Artist-Led Case Studies
Irrigate was a project launched in the City of Saint Paul as a disruption mitigation strategy during major infrastructure development (the building of a Light Rail Transit line). Knowing that town halls and marketing campaigns weren’t going to cut it, Irrigate leveraged the disruption to build a community that would outlast the problem. Watch a video about the project and download a toolkit for this kind of strategy.
The Creative Exchange is loaded with examples of how artists are putting their skills to use to make their community stronger. Browse its free downloadable toolkits, too.
Artist Gives Citizens Simple Tools to Design Their Public Spaces: While the city of San Jose is in the midst of a makeover competition for downtown St. James Park, artist Corinne Okada Takara is inviting the public to create their own designs — using popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and cardboard tubes.
Community-Led Case Studies
The Middlebury team, led by the incomparable Marissa Blewitt, community organizer with Neighborhood Network of University Park, worked for 90 days to transform Akron’s first settlement into a bustling area with a true identity for the area and places for kids to interact on July 30 and 31. With this in mind, the team helped transform an empty block with food trucks, vendors, a stage, a jungle gym created from old tires by the League of Creative Interventionists, and a wading pool for the kids created from hay bales and discarded billboards.
