Creative People Power: Hubs & Homes
Public Transformation celebrates & contemplates art in rural America
Artifacts line the wall of Outpost Winona: handmade art and everyday objects, each labeled with the name of a place: railroad spikes from Lake City, South Carolina; a cookbook from Alliance,…
Ryan Romer tells visual stories of where the modern world collides with traditional culture in the Alaskan bush
Ryan Romer considers himself a "late bloomer" as an artist, not having delved into the professional art world until he was already in his 30s. Prior to that, he was "one of those artists who would…
Honoring Inuit culture through traditional tattoos
Holly Mititquq Nordlum is an Inupiaq artist born in Kotzebue, an Inuit village in the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska. As an artist, she has followed a lifelong call that has led her to painting,…
Rosalia Torres-Weiner brings magic kites to children impacted by deportation
Rosalia Torres-Weiner is a multi-media artist, muralist, and activist, but she prefers to call herself an ARTivist. Through her Charlotte, North Carolina-based Red Calaca Studio, Torres-Weiner uses…
Tempe’s Sound Canopy; A Respite for Residents and Performers
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.…
Heidi Brandow documents definitions of "home" for Native peoples, refugees, and normalized residents
Santa Fe artist Heidi K. Brandow came by her creative practice somewhat naturally – on her mother's side, she comes from a long line of Native Hawaiian singers, musicians, and performers; and on her…
Rural Arts & Culture Summit Videos
The Rural Arts & Culture Summit was held from June 6-8 in Morris, MN, and it was magical. 400 artists, community development professionals, leaders, and advocates from 22 states came to the town of…
The Arnaudville Experiment: Creative placemaking and economic development in rural Louisiana
George Marks moved back to his tiny hometown of Arnaudville in Louisiana prior to Katrina in 2005, after 15 years of living as a successful working artist in Baton Rouge. He left home in 1989, earned…
Ian Trask transforms one man's trash into another's treasure
Ian Trask didn't study art in school. Instead, he studied science, with the intention of pursuing a career in research and being able to "pursue something novel and new every day for the rest of my…
Breaking Boundaries: Interactive, Immersive, Pop-Up Theater
Please do not remain seated. Unbuckle with tickets to a new breed of shows in Denver that meld theatrical elements with experiences that keep theatergoers on their feet. A lanky, graying,…
Singer-songwriter Mayyadda explores new sound and shows Black musicians ‘are not a monolith’
Two years ago, if you had told Mayyadda Munkunjae that she would be performing at Minneapolis’ Dakota Jazz Club, where the likes of Prince, Esperanza Spalding and Vusi Mahlesela have graced the…
A City's Challenge: Preserving Artists' Spaces in Denver
The story behind the Lawrence Street Artists illuminates how creatives struggled for affordable space in Denver long before the recent nationwide clampdown on converted warehouses. It was nearly 30…
Dylan Yellowlees is creating an LGBT arts festival for everyone in Akron
Dylan Yellowlees moved to Akron two years ago to work at the Akron Civic Theatre. Having come from Atlanta, where there is a strong LGBT presence with a huge pride festival, an LGBT film festival,…
Advances in neurotech combines with classical music in filmmaker Jonathan David Kane's Corpus Callosum
Miami-based filmmaker Jonathan David Kane has had a camera in his hand for as long as he can remember, despite growing up in the 1980s at a time when video recording equipment wasn't something people…
Exploring the Art of Conversation at the Urban Consulate
What is the art of conversation? A salon is a social gathering to exchange ideas, a celebration of the art of conversation dating back to 16th century Italy, though most closely associated with the…
Fran Ilich believes another world is possible
Fran Ilich grew up in Tijuana next to the San Diego border. As a "border kid" in Mexico, Ilich has spent his life existing in a space somewhere in between – not quite Latin enough for Mexico,…
Jetsonorama creates social justice-minded murals on the rez
Chip Thomas is Jetsonorama, and he has a funny story behind that name.
Design Studio for Social Intervention uses design to change the way social justice is imagined
Kenneth Bailey is one of the founders of Boston's Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), an artistic organization that uses design to change how social justice is imagined, developed, and…
The business community comes together to support the arts in downtown Fresno
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.…
Pillsbury House Theatre breaks the ice and serves the community
What does it mean to be a "community theatre"? What does it mean to be an arts organization "for the community"? When we talk about community, and about arts organizations with deep commitments to…
ArtVenture connects the dots between visitors and public art in downtown Cincinnati
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.…
Newark's Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District embraces the transformative power of music
Lincoln Park is an 11-acre, four-block neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. In the late 1990s, the area became a focus of conversation on redevelopment efforts, with a series of charrettes – planning…
Upcycle Parts Shop engages the community though creative reuse
Nicole McGee has been a self-described "reuse artist" for several years, but her practice wasn't always her profession. Her background is in the nonprofit sector, doing work in PR and marketing,…