only to be displaced years later by market driven investors.  

“Owning the dirt” is extremely important to a lot of our Creative Placemaking partners. We’ve seen a number of community and arts organizations uprooted as a result of market pressures over the past couple years. Our partners have been talking a lot about alternative community ownership models, such as non-profit ownership of community facilities, co-working space, co-operatives, investment clubs and lending circles, etc. There is also an interest in learning more about real estate, be it negotiating a lease or redeveloping and owning a space. To this end, LISC Twin Cities provides technical assistance and predevelopment grants, but additional resources are needed to help Creative Placemaking organizations secure stable, affordable, functional and sustainable spaces. 

How do you incorporate community input into CP projects? Any tips for doing so?

Again, we work through our community partners, who are in relationship with youth, artists, residents, businesses, and other community partners, to help envision what they need in their communities and what they want their districts to look like in 2 years, 5 years, 20 years. Arts and cultural projects provide reasons- invitations- for people to interact and engage, to have wonder and curiosity about the neighborhood, and to appreciate what’s been ignored.  This increased awareness can lead to a stronger, more unified vision, which can in turn lead to increased investment – both financial and psychological- as well as opportunities for wealth-building and improved well-being.