Pride of place
Creative California Communities projects aim to prevent displacement, not produce it
California has some big bucks to put toward large-scale creative placemaking projects.
Creative California Communities grants have supported creative placemaking in California since 2014. And with awards up to $150,000, it’s by far the largest grant available from the California Arts Council.
So … what exactly is creative placemaking, you ask? We use some definitions from respected organizations working in the field of community arts development as a guide:
In creative placemaking, public, private, not-for-profit, and community sectors partner to strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region around arts and cultural activities.
— National Endowment for the ArtsA process in which arts and culture play an intentional and integrated role in place-based community planning and development that is human-centric, comprehensive, and locally informed. The “creative” simply invites artists and arts organizations to join their neighbors in shaping communities’ futures; not necessarily in making places more creative. — ArtPlace America
Artistic and cultural activities strengthen a community, particularly when they reveal and celebrate its character and identity. [W]e support residents coming together to make social, physical and economic changes in their neighborhoods through the arts and culture. — Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Let’s break that down a bit.
At the California Arts Council, we closely align creative placemaking with community development. Projects address community needs, priorities, circumstances, and values by utilizing local artistic and cultural resources.
We’re looking to fund projects by applicants with deep connections with the community they intend to serve, and existing partnerships that can help bring their projects to life. And, as with nearly all of our grant programs, projects should be designed and implemented of, by, and with those intended to be impacted.
Creative placemaking projects are meant to honor a community’s cultural assets rather than attempting to drop culture in on a place. The goal of Creative California Communities projects is to prevent gentrification and displacement, not produce it.
New for this year’s grant program is the option for an applicant organization to utilize a fiscal sponsor — a feature now offered through all of the California Arts Council’s local assistance grant programs.
A project from last year’s batch of grantees beautifully exemplifies the concept behind California creative placemaking: Kulintang Arts launched a new cross-sector initiative located in the SOMA (South of Market) Pilipinas Cultural District of San Francisco called Pinoys Here & Now! The project amplified the voices of SOMA residents and workers by utilizing various art forms to communicate the contributions of the neighborhood’s Filipino community. Events served as a creative call to action, highlighting the urgency felt by Filipino neighborhoods in the face of generational displacement. Kulintang Arts partnered with SOMA Pilipinas neighborhood institutions for the project, making the work instantly more welcoming to residents and ensuring the art reflected their lives and stories.
If your organization is planning to apply, consider these questions:
Does my arts organization have a deep, respected connection with the place or community I want to serve?
Can I partner with an organization with shared values that also has a deep, respected connection with the place or community I want to serve?
Does my project honor the place by acknowledging current cultural assets?
Are community members involved with the design and implementation of my project?
What is the relationship between the specific arts and cultural activities in my project and the place where they occur?
How does my project make a meaningful impact?
Californians have been a part of creative placemaking before the concept had a name. We want to continue that tradition by funding projects that have significant meaning for their locations and celebrate California’s communities and culture.
Hilary Amnah is the Arts Program Specialist for the California Arts Council’s Creative California Communities program. To learn more about the Creative California Communities grant opportunity, visit arts.ca.gov/programs/ccc.php. Apply by January 9.
