Guide for Business Districts to Work with Local Artists

The Guide for Business Districts to Work with Local Artists is a free guide for place managers to work with artists on creative placemaking projects. The Guide was created for International Downtown Association by Springboard for the Arts from their experience working with artists and consulting on creative placemaking work across the country, the guide contains tools for partnership building between BIDs and artists, collaboration between community stakeholders, budgeting and project management.

What is creative placemaking?

Creative placemaking is the act of people coming together to change over-looked and undervalued public and shared spaces into welcoming places where community gathers, supports one another, and thrives.

“Creative placemaking is an important intersection of the creativity of artists and the vitality of our business communities,” says Jason Schupbach, Director of Design and Creative Placemaking Programs at the NEA. “The new Guide is a useful resource for practitioners that is a valuable addition to the library of tools for artist-led creative placemaking.”

“For years we have seen the creative work of our member organizations as they build partnerships to bring arts and engagement to their districts, and we are excited to be able to offer these resources,” said David Downey, President and CEO of IDA. “The Guide and these projects will offer a model for our member organizations and build their creative placemaking capacity in urban places around the world.”

“Artists thrive when their communities thrive and vice versa,” notes Springboard for the Arts Executive Director Laura Zabel. “We know that artists are in every community, and that they are looking for ways to connect with and shape their communities. Sharing the tools to build cross-sector relationships, grow audiences and create more resilient, vibrant communities is a win for everyone.”

This work is made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts from its Our Town program. Read Creative Placemaking stories on Creative Exchange, and check out more stories produced in partnership with IDA, including:

– ArtVenture connects the dots between visitors and public art in downtown Cincinnati

– The business community comes together to support the arts in downtown Fresno

– Urban Matter Inc. creates interactive installations that combine technology, design, and community

Get the toolkit as a handy PDF, delivered right to your inbox!

This story is supported by a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Knowledge Building grant supporting a partnership between Springboard for the Arts and the International Downtown Association. See more stories from the partnership here.