Participatory Art
Joi Sears leads the Theatre for the Free People on the world's stage
Joi Sears is a lot of things; stationary isn't one of them. She started out as a dancer, starting with the Cincinnati Ballet then moving on to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York and…
Reach Studio reaches artists homeless and in transition, treating them as artists first
Art therapy is a well-established practice that uses the creative process to help improve a person’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. RedLine Denver, an "urban laboratory" that fosters…
iMPeRFeCT Gallery celebrates artists with commitment and the collision of high and low art
The concept of "perfection" in the art world is almost impossible to attain, yet that doesn't stop artists from trying or critics from criticizing. It was the rejection of this nebulous idea of…
HICCUP creates positive disruption to bring visibility to Hialeah
The souvenir is as much a time-honored vacation tradition as is taking photos standing awkwardly next to world-renowned historic landmarks and tuning out the kids in the backseat as they continually…
How can public art be used to give new life to aging infrastructure and build connections?
These stories are brought to you by a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEA’s Our Town program. Like so many American cities, Greensboro, North Carolina is in the midst of…
M12 Collective brings experiential art to the American High Plains
M12 is an artists' collective based in Byers, Colorado, a rural town in the American High Plains. The work of the collective inhabits rural places, and explores the aesthetics of those rural cultures…
How can students' ideas about art come to inspire an entire city neighborhood?
These stories are brought to you by a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEA’s Our Town program. With over 160,000 residents, Sioux Falls is South Dakota’s largest city, and…
Asian Arts Initiative shepherds community engagement and integration in Philly's Chinatown North
Gayle Isa started working at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia in 1993. This was in the aftermath of the infamous Rodney King verdict and the riots in Los Angeles that followed. Racial…
Erik Howard brings the corner and the community together in unlikely ways through The Alley Project
To read the abundance of news coverage coming out of Detroit over the last few years heralding the downtrodden city as a hotbed of creativity and innovation, attracting young creatives and start-up…
Welcome to Creative Exchange (again)
"I believe in the magic of storytelling, not only for teller but also the listener," says agrarian artist Nikiko Masumoto, who lives and works in California's Central Valley. "The possibility of…
Nikiko Masumoto cultivates connections between the art of food and farming and stories of place
Nikiko Masumoto is a farmer, and also an artist. Contrary what people might assume about these two different aspects of her life, they are not at odds with each other. In fact, each one informs the…
How place and cultural assets can come to define a community's long-term goals for revitalization
These stories are brought to you by a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEA’s Our Town program. Most Angelenos perceive Willowbrook and the adjacent communities of Watts…
Fox Art School raising bar for arts education in Denver
Fifteen to 20 kids assembled in an art gallery. All of them somewhere in the age range of 4 to 12. And a $10,000 painting hanging on the wall right over there. Not behind a pane of glass, or even…
Ladies Fancywork Society of Denver is painting the town in thread
In early April, Denverites were devastated when the iconic Big Blue Bear leaning against the Colorado Convention Center was seen sporting an unwelcome splatter of green paint down its back after an…
Meet Brian Corrigan, Denver's "Oh Heck Yeah" phenom
It was during an unlikely -- and very cool -- marriage of something Pong and Space Invaders-like in downtown Denver last year when Brian Corrigan had himself an "aha!" moment. It was Create Denver…
What role can the arts take in harnessing the wisdom of rural communities?
These stories are brought to you by a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEA’s Our Town program. With fewer than 20 residents, Last Chance is the smallest community funded…
PAR Projects is building a home for arts education and programming in Cincinnati's Northside
Things don't always work out the way you plan, but they do tend to work out the way they're supposed to. Jonathan Sears is the co-founder of Professional Artistic Research (PAR) Projects, though he…
Artists as community leaders
What a journey! Three years ago, Springboard for the Arts launched Irrigate, a creative placemaking project in partnership with the City of Saint Paul and the Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support…
IRRIGATE: Artist-Led Community Development
Cities and neighborhoods need creative thinking. Particularly when communities are facing big challenges, artists see opportunity in challenge, beauty in chaos and have practical skills and creative…
GroundWorks builds movement from the ground up
GroundWorks Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company founded in 1998 by Artistic Director David Shimotakahara. The company primarily splits its performance time between Akron and Cleveland with…
St. Paul City Artist Amanda Lovelee inspires joyful connections
Amanda Lovelee’s life and work have taken her all over the world. A native of upstate New York, she graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, has traveled extensively…
Hunter Franks leads simple steps of creativity to inspire big change in Akron
This story was originally published on Knight Blog here. Artist Hunter Franks uses people as his medium to break down barriers and make neighborhoods more neighborly. It’s simple, really. He invites…
Viviane Le Courtois creates processes and Processus
Viviane Le Courtois is a Denver-based multi-media artist from Brittany, France. Her work ranges from etchings and drawings to video to interactive installation pieces that go outside of the studio…
How artist workshops helped revitalize Pacific Northwest Natives' community identity
These stories are brought to you by a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEA’s Our Town program. For the Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, modernization has…
[freespace]
[freespace] began in San Francisco in June 2013, inspired by the National Day of Civic Hacking and a landlord who gifted a 14,000 square foot warehouse to a group of organizers for $1. These…
Neighborhood Postcard Project
Perceptions of marginalized communities often form from single media sources. All you see on the news is the violence, drugs, and poverty. But, there are many positive stories that exist in these…
Pop Up Museum
We've all got fascinating things, but not everyone gets to show them off in a museum. Thanks to the Pop Up Museum, that's all about to change. The Pop Up Museum is a temporary…
Community Supported Art
Over the last 20 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy seasonal food directly from local farms. With the same buy-direct, buy-local spirit in…