Placemaking Newsletter - June 2018

Placemaking Indiana’s monthly newsletter celebrates placemaking happening locally and nationally. We share placemaking trends and opportunities to inspire and support the work you do in your communities.

My Community, My Vision My Community, My Vision (MCMV) is a youth planning partnership between the IHCDA and IUPUI’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. MCMV engages high school youth and local leadership to create a youth-driven plan for future development in their hometown.  Participating groups will receive a small grant for a project. Applications are due in September. For more information on the program and the application process for this year’s MCMV program, register to attend the free webinar. Click here to register for the 2018-2019 MCMV webinar on July 10th at 10 am EST.

Phoenix Theatre Moves to New Neighborhood After 30 years of memories at their previous “Old Church” location, the Phoenix Theatre moved into a brand new facility at 705 N. Illinois Street last April. Check out their new Cultural Centre on the north end of downtown Indianapolis!

Best Summer Gotta-dos… Visit Indiana has compiled an exciting list of the top ten family friendly activities around the state for families to enjoy this summer.

“Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper” Placemaking Fort Wayne is experimenting with “Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper” Placemaking. This type of placemaking focuses on temporary changes to a public space to see how the community reacts and, hopefully, interacts with the space. Fort Wayne’s experiment involved slowing down traffic through public art efforts as well as holding organized events near the intersection at hand. This was all done through AARP’s Community Challenge and Team Better Block in collaboration with the City of Fort Wayne.

Funding Opportunities

• Activate underutilized public spaces with the CreatINg Places program.

• The Levitt Foundation offers grants for free concerts in cities with less than 400,000 people. The 2019 Grant Application opens on July 17th.

• The National Endowment for the Arts’ Our Town Grant Part 1 for placemaking is due August 9th.
• INDOT’s Community Crossings Matching Grant for shovel ready local construction projects is due on September 28th.

Webinars and Conferences

• IHCDA is hosting a free webinar about My Community, My Vision on July 10th from 10-11 am EST.

• Patronicity is hosting a free webinar called “Community Crowdfunding: Learn from the Experts.” This will be on Thursday, June 28th at 1 pm EST and hosted by Partonicity.

• The Community Canvas Workshop will be hosted by the Indiana Arts Commission on June 29th in Indianapolis.

• The Indiana Arts Commission is hosting the Indiana Arts Homecoming conference on October 18 – 19 in Fort Wayne.

• “Walkable Transformations: Healthy, Active, and Engaged Communities” free webinar will be on June 21 at 2 p.m.

• These past webinars from the National Association of Realtors focus on affordable housing opportunities and programs.

• The Walk Bike Places conference to promote greater access to walking and bicycling for cohesive and vibrant communities will be held in New Orleans on September 16-19.

•  The Project for Public Spaces offers a variety of conferences and events on placemaking.

• Community Builders offers free webinars on community development and placemaking.

Resources and Guides on Placemaking

• United Way’s Born Learning program promotes learning opportunities through play in public spaces.

• Information on becoming a Statewide Cultural District through the Indiana Arts Commission.

• Reimagining your public spaces by saying "yes" instead of "no" on park signage.

• How to establish partners for community planning.

• A guide to rural placemaking to capitalize on local creativity.

• A webinar on small town economic development through case studies throughout the United States.

• A guide for how local government officials should pay attention to their public spaces.

• Resources from the National Trust for Historic Preservation on maintaining historic places through placemaking.

• Learn about great things happening in Indiana on Aim Indiana’s podcast, Hometown Innovations, here.

• Indiana Landmarks serves as a resource for historic preservation in your community, such as their 10 Most Endangered list.

Case Studies

• A case study on Lowell, Massachusetts’ “Complete Streets” policy to reinvigorate their community.

• What are cities around the world doing when it comes to engaging young children (ages 0-5) and their families in the city building process?

Placemaking in the News

• The creation of a Placemaking Manifesto helps expand the concept of placemaking

• Placemaking in Ohio explores economic development versus placemaking

• Carmel, IN current placemaking efforts focus on trails and greenways

• Winter Placemaking in Detroit

• Pop-ups promote small businesses and the creative community in vacant retail spaces

• Long-term, strategic placemaking has helped Indianapolis growth

• Iconic London phone boxes now are part of creative placemaking efforts

• Do Amenities matter when attracting workforce?

Jobs

• AmeriCorps Public Ally – Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center

• Weatherization Program Team Lead – IHCDA

• Executive Director – Westside Community Development Corporation

• Advancement Associate – Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP)

• Assets & Opportunity Network AmeriCorps VISTA – Prosperity Indiana

• Capacity Builder & Impact AmeriCorps VISTA – Prosperity Indiana

•  CEO – Brown County Community Foundation

Contact me with ideas, comments, or questions: Carmen Lethig, IHCDA Placemaking Manager at clethig@ihcda.in.gov or 317.234.6290. If your agency has a new staff member who wishes to receive this newsletter, please e-mail communications@ihcda.in.gov