Creative Placemaking

MassINC recently hosted a webinar exploring strategies to advance creative placemaking policy in Massachusetts. You can view the webinar, which features MassINC Research Director Ben Forman, Mayor Morse of Holyoke, and MASSCreative Executive Director Matt Wilson here.

Gateway Cities are seeing continued progress in implementing creative placemaking strategies just a few weeks after April’s Gateway Cities summit focused on building buy-in and sharing best practices on the economic development concept.

MassINC Vice President for Programming and Public Affairs Marj Malpiede recently spoke with ArtPlace America, a collaboration of major foundations, federal agencies, and the National Endowment for the Arts, about what she's learned from MassINC's creative placemaking work so far.

By John Schneider

Creative placemaking is highly collaborative work requiring active public/private partnerships to marshal the resources, will, and energy to change a street, neighborhood, or city.  State and local governments need to work with artists, entrepreneurs, and community and business leaders to advance successful projects.  Creative placemaking requires broad community support, especially from the voters who not only determine the outcomes of elections, but the public agenda that follows.

Forum explores local cultural institutions as catalysts for creative economy growth

By Ben Forman

The Colonial Theater had been dark for over 50 years when the City of Pittsfield bet that bringing it back to life would make a bold statement about the community’s future. We met recently with leaders from the across Western Massachusetts to learn about what Pittsfield has achieved since successfully reopening the theater in 2006, and how that could be applied to other Gateway Cities and regions looking to grow the creative economy.