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An Introduction to Creative Placemaking

What is placemaking?  
How does placemaking relate to the mission of PAR-Projects?  

As Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa define it in their paper for the National Endowment for the Arts, 


"placemaking engages partners from public, private, non-profit, and community sectors to strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities."

Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired. In turn, these creative locales foster entrepreneurs and cultural industries that generate jobs and income, spin off new products and services, and attract and retain unrelated businesses and skilled workers. Together, creative placemaking’s livability and economic development outcomes have the potential to radically change the future of American towns and cities."



Creative placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces that capitalizes on a community's assets to promote community goals including health and well being.  


At PAR-Projects, our mission is to help empower diverse communities of people who believe in the arts.  We believe that through education and collaboration, we can utilize the power of the arts to define and develop our neighborhood, as well as the city of Cincinnati. 


The video below features one of our collaborations from 2018 with Pones dance troupe.  On the evening of July 28, 2018, thirteen groups of Northside (Cincinnati) neighbors were joined by Pones dancers to perform Participation and Connection ideas that Northsiders say are central to the joyous & wonderful, challenging & imperfect work of living in a changing community.





To learn more about what what we're up to or how you can get involved, hop on over to our main website — www.parprojects.com. There you can find more about our offerings and sign up to support our cause through a donation of time and/or treasure.

To read more of Markusen and Gadwa's paper:  https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/CreativePlacemaking-Paper.pdf


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