New NEA Resources for Arts-based Community Development
The National Endowment for the Arts is launching new resources to assist practitioners who are working on arts-based community development projects. These resources will assist those practitioners to develop projects that are authentic, equitable, and that augment existing local assets. Those resources are:
- Exploring Our Town, an online resource featuring case studies of more than 60 previous Our Town projects complete with an insights section of lessons learned
- 2015 Our Town guidelines with a new project type designed to build and share creative placemaking knowledge more broadly
- Beyond the Building: Performing Art Organizations and Transforming Place a national convening to be held on November 3, 2014
“The Our Town program is a prime example of the power the arts have on our everyday lives,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “The arts can connect us, they can weave communities together, and they can infuse our lives with a deeper sense of place and purpose. The arts have the power to change where we live, and who we are, for the better. To that end, the resources we are making available today will provide the essential tools to those interested in undertaking the important work of creative placemaking and community development around an arts-based project.”