Special Features
Deepening Literary Lives: Homeless Writers Share Their Stories
Every Monday morning around 9 a.m., Denver VOICE vendors visit the nonprofit's Capitol Hill office to collect some of the 8,000 copies of the street paper that move across the city each month. From…
Event Recap: IdeaLab
About 200 attendees gathered for a day of collaboration at IdeaLab, and a chance to connect and network, hone ideas and get inspired. "I'm particularly excited, looking around the room, I don't know…
Healthy Artists Make More Art - Get Covered!
We're past November 1st, which means it's time to get health insurance coverage for 2016. Enrollment is open for insurance coverage across the country, whether you are searching…
New & Next: Arts and Community Converge at IdeaLab
The people who make a place matter. The artists, creative collaborators and community organizers who create local arts and culture can have a national impact by sharing their work, programs and…
Artists can be the "connective tissue" of a neighborhood -- but first they need a place to live
On any given day, Quest Skinner may be transforming her latest conversation with a neighbor into a vibrant painting. “My art is an expression of the people I meet,” explains Skinner,…
Digital Placemaking Sparks Human Connections in Denver
Working in large-scale public art in Denver has changed the way Ivar Zeile experiences other cities. "Whenever I travel, I'm always looking for the LED screens," he says. "In places like Minneapolis,…
Bringing People to Play in Urban Green Spaces
In 2013, Springboard for the Arts launched the Artist Organizers (AOs) pilot program as part of Irrigate’s artist-led community development. Supported by the Surdna Foundation, the pilot planted…
Get Inspired and Connected at the Denver IdeaLab
On November 6, plug in to the IdeaLab! Join creative leaders from Denver and nationally for a full day event featuring panel discussions and workshops on getting inspired,…
Making Home Where the Community Is
In 2013, Springboard for the Arts launched the Artist Organizers (AOs) pilot program as part of Irrigate’s artist-led community development. Supported by the Surdna Foundation, the pilot planted…
'Creating Community' Recap: Being open, being flexible, being principled
On a warm September evening that brought rainshowers, 45 people gathered in the open gallery space at Public Functionary in Northeast Minneapolis for ‘Creating Community,’ a conversation and…
Play with Your Food! (And Other Ways Artists Help with Health)
In 2013, Springboard for the Arts launched the Artist Organizers (AOs) pilot program as part of Irrigate’s artist-led community development. Supported by the Surdna Foundation, the pilot planted…
Creating Moments of Personal Motivation in Education
In 2013, Springboard for the Arts launched the Artist Organizers (AOs) pilot program as part of Irrigate’s artist-led community development. Supported by the Surdna Foundation, the pilot planted…
Transforming the Kirkbride: Fergus Falls faces mental health issues & historic preservation with art
In Fergus Falls, Minnesota, one structure dominates the landscape more than any other. Spanning the length of eight football fields, the 700,000-square foot building with its red-tiled, turreted…
Rapping in Vacant Lots, Repping the Neighborhood
In 2013, Springboard for the Arts launched the Artist Organizers (AOs) pilot program as part of Irrigate’s artist-led community development. Supported by the Surdna Foundation, the pilot planted…
Collaboration at the Heart of Real Estate and Community Development
In 2013, Springboard for the Arts launched the Artist Organizers (AOs) pilot program as part of Irrigate’s artist-led community development. Supported by the Surdna Foundation, the pilot planted…
"Look, these people are making art here": How Community Supported Art thrives in Lincoln, Nebraska
This story is part of THE REPLICATORS, a series highlighting artists and organizations that have used toolkits and programs offered on Creative Exchange to create new programming in their community.…
Sharing, Building, Leading
What does the passion for local art look like on a national scale? What if the sharing economy valued sharing? What can we do to connect people to resources that support their creative…
When the Place Is Already Made: Lessons from a Folklife Project
This is the fourth story about work coming from the PLACE (People, Land, Arts, Culture and Engagement) Initiative of the Tucson Pima Arts Council. Read Executive Director Roberto Bedoya’s…
The ROOTS of Transformation: A Place of Action Alongside Community
Alternate ROOTS is a 39-year-old Southern based arts organization that supports artists working at the intersection of arts and activism. The organization was founded at the Highlander Center in…
Finding Voice: How Art Empowers Civic Engagement in Refugee & Immigrant Youth
This is the first story about work coming from the PLACE (People, Land, Arts, Culture and Engagement) Initiative of the Tucson Pima Arts Council. Read Executive Director Roberto Bedoya’s introduction…
How artists helped keep 33 businesses in a Cleveland neighborhood open through construction chaos
This story is the first of THE REPLICATORS, a series highlighting artists and organizations that have used toolkits and programs offered on Creative Exchange to create new programming in their…
Photography & Participation: How Photovoice Engages and Rebuilds Communities
What is the role of photography in community engagement? How can increased engagement lead to effective community rebuilding and development? Photovoice, a participatory research process, provides…
No One Can Do It Alone: How Working with "Disability" Enabled a New Artistic Ability and Approach
This is the first story about work coming from the PLACE (People, Land, Arts, Culture and Engagement) Initiative of the Tucson Pima Arts Council. Read Executive Director Roberto Bedoya’s introduction…
From the Ground Up - Shaping the New Rural Narrative Through Arts and Community
Even if you have not spent a lot of time in a rural community, you’re probably familiar with at least one of the common narratives of small town America. One paints a bleak landscape of “brain…
Little Free Library has big ambitions for literacy & public art
If your neighborhood is home to a Little Free Library, you might be lulled into thinking that it’s been there forever — or for several decades, at least. The small sidewalk libraries’ “take a book,…
Belonging: A Cornerstone of Placemaking in the Region
It is precisely because artists recognize the vision that precedes the creation of a work that emerges from a place we cannot locate or name, a place of mystery, that we stand before creation in awe.…
Public Art and Preparedness: Lessons from Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most deadly, destructive, and costly natural disasters in the United States. This year commemorates the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, providing opportunity…
Valuing Artists, In All Senses of the Word
You may have read that the rise of the creative entrepreneur is leading to the death of the artist. That’s not our experience. We’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with people in communities…
Recovering the Story: How Arts Contribute to Emergency Recovery and Resilience
How does storytelling help individuals and communities overcome disaster? East Coast Hurricane Sandy survivors became storytellers through Sandy Storyline, a participatory documentary that collects…
Hunter Franks: Reflections on the 2014 Creative Interventions Tour
“My parents said if you have a boy he will wrestle; that is what he will do,” Lisa remarked, referring to her son Martaz. I had just met Martaz and Lisa a week before, as they participated in my…
