WHAT IS CREATIVE CITYMAKING?

CREATIVE CITYMAKING
A partnership of Intermedia Arts and the City of Minneapolis
For more info check out the Intermedia Arts Creative Citymaking website

Artists will have a hand in five city planning projects in 2013, thanks to a new program that is helping Minneapolis develop into a city that is a living work of art.  Creative CityMaking is a partnership between Intermedia Arts and the City of Minneapolis that fosters collaborations between local artists and City planners to develop fresh and innovative approaches for addressing the long-term transportation, land use, economic, environmental, and social issues facing Minneapolis.

In 2013, Creative CityMaking will embed four artists/artist teams in the Long Range Planning Division of the City’s Community Planning and Economic Development Department (CPED).  Four teams of artists have been selected and paired up with five planning projects, which they will work on through 2013.  The partnership of artists and planners is intended to forge, enhance, or develop new strategies for working through the creative processes inherent in visionary planing and city making. It is intended to engage artists in critical thinking and art making around City and urban issues and to increase artists’ and planners’ ability to facilitate community interaction and work collaborativley with the public to foster positive change in the quality and trajectory of social discourse about the city’s urban future.  Their collaborative work will be showcased throughout the year at citywide community events, culminating in a public exhibition and forum at Intermedia Arts.

Across Minneapolis, artists are initiating discussions with community members around key civic issues. Creative CityMaking builds on their pioneering work, with the goals of increasing the participation of underrepresented communities in determining the city’s future and developing a city that is a living work of art. This project builds on work happening in cities around the globe centered on the impact of people-oriented planning and the role of the arts and the creative process in developing vibrant urban places. 

The goals of Creative CityMaking are:

• to develop new creative strategies for community planning;
• to create a collaborative laboratory and learning environment that engages artists and City staff working with a city department;
• to engage artists in critical thinking and art making around city and urban issues, and to increase artists’ and planners’ ability to facilitate community change;
• to provide artists and planners with new tools for community engagement and working with traditionally underrepresented communities;
• to document and communicate lessons learned

Capstone evaluation of the City’s 10-Year Historic Survey efforts – City planner Joe Bernard and Artist Witt Siasoco:

The City of Minneapolis is embarking on an effort to analyze and assess the combined findings of historic survey work conducted over the past 10 years. The City’s project is funded by a grant from the National Park Service and the Minnesota Historical Society. Project partners expect to identify the salient strengths and fill in any remaining gaps in the geographic and thematic base of the City’s repository of historic assessments. The project will highlight the main takeaways from ten years of survey work, and it will include an assessment of historic public sculpture located throughout the city. Outcomes from this process will help to shape preservation policy and development opportunities in Minneapolis for the coming generation. The city planner and artist will work together to design and conduct a public engagement campaign to educate residents, the business community, educational institutions, and the general public about this rich source of data and findings about the city’s history.