Creative Placemaking ThroughArt and Music

On the park bench presents interactive conversations with thought leaders in new urbanism and allied industries. Providing an opportunity for the audience to engage in real-time. The webinar series is a platform for seeing new members to engage, debate, and collaborate on pressing issues of the day. Today's webinar is creative place making through art and music. With Dayton Castleman and Sharon Yuzowski. We want to hear from you. Feel free to share your thoughts on on the park bench. You can give us feedback at WWWW. Tiny. URL. Dot com. Slash OTPB feedback. And we also have some upcoming webinars. Next Tuesday on September 20 sixth. We have 30 years on amending the Charter of the New Urbanism. Coinciding with the thirtieth anniversary of CNU. The board of directors has authorized the process for soliciting, refining, and selecting amendments to the Charter of the New Urbanism. The Charter Amendment Committee will describe how senior members will be able to propose and vote on amendments to our foundational document. And on Wednesday, October fourth. Join us for repairing past harm to designers and planners have a role. Seeing you board member and former New York City's Parks Commissioner Mitch Silver. He says Brooklyn Village in Charlotte, North Carolina as a case study showing the harm inflicted on black communities by the planning profession and makes the case for planners to write this wrong. You can register on line for both of these webinars at CNU. Org slash resources slash on the park bench. And save the date. Be sure to join us for our 30 s annual Congress. See you. 32 will be in Cincinnati, Ohio on May fifteenth. Through eighteenth, 2024. This is the premier national event bringing together policy makers, planners, urban designers, developers, advocates, and more. To engage with the trends and challenges related to building community. You can learn more at CNU. Dot org slash CNU. 32. And now for today's webinar. Sharon Yasowski as CEO of Levitt Foundation, Sharon provides visionary leadership for in fulfilling Levitt's mission to strengthen the social fabric of America and reinvigorate public spaces through the power of free live music. Okay, passionate commitment to the arts as a vehicle for creating equitable, healthy, and thriving communities. As guided the growth of levit programs nationwide. Including the development of long-term public private partnerships in major US cities. Expanding programs into rural areas. And sustainability strategies for the levitt network of venues and concert sites. In addition to the foundations, creative placemaking research and investments in music ecosystems. The chief spokesperson for the foundation. Sharon travels the country speaking about the social and economic impact of levit programs. Levit commissioned research and creative place making at large. She's often an invited speaker at regional, national, and international conferences across sectors and guest lectures at undergraduate and graduate music business in nonprofit management programs. Sharon earned a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University with a concentration in arts and business management. Doing Castleman is a multimodal artist with a focus on art in public spaces. The journey of his interest in art ecosystems and their intersection with larger urban ecosystem, the urban ecosystems was germinated in Philadelphia, cultivated in Chicago, and planted in northwest Arkansas in 2,012 when he dove into the rapid cultural transformation of Bentonville, Arkansas and the surrounding region. His professional life has included experience as a museum preparator. As an educator in museums and higher end contacts. And he assumed his current role as director of creative place making at Rogers based architecture firm Verdant Studio in March of 2,020. He has founded nonprofit collaborative artist works spaces in Philadelphia and Rogers, Arkansas. And currently serves as chair of the City of Rogers Public Arts Commission. He earned a BA. In art from Bell Haven University in an MFA in sculpture from SAIC. He and his wife Karen live in downtown Rogers, Arkansas with 2 kids at home and one recently off to college. Marsha Garcia is Director of Education and Training at CNU. Prior to seeing you, Marsha was the University of Rhode Island's campus sustainability officer. She also spent several years managing programs for the American Institute of Architects. The US Green Building Council, and the National Wildlife Federation. She will be moderating today's discussion. And I am Lauren Mayor, communications manager at CNU. As a reminder, please use the Q&A function to ask questions as they occur to you. Let's start today's webinar. Over to you. Through Dayton. Let's stop sharing. Thank you very much. Share my screen. Thanks for inviting me. To do this. Marsha and for your help Lauren and for your collaboration. Sharon, appreciate it. Before I get started, I wanted to preface it by saying that I'm an artist by education training. So I come at Creative play snaking, arts role within space and culture and society, so on and so forth from the perspective. Of a of a practitioner. And I realized that, may be a slightly different perspective. In many cases then those that come to it from the perspective of urban planning or architecture or real estate development. I liked what, Lauren said about. Allied industries, you know. So there are a lot of different ways to approach this. And my approach is specifically through the lens of art. And I intend to sort of take you through a brief narrative of how in the pursuit of my life as an artist, I discovered some of these principles that then discovered overlapped with these principles of creative placemaking. And that idea. I will use the word art a lot and I want to preface this by saying that I use that somewhat loosely. And by art I Don't mean to. Restrict the understanding of that to visual arts. Usual suspects of public sculpture and mural, so on and so forth, but really do think of it as all of those applications of the creative arts that human beings might engage in within the context of different types. Of spaces and So on so forth. I also will use the word space in place. I do try to use those carefully though sometimes it's easy to use them interchangeably in ways that may not if I were to nuance it be entirely accurate. But generally speaking, I'm. Defining place as spaces whose has that have been given an established identity in some way. Use, whether it's through landscape, whether it's through architecture, even through accident of geology, say the confluence of a rivers, creates place because of that intersection. So, but I want to preface it by saying if I do misuse those terms and I'm sure there's a lot of intelligence in this webinar, a lot of minds out here that. Can they want those ideas? Much better than I can. To start to journey, my dad was the pastor of a small Presbyterian church in St. Bernard Parish. Louisiana. So this is downriver from New Orleans. All the land that the French passed up on their way to form their port civilization to try to control the mouth of Mississippi very long ago. And, so this is a very low lying area, generally speaking, working class. And The conditions of the oil crisis in the 19 seventies. Had created a significant economic downturn in these areas of New Orleans, whose economies were really built on. Those refineries. And so there was a very high rate of alcoholism in this particular community. And as the shepherd of this little flock, my dad found it important to support and be a part of alcoholics anonymous. And so he was an AA sponsor. And the The experience of people that are in recovery. Entering into church spaces can be interesting and not always the most inviting sorts of spaces. And there was one day that I walked in the church and discovered that they were ash trays in all the Sunday school classrooms. And that was my dad's way of trying to make space for an accommodate and make these types of spaces more comfortable for people, especially that were in recovery, many of whom spent a lot of time drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. So I described that as my, those early formational instances of creative place making with the ashtray kind of at the center of that relationship between the people and the space. As crude as that may be. Many years later, when reading Robert Venturi's famous essay complexity and contradiction in architecture and reading this what is very widely quoted passage. Hi discovered that I think these are the kinds of ideas that were planted in me in that environment growing up. In New Orleans. And I highly resonate with this idea and it's salient I think too. A robust, rich approach to create a place making. Architects can no longer afford to be intimidated by the pureitanically moral language and orthodox modern architecture. I like elements which are hybrid rather than pure compromising rather than clean distorted rather than straightforward, ambiguous rather than articulated, perverse, perverse as well as impersonal. Boring as well as interesting. Conventional rather than designed, accommodating rather than excluding. Redundant rather than simple. Vestigial as well as innovating. Inconsistent and equivocal rather than direct and clear. I am for messy vitality over obvious unity. I include the non sequitur and proclaim the duality. This, particular passage and the idea of, a messy vitality was one that seemed very familiar. And reminded me of my upgrowth of my upbringing. No, I'm having a hard time. There we go. For whatever reason, for all the reasons that kids do decide to be a heart major, I did decide to be a heart major. And my parents supported that. And the art world that I was introduced to in the formal settings of, our education and undergrad in particular. To begin with, where, spaces that were set aside from the rest of the world and kind of, you know, the white cube as a metaphor for this sort of, sanitized isolation of the artist studio and even the gallery or the museum space was both the locus of my practice as an individual artist and the responsibilities I had to my own work and to the presentation of my own work. As one single individual responsible for its content and its production. So on and so forth. And then that work that I was creating was then put into spaces, which gave the work its own sort of space and breathing room. So it wasn't way down by the by the, Okay. Restrictions of. The other work that surrounded it by context. Imagine that. And, so I experience that both in studio spaces and in museum spaces and that was something that began to really It created a lot of tension in me as I tried to make work and I didn't understand where that tension was coming from for a very long time. It was a theme maybe of a lot of my artistic practice. Here you have some of the similar and similar sanitized isolated spaces that allow the artwork. Sort of autonomy and demand autonomy for the artwork as opposed to them. Actually existing in the world that gave birth to them and potentially changing that world. I threw it a little. Modern architectural orthodoxy with these Vanderrobe in the upper left hand corner. As a head nod to Ventura's idea. This is the project in the space that really I had, the best way to describe it is kind of like an artistic conversion experience in this particular space. The building in the upper left hand image is Eastern State Penitentiary. It is now Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, but was built as a penitentiary and the building that is architecture is significant and being the first hub and spoke design in architecture and modern architecture and, being the first penal institution referred to as a penitentiary as all of the prisoners were kept in complete isolation. Had its inception. Which lasted for about. 10 years. The, my journey to And to, to my practice changing. Really is as simple as following the directions on the request for proposal. They had a very detailed and very thoughtful request for proposal and have never having done work like this before. Always having thought of my work within gallery and museum spaces. This was a completely different, ball game. The RFP described what it was that they wanted the artwork to do. They wanted it to engage the history of the prison, which mean I'm just gonna have to read and I was gonna have to learn a lot about the history of this place. The RNP wanted you to engage the architecture of the prison again. I'm gonna have to do a lot of research and understanding the architecture of the prison. If I'm going to answer that question. The RFP wanted it to engage with the visiting public that was, at that space throughout the year. And that included children primary, I would say primarily like school groups and and tourists that were visiting the city of Philadelphia. This being just a few blocks away from the museum. It was the first time I'd ever done a project where I wasn't in a white cube. And the locates or the focus of the content of the work wasn't something that was intended to be a generation of my internal. Life and emotional self and perspective on the world. It was intended to be a translation of the history. Architecture and function of this very, very unique space. And I was fortunate to to get to. Do it and it completely changed my perspective on artwork. I've put a few of these little. Axioms, aphorisms, whatever. These are made up by me throughout the talk, but that project I think in retrospect it. Taught me that art can provide a focal point. For forming emotional cognitive and somatic connected tissue between people in the environments they interact with. I could not have articulated it in this way at that time by a long shot, but in retrospect, you have the emotional life, what people are feeling, you have the cognitive, what people are thinking, and you have this. Somatic what their bodies are doing. And those things respond to objects in the environment. In, in ways that, Okay. Instinctual, I think, in certain respects. And that What I noticed about the space and the people was that they were granted new perspectives on the space and new understandings of what it was. And that the artwork was acting as a kind of connective tissue, the metaphor in my head often times is that of the space. Architecture, landscape, so on and so forth. That's the bone. The human being as the muscle and the artwork is that thing that puts those together. Apart from one another, they are mechanically in there, they can do nothing. But once they're joined together, the person in the place which is really where place making happens I think. Then you have the ability to. Witness articulation and for work to happen. A year later, I I saw another call for proposals in Philadelphia. It was for a new ministry that was forming called Broad Street Ministry. Which is to be located in the Chambers Wiley Memorial Presbyterian Church. If you're familiar with Philly, this is church with the big red doors on and center city on Broad Street across from the Kimmel Center and next door to the University of the Arts, location there. And the the description and the call for proposals was that They were turning this. This space into community dining room for the housing. Disadvantaged and the economically disadvantaged. That live in that particular area or that region of center city but they wanted to do so as the founder called it with this type of radical hospitality. And they needed to temper in certain ways. They needed to transform this cathedral like space into a more inviting space. And you know, we're talking about 150 or 130 year old neo gothic. Architecture that's designed for power in a certain sense. And so Went to work trying to think about that sense of hospitality and what would make a place like this a bit more inviting what would enhance and complement the architecture. While not competing with or obscuring the architecture. And what would make this into a place where Those that may not have always had or felt the most, you know, found this type of architecture the most inviting architecture would find it. More inviting. These images as you can see are of the work after it's done and really as it's being deployed. Doing what it's supposed to do. I want to acknowledge the contribution of Alice and Dilworth. The artist to sort of I think completed the work with these paper cranes that create this screen cloud of flying creature. Above your head, amongst the windmills, and her. Wisdom and insight in having the participants within Barrow Broad Street Ministry, write petitions and prayers on those pieces of paper and fold them themselves so that then when they enter the space they know and maybe can identify but they know that their bird and their prayer is up there flying amongst the windows. In the space. It's a very powerful project. For me and I think one of the concrete takeaways was the way that our can facilitate novel and creative activation space. It can do something in a space that would be difficult to do without it. I think of, like human solubility. It can. It has the ability to be transformative this image is a piece that we did for, local art and fashion, nonprofit and Was it low budget way of turning the street into a set for for a runway show? Just a few months after the completion of that windmill piece, the, news release was sent out from Bentville, Arkansas. And, announcing that Alice Walton, heir of the Walmart Fortune had announced the creation of a new Museum of American Art. And, that she was, going to be, acquiring the work for the museum and that she was buying and looking aggressively for seminal works of American art. And during this the intervening years, the years after doing that work, I also was reading about the the some of the first scholarship coming out, analyzing the effect of the Guggenheim build out and its presence at Guggenheim and build out Spain and the way that it was, transforming. The kind of down its luck port city into a cultural destination of Europe. And with these 2 things side by side, I began to, I was just curious about it and began to pay close attention. To what was going on there. And, It took about Hi. 8 years of thinking and looking and visiting and so on and so forth. In 2012. My wife and my youngest, our oldest, our only child at the time. Move to Arkansas, into Bentonville in large part just because just out of curiosity on my part in the prediction that if The bill bow effect is happening and that there are very few opportunities to be in on like in the primordial soup of an art ecology. Before it's fully formed, which is the experience in most of the places that I've been. I go, I figure out what, you know, what shape it takes and figure out where I fit it. And this is a place where it's really germinating and in real time, which is fascinating. Cornerstone institution of that. What really amounts to a creative place making? Initiative focused on the entire region. The, my own work continued to have opportunities here in Northwest Arkansas and In this case, Really learning in many cases. Through making mistakes, how to work more effectively with private real estate developers. And, as the case with both of these works work titled the 3 feathers on their right and divine on the left in the vine on the right. 3 feathers using, an extant pole on the site that. The developers were hoping to turn into a sign or something of that sort and creating somewhat of you know an icon marking the place and a Beacon that helps you find the place. With a fairly simple gesture. And then on the right, an acknowledgement of the, water, the sort of the importance of water at the eighth street market. And the Benville Culinary Center. Which is located here. I'm projecting using the sunlight to project. Google Map images of area waterways onto the sidewalk so that the ambulating around the space at certain times of the day and the year. You might follow the path of a river as you walk around. In 2020 I joined the team at Verd Studio at the invitation of Jessica Hester, our founder and CEO and it's been, the invitation of Jessica Hester, our founder and CEO and it's been it was an interesting ride starting in 2,020 as you might imagine. But. A lot of my. Recent time has been spent trying to figure out how. And create a place making principles fit within the context of the business of architecture. As well as the larger context that our architecture represents. One of the things that it's allowed me to do is to, creatively. Explore and continue learning. About these things and an opportunity that came up. Exactly a year ago was applying to a UI grant program called Art in Place. Connecting artists and real estate the goal of which largely was to is to forge stronger relationships and and facilitate better understanding between private real estate developers. And artists because that sometimes can be the point of. Good fracture in the process is artist not. Understanding. As well in tension as the artist and the real estate developer in certain cases may be. Them not understanding how the other is functioning and making the concessions that are required for them to work together. And trying to I suppose do that more often. One of my observations is that there's a there are a lot of artists who still I think operate within that white cube. Mindset and their relationship to The idea of real estate development is really framed by a marketplace mentality or a transactional mentality. That real estate developer or real estate development is a customer. And, you know, I will make what I like and I will hope that they want to buy it. And the The key, and I think a kind of key. Shift in the thinking of the artist has to take place. When coming into those, contexts that involve public states. To rethink the relationship to the work of art. Kind of expanded out of here that shifts focus toward the space and the people associated with the space as the drivers of the form and content of the work, not simply the internal life of the artist. And that the artist has to think of. The art itself as a bridge builder and as a translator for this space. Not in a transactional. Sense. And, so to conclude, you're catching me, you know, right at this moment. I think that this project and the work on the art place project. I failed to mention that the cohorts as you can see around here there are 9 different cohorts that are, ULI district councils from. All around the globe doing different types of work and the Art and Place program, is built around. It's at its core, I think, or convenings between real estate developers and artists. Bringing people together to converse over these things. And so the imager you see here are a variety of these. Convenience that we've executed here in Northwest Arkansas. We've engaged with about 75 people, individuals, whether they be artists or real estate developers, over the course of the last several months and, looking forward to. Continuing those engagements. Those are the end of my formal remarks and I'm gonna pass up a time to Sharon Yusasky. Thanks for having. Thanks, Dayton. Love these quotes throughout the presentation. Very inspiring and applicable to what I'll be speaking about. Let me share my screen. Great. Alright, well thanks, Dayton, Marshall, and great sharing this space with you. I'm Cherni Sowski, CEO of the Mortimer. Mini Levitt Foundation. And we're a national creative place making funder. We fund free concerts in public spaces and today I'll be sharing how pre concerts can reinvigorate. Public spaces and ultimately create places. That people love. This is what our Levit program looks like in action. We're all about creating places where everyone is welcome, where people of all ages of all backgrounds can come together for a shared experience. Building community through music. And with that, I'll show you our mission statement in action. All my love of burden by the dream Your I hope that video confused you with some joy this afternoon this morning, depending on where you are. That's really what Levit does. It brings people joy. It brings people together and it reinvigorate public spaces through music. This is the map of the 2023 11 network. We are in 40 plus mountain cities in 31 states across the country. You'll see 2 icons there. The first is the arches. It's across the country. You'll see 2 icons there. The first is the arches. Those are permanent levit venues in major metro areas. Private partnership because they dedicated friends of edit nonprofit that produces. 40 to 53 concerts every year at their venue and then partners with community throughout the year to activate the state. So, what is an ongoing community destination? The pink dots are our levit. We have concert sites. Those are in small to mid-sized concert sites. Those are in small to mid-sized towns and cities. And those concert series, it's time concert series as opposed to the 40 to 50, because it is a smaller town. And if there is a nonprofit there that receives funds from the Levit Foundation to reduce the concert. Series and those nonprofits range from downtown organizations to affordable housing organizations, education institutions as well as ours nonprofit. And it's great to see that nonprofits across sectors bring concerts to light them public spaces to the leather program as a way to advance. Their mission in community and to be more connected to their. And what we see throughout the country, whether it's in rural Alaska, Appalachia, major metro areas like Los Angeles, Appalachia, major metro areas like Los Angeles, in Denver. There is a dynamic impact of, major metro areas like Los Angeles, in Denver. There is a dynamic impact of reinvigorating public spaces through music and ultimately Yeah, that's different. So our work is at the intersection of music and public space. The power of music music is the universal language. If I'm sure all of you know, music is one of the greatest ways that we can connect with one another. Greatest ways that we can hear one another and understanding each other through the rhythms. The harmonies, the movement of music through music, we can broaden our perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of one another and celebrate our shared humanity. And then the power of public space at their best, public spaces are where communities come together, their platforms for civic engagement for social dialogue where Neighborors can meet where strangers can easily interact together and public spaces or people can feel a sense of belonging and more connected to their communities. And when public spaces are activated through the lens of equity, do the lens of inclusivity, they really are platforms and can be a powerful equalizer for, for our communities. So building upon what Dayton was saying of creative placemaking and framing creative place making, I really loved that idea of emotional and cognitive and connective tissue and that could create a placement. It is a realization of the 3 aspects of feeling, thinking, and doing and creative place making is a community driven process that situates arts and culture at the center of broader community vitality strategies. And while building upon a community's existing assets and through community engaged design and community engaged activation, creative placemaking connects people to one another. And connects people to place. And you can think about creative place making as a collective reimagination of a place. And I think these are great visual examples of that where you have a bus stop that is now an interactive sculpture or a highway underpass that is now a pseudo garden or people coming together to re envision or to create a new vision for a wall in their community through mural making or activating an alley creating beauty in an alley space. So it's really a collective imagination that brings people together. And connects people to place as well. And to refer back to the Ventura, which I loved, it's really, you know, it's messy vitality and that it isn't this uniform. And that you're really bringing different perspectives together to create vibrancy in a place. So the desired outcomes are to increase economic vitality of a community, foster foster greater livability and vibrancy as well as build a community social capital and civic connection. Those are the desired outcomes of creative placemaking programs. So many Levitt venues, you saw that beautiful video and some of the pictures. Of Levitt program in action but our spaces are concert sites and our venues where they're located started like this they were barren underused under activated public spaces and then brought to life. Through the program of free concerts in public spaces. I'll point out some Hallmark characteristics of the Levitt program that is conducive to building social capital, social capital, social connectivity in these places and that all the concerts are free. So there's no cost barrier to participation. The music lineups are curated through the lens of inclusivity. So there's a multiple genres, multiple cultural performances throughout any given concert series that are reflective. Of the community. And they're all high caliber entertainment. So in addition to creating that arts experience, it's a high caliber arts experience and giving people the opportunity to discover perhaps artists, music genres, they that they otherwise wouldn't discover on their own. It's all family friendly programming, so all ages are welcome at Levitt venues and it's community driven. So the Levitt Foundation is does not say here are your artists, here's who you need to book. Our framework is that it needs to be multiple genres, multiple artists reflected of the community. But it's really community driven and the lawn is also activated in a community driven way and that the lawn is reflective of the community. In terms of its activation as well as as well as the stage. And you'll see here the key characteristic is that open lawn setting. There's no permanent seating on any levit venue. People can bring their lawn chairs, their lawn blankets, and they can have what we call a 300, and 60 experience so they can connect with the people to the front of them, to the back of them, to the side of them, and really connect with their neighbors. And and feel a sense of connection, a sense of belonging in their community through that open lawn setting. So as I mentioned, the stage and the curation of the music lineup is key to being inclusive with community, but it's really about the lawn activation that creates a sense of place and a sense of belonging. And that the lawn is activated through the lens of shared prosperity. In terms of helping local businesses, local vendors be part of the law and introduce their offerings in the community and also through the lens of advancing, ecosystems and that there's other nonprofits on the lawn sharing their operands and their resources. So people can understand the assets within their community and then ultimately by having that experience where you're connecting with others and you're engaging with other resources and offerings and assets in your community, that amplifies a sense of pride. And deepened sense of belonging. And that lends itself to creating more equitable, healthy, and thriving communities. So one of the things the Levitt Foundation has been admitted to is research and that you saw the pictures of joy and people connecting and the nonprofits and vendors being featured on the lawn but what we really wanted to understand is even though we see that different socioeconomic groups, people of different races, ethnicity, age groups are coming to the coming to the venues coming to the concerts and we see that there's these offerings being presented and highlighted on the lawns, we wanted to understand what does that mean in terms of social connectivity. Are people coming to the concerts and maybe just staying in their own groups or are they really reaching across boundaries and connecting with neighbors or those who pass they wouldn't cross otherwise. And what we have found through working with third party independent researchers using our concert sites and venues is case studies is that that open lawn setting creates an environment of social friction. So when you have an an art activity that people participate in in a setting that in a setting that's designed in a way that people can connect with one another that creates social friction. And that's an environment that fosters connection and interaction across groups. And when you have social friction, you can create social bonding and social bridging. So social bonding is strengthening. Strengthening ties within existing groups. So that would be friends, family, people who share light characteristics like gender or race. Social bridging. Is points of connection and understanding and exchange across demographic groups. Across social groups. And that of course is key to strengthening the social fabric of a community and fostering connections. When you have an environment that's conducive to social bridging. And when you have social bridging and social bonding, you then build social capital. And why is it important to build social capital? Why is it important to spend resources and energy in buildings and programs that build social capital. Because when you have higher levels of trust in your community and that equals greater social cohesion, and that equals greater social cohesion, increased public safety. And that equals greater social cohesion, increased public safety, better health outcomes. And this is greater social cohesion, increased public safety, better health, increased public safety, better health outcomes. And this is specifically, better health outcomes. And this is specifically relevant in today's environment, heating the surgeon general's recent warning of loneliness and this is specifically relevant in today's environment, heating, better health outcomes. And this is specifically relevant in today's environment, heating the surgeon general's recent warning of loneliness and social isolation are having grave consequences on our individual mental health and physical health and our overall collective well-being. It's important to have programs where people can connect with one another and opportunities where people can have a sense of community attachment and and foster a sense of belonging in community and that will lend itself to overall better health outcomes in our communities and as well as greater economic stability and vitality when you have higher levels of social capital. Higher levels of social capital also equal greater community attachment. And I know we're all designing our communities through that lens of how can we create places where people feel they belong and where they want to stay, work, live, and play and also higher levels of social capital equals greater resiliency within our communities and as we know there's several several incidents that are happening across our country and in the world today that are really challenging communities. And the connections they have with one another. When you have higher social capital, you have greater resiliency, which is key to just navigating our world today as communities. And so the Left Foundation, we see ourselves as a catalytic funder that spark in terms of investing in public space through music that can then have a dynamic ripple effect. In the community. Here's an example in rural Appalachia. This is Middlesbrough, Kentucky. This was a lot in their downtown area. They applied for a Levitt Grant in 2,015. This is what that downtown lot looks like in the summertime today. This since, 2,015, it's used for concerts as well as for other community activities. And what we've seen is this ripple effect now that there's foot traffic and people that behavior patterns of the community has changed by going down. Frequently we now see more restaurants, more stores locally owned in that downtown area and there's truly a pride of place. As a result of this program. And this program is credited to be that Spark, that catalyst for the reimagination of downtown Middlesbrough. Then we have Arlington, Texas, which is part of the Dallas Fort Worth Metro area, city of 400,000 people. Didn't really have a downtown identity of its own. It was in the shadow of the Cowboys. And people would go to you know, Dallas or Fort works for their entertainment, city leadership and community. Leadership said we really need something of our own for our community here in Arlington. And Levitt Pillion, Arlington was built in 28, 2,008 and really sparked remigration of Dell revitalization of downtown Arlington. There are now nearly a dozen restaurants within walking distance of the pavilion as well as local residents, public art, and now this area that was once dormant and I should know that those restaurants, those shops are all locally owned. So it's really a celebration of those who live there and what they offer the community. And now in the center of downtown Arlington has been a designated cultural district by the state of Texas. So what was once dormant is now a vibrant arts destination for the community. Thank you. So we see the dynamic impact of, excuse me, reinvigorating public spaces to music and that ripple effect for both economic vitality and building social capital. So with that I'll close where we view these programs as yes arts access, but they're also part of being a chain of change. And that when you look at how you're activating public spaces holistically in partnership with other nonprofits across sectors, with government agencies, you can identify shared goals and shared priorities and you can think about activating that place, that space in partnership with others to create a chain of change in your community. To elevate the overall well-being of a community. And we've seen this in Levitt communities across the country from small towns to major metro areas. It's important to remember that there is no single isolated investment in a community whether a place making project or other intervention that can on its own reverse or confront historic inequities, but this can play a role. In advancing priority shared priorities to create a better up more opportunities for people as well as to advance ecosystem. And when you're creating places where people feel they belong. Where the overall wellbeing is being elevated and people feel that they are working together, you create community attachment. And when you have community attachment and people feel a sense of belonging and connection to each other. And connection to place. You also create places that people love. So with that, I will close. I will pass that over past the baton to Marsha and I think we'll have a conversation with all of you now. Thank you. Hmm. Thank you. Sharon. Thank you both to, Dayton and Sharon for those. Amazing presentations and for brightening up our day or this morning with both some really visually stunning images of what art can do. A place. I think everyone can relate to the idea that art and music connects people on a personal level, but it's usually experience when we're visiting a museum as you noted at the start of your presentation date and or attending a music event at a huge concert venue. So it's often less talked about as a way to bring entire communities together through projects. Involving public art and and free outdoor concerts. I think when it comes to urban planning and and architecture. Creative place making is unfortunately often. Tad's on at the very end, sort of like it has an afterthought. And so I was wondering if we could talk a little bit about how to involve creative kind of the earlier stages of planning maybe for those. Those bigger urban spaces that are going through major revitalization. And I imagine that's something that is easier said than done when it's with Vernon Studio, with their, with their in-house director of creative placemaking. But, Dave, if you can kind of shed some light on how other projects can start to involve the creatives a little earlier in the process and and not And it's like on at the end of it. Question to ask. Okay. Happy to. I'll give 2 examples, both of which, are coming out of the art in place program, which is the sort of the laboratory for exploring those ideas. And that is one of the fundamental thrust to the program is to figure out how to get them involved earlier. The one example I'll give and it also shows I think that that can happen. In qualitatively different ways. For one, the, we recently as in a joint cohort, zoom call heard from the, in place cohort in Hong Kong. And one of the ways that they have involved artists at earlier points in the project If I'm understanding it correctly and forgive me if I'm misrepresenting this but they initially had an artist working on a public participation. Art project. That Morning, anything else it was kind of announcing the future of this particular development. So at those earlier stages, massaging the community and, and inviting them into a creative space in a participatory space. Prior to the the actual development and I'm not aware of how that will proceed into the integration of art within the development. Itself. But I thought that was a good example of this earlier engagement, my good friend of mine, and great curator, Lucas Cowan. Once drew my attention to the construction fence you know maybe that that that's a potential early part of an artist's participation in that process. And, and then with Art in place here in Northwest Arkansas. We're experimenting with this process of bringing artists to the table during the pre design. Process of real estate development. Predesign is the oftentimes not the most creative part of it of the process, but it's where You are both understanding what what is a site need to do? What are the goals for what the site will do? And then based on codes and the zoning and all of the legal trappings of being a part of a city. What how much do you need to build? How can you build how close to the street can be all of those nuts and bolts that go into site planning that Unless they're addressed and addressed well, there will be no place for. Are becoming a part of the vitality of that space. And so essentially we have artists in the same room and the artists are being taught in part. You can't just go crazy. You have to obey the law, the laws of architecture, the laws of urban planning. The laws of. Of site planning, so on and so forth. First and you have to understand that when real estate development is happening, if you want to participate in it, you have to understand your part of a much larger Complicated whole. I can't give you the results of that process just yet because we're right in the middle of it at the moment, but that's another way that the artist interest at the table they're chiming in on space configuration. They're chiming in on space configuration. They're chiming in on site planning. And I think that, their unique and unprofessional in a certain sense, but creative perspectives. Pepper and they, season. The project in an interesting way. Right. Yeah, it's about understanding. For having a vision for the end product. Being more than just concrete. Spaces or even parts states and landscapes, but What is the community look like afterwards? Are they gonna be engaging more or are they gonna be, you know? Not too inclined to stop and talk with each other because there's nothing to talk about now there. And so I think you know, when it comes to. The music concerts, I think that's an interesting kind of twist on on how to bring a community together. Sharon, can you talk a little bit more about the grant process and and how you are involved, how you choose a location. And what the funding that the Levitt Foundation provides. Does in terms of ensuring that the the space that has been underused stays activated even past the the concert stage. Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And then I'll just, I'll build upon the last question and that when we look to develop our Levitt venues. We are very much thinking about it from the very first, you know, pencil to paper. How is this site being designed in a way that's conducive to human connection. What does that mean in terms of placement, even for the restrooms? Are the restrooms being placed in a way that people can easily stand in line and connect with one another and observe space together. Are the, you know, what are the entry and exit points in a way? How are they inviting? How are they welcoming? What are the subtle aesthetics throughout the the space that are reflective of all the different cultures that comprise that community. So that design aspect from the very beginning is key in terms of how are you creating a welcoming space that signals. People are welcome here through aesthetics through design choices, but also how is it designed in a way that people can stand, you know, in lines together, connect with each other, bundle together, dance with one another in a way that's conducive to that connectivity. So if we if we aren't thinking about that in the very beginning we end up with a big block of a stage where people are disconnected from one another during that audience experience. So wanted to share that as well in terms of that the the thought from the gecko that needs to go into design in terms of. Aesthetics and human connectivity. In regards to our grant program, I would love to invite everyone to go to levitt. Org and you can view our grant opportunities there. We are not currently in an open grant cycle, but we are always open to conversation and learning about communities and seeing what partnerships might be possible in terms of reinvigorating public spaces through through music. But when we look at specific locations in communities, whether that's a small town or a major metro area. It's really about looking at a site. That is easily accessible. To a range of socioeconomic groups and couldn't necessarily be claimed by any one group. In that it's really about bringing people together of different backgrounds from different communities to strengthen social connections and build that social capital. So it's really about accessibility. Can people get there? Is it easy for people to get to. Is it a place where people can feel welcome? Are there historical situations that make people feel unwelcome there because maybe you know we have we have spaces in our network where at 1 point they were segregated spaces and you know if you were black you weren't invited to be there and so it's like how is that history being acknowledged how is that history you know being spoken about and not wiped under the carpet so that people know that it's acknowledged and can feel a sense of belonging now. And that's through design, that's through music activation, that's through community engagement, informing that process. So we look for spots where people ultimately can feel welcome and feel a deeper connection to the community. We also look for sites that in areas that aren't on the trajectory to gentrification because we want to ensure that our sites, you know, oftentimes when people think of arts, when they think it creative place making, they think, oh, now at the neighborhoods changing and people who were there before, people who've been there for generations are going to be displaced. So we're very intentional and thoughtful and looking at the trajectory of the neighborhood at that time and thinking, okay, will this investment feed into a gentrification trajectory or will it instead be authentic to the principles of creative place making which are building upon existing assets and being community driven and being realized. Through community driven vision. And so those are the key things we look for. It's really accessibility and ensuring that the space once activated will thrive. In a way that celebrates community and strengthens ties to community. Our. Right. And you said that the. I'm sorry, you said that the, the, the, the, that's closed right now, but do you know, am I good when it will be open again? It is. It is close right now, but, it will likely open, either end of 2024. Or early, 2,025 because we do multi-year grants. So once we commit to a community, we are there for multiple years. I see. The other thing too is the venue program is a public private partnership. That is not an application process. That is a conversation. And so most levy venues, they are a long-term conversation because they are They involve government, they involve community driven groups. So It can take anywhere from 4 to 8 years from first conversation to an opening of a 11 venue. So those those 10 to be in major metro areas. We look at them as community venues first, music venues, second. So the music activates the space, but we really are looking for sites that can be activated beyond the music for other community. So if there is someone listening who's in a city who feels like we've got this great park that's underused, feels like we've got this great park that's underused, that's easily accessible, and we we think we can inspire government to invest, it's easily accessible, and we we think we can inspire government to invest resources and there can be private support as well. And we we think we can inspire government to invest resources and there can be private support as well. Reach out to me. Sharon at levitt. Org. We are always talking to communities across the country and exploring the possibility of partnerships. That's fantastic. Well, we're approaching our 1 h mark and I know that, you know, we're like scheduled to go. Till the end of the hour but If you and Dayton are still available for some questions that have come in, I'd love to be able to talk to you about those. For those of you who are joining us and have to leave, do know that this is a recorded webinar. So if you do have to leave, you can always catch up with us. Afterwards when we post the recording on the website. So just a couple of questions to, to touch on. Stephanie Bathwell would like to know what we can build into our design that fosters more creative place making. More flexibility, more variety of form or is it just about lawns and trees? I think that's a question that both of you, if you. Have an answer to that, that would be. Interesting. Getting into the details on it. Our approach to a pilot project that we're working on has been to form a a working group or a steering, a smaller steering group of artists. And other professionals. With a mind toward thinking of space and architecture. As locations for. Projects that then allow the plugging in of a larger, community, larger voices from, again, kind of coming at it from the artist side there. The Identification of the you and deliberate identification of where can, as we're doing this. Where the opportunities that we can with It's a mindfulness. Card out that then. Create those, that fertile soil for artists. To embellish intervene and transform. I'm gonna see, Sharon, if you have a response to that or I'd like to have another question. Yeah, I would say, and of course I'm looking at it through the lens of our program, but thinking about how you can create places that are in a way blank canvases. In that it can be activated. In many different ways. So at our venues we have our hospitality areas. Are off to the sites. They have electrical, they have platforms, but they're very flexible spaces. So whether it's, you know, a group representing this culture or a group from the school or whatever that might be, everyone can feel that they can activate it and make it their own. In a way and to represent who they are and what they're about and how that connects to the community at large. So if you over design, you run the risk of not being flexible and inclusive. So how can you create spaces beyond trees? How can you create spaces and think about this in the design space and based on this in the design space and based on your the footprint you're designing on grass, how can you create spaces and think about this in the design space and based on your the footprint you're designing so that it can be flexible and there's opportunities for engagement across groups. Because again, if you over design, then you're locking yourself into one type of activation. Good point. And then I can grow with time too. So something that. Might be of interest to the community for one generation, maybe the next generation. Has a different point of view and it can easily shift to accommodate that. As well. Question again for both of you if you could. Where do you see local governments fitting in with invigorating spaces within art in music. I think I think working. On government projects can be extremely challenging. In terms of, you know, the different restrictions or budgets that occur within different communities. I know that in in Rhode Island where I used to work. A lot of our projects for public buildings. Had to include a percentage towards a public art installation. So that was kind of built in to the process. But is there another way where we can have local governments, you know, more involved in making sure that there's art involved in these projects. I think I'll I'll share our experience in that our venue projects are public private partnerships. So part of why it takes 4 to 8 years to realize a venue is because we are working our way through government, you know, through city departments, government agencies in terms of how are we all going to work. Together to activate the space because it does require public resources in addition to private support. And what I have found is it's really important that education piece of why this matters and how activating a space through music or through visual arts. How that helps meet their objectives in terms of public safety. In terms of space management. In terms of activation and access points within their own communities and when when you go through that process of education of how ultimately it will save them they will allocate resources but there will be money saved in the long run and the goals of creating places where people want to stay, work, live, play, and feel connected to one another. These sorts of programs accomplish those goals. So I think it goes again back to the what are our shared priorities. And how can we work together to realize our shared priorities. Those conversations take time, take patience, and when you're, especially with us, when we've identified a site, it inevitably sits within one council members district. And so you have to navigate. Priorities of resource allocation of one district over another, but then if you can share, if you can educate on that collective well-being, that will result of that. We make headway, but it does take time. It takes education. It takes listening. So that you can all come together on your shared priorities. And then ultimately What we see is that then there is a deeper understanding of how the arts will advance so shared priorities, but it takes time. Hey, next, any words, advice for. Yeah. Yeah. Well said and I think I've actually really enjoyed Sharon's remarks and presentation because of how Well, the research arm of Levit obviously is put a lot of time and effort into understanding how to articulate to municipalities. And stakeholders what that return on investment is you know she highlights public safety space management I know public health is one that she's spoken about and so that the ROI concern because the municipality has responsibility to its citizens and to the use of its resources. Has responsibility to its citizens and to the use of its resources. And it's constantly in a position of having to its citizens and to the use of its resources. And it's constantly in a position of having to justify the expenditure of those resources And so then they run into a problem which is similar to what I've. Encountered with a lot of real estate developers which is The public art in your development does not. Do anything but add weight to your pro. You know, they're trying to sell this project to a bank. And so there's some. Justifiable and legitimate concerns about you know they want to they want some data they want some evidence they want to know where is this how can I demonstrate and understand that return? On investment privately. And Again, I think. Making that case and I'm really just happy to. To discover. The work that Levitt's done on that and the articulation of their case for it. Do through the pilot projects is to begin to not just do these projects, but, recorded document. Some of the data and evidence related to. Those returns on investment, whether it's a city or private entity. Yeah. Yeah, I think particularly when you talk about the economic benefits that that tends to be something that kind of, you know, peaks the interest of government is that this is you know, not just for your citizens public health and for the well-being of everyone who lives there and allocating resources properly. But hopefully we're bringing more people to the area and can really, you know, get people out side and get them to be more engaged in their community and invest in their community by you know visiting their shops and and other local venues. Hmm. Yeah. Marshall also add in response to the the 1% program that we've seen in many cities across the country that a developer, you know, whatever the price tag of the project is, has to donate 1% of that to public art, which sometimes can be literally a painting in a lobby. Hmm. But what we're seeing more and we're seeing more of and would like to see more and more of is that that 1% can be also for space activation through the arts. So not just a mural, not just a painting in a lobby, but those dollars can then be allocated towards programs. Arts programs that are happening in public spaces. So if you're listening and you're with government, start advocating for that because that is a real benefit to the community when space is activated in a way that people can come together. And if that 1% can help fuel those programs, then that's a win-win for everybody. That's an excellent point, Sharon. I was on. On the review committee in Rhode Island when they were looking for a a public art piece for a soon-to-be coming research building. And I remember seeing some of the proposals that came in it would be you know, really beautiful. Art installation that that would be a painting or you know something that was a little bit more of the personal experience and it would be a community experience. And so the ones that really did jump out, I remember, were those projects where we saw that it's, it's a permanent permanent installation. It's not going anywhere, mainly because it's outside and it's large and it's, something. B that not only fits in with the outside with its environment, but also causes people that talk about it. So, you know, maybe it's not something that. Yes, initially visually appealing, but gets people to talk about it or to talk about. You know, just to be able to connect with one another. And so Right. An example of the way that visual art also can create those moments of social friction. Although while Sharon was speaking, I was acknowledging in my head that I think it happens and maybe smaller. Right. More intimate, you know, groups of people that it would add a larger concert, but But right on that idea and one of the concrete functions. Right. Well, thank you both for this really invigorating conversation. I think the work that both of you are doing is fantastic. I hope we see more of it. And so if you could also make sure that we have your information so people can contact you. We don't have any other questions that have come in but. We can certainly make sure that your, reachable by folks who wanna. Talk to you separately. Thank you for inviting. Okay. Yeah. Yes, thank you for the invitation and David is so excited. Exciting to hear about your work. You too. I took notes during your presentation as well. Loved it. Loved it. All right. Yep. 2. Well, thanks everyone. Hope to hope to connect in the future. Thanks. Thank you. Thank everyone. We'll see you next time on the part niche. Bye