Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.

Arts & Civic Design

Integration of the arts into the built environment.

The arts play a critical role in developing the world around us, particularly in the places where we live, work and play. The arts incorporated into the field of civic design can lead to more equitable places that reflect the people, culture and ideas that are a part of communities. At Americans for the Arts, we define civic design in three broad categories: transportation, land use development, and planning (sometimes called urban planning or community planning). 

The integration of arts in civic design practices and projects has been supported and implemented on the local level for decades. This can be specific programs structured with a regional transit agency, incorporating artists-in-residency programs into municipal planning departments, or utilizing the arts to build community relationships for the implementation of land use projects. 

How Americans for the Arts Works in this Space

Programming

  • The Jorge and Darlene Pérez Prize in Public Art & Civic Design celebrates and highlights the work of individuals who support, develop, and manage the incorporation of art into the design of places and spaces across the United States. The Pérez Prize in Public Art & Civic Design program – which bears the names of internationally recognized philanthropists, Jorge M. Pérez and his wife, Darlene Boytell-Pérez – includes an annual prize that will be awarded on a rotating basis to an artist, public art administrator, or representative from the civic design field.
  • Municipal Artists Partnerships developed in relationship with A Blade of Grass is a “relationship guide” to forging strong and sustainable creative partnerships between local governments and artists. 
  • Webinars hosted in an ongoing basis to highlight equitable practices and community-infused projects at the intersection of arts and civic design. Webinars include Investing in Local Partnerships to Address Community Goals and Artists and Planning Civic Spaces. 

Advocacy

  • Saving Transit Art Resources (STAR Act) has been a focus of our federal advocacy work to address language in Federal Transit Administration legislation that prohibits the use of funding for the arts and non-functional landscape. Check out the Issue Brief or Webinar to learn more. 

Strategic Partnerships

Americans for the Arts builds strategic partnership with national organizations to ensure the arts are incorporated in all parts of American’s lives. Here are a few partnerships and projects that have been developed to support the integration of arts and civic design.

  • Partnered with the Arts & Culture Team with Transportation for America, a program of Smart Growth America to implement a National Endowment for the Arts-funded project to educate communities on how creative placemaking techniques can help address local transportation issues. The program resulted in three local State of the Art Transportation trainings with Mariposa County, CA, Bozeman, MT, and Buffalo, NY and a Do-It-Yourself toolkit for communities who want to incorporate the arts into transportation projects. 
  • Collaborated with the American Planning Association and the Massachusetts Area Planning Council to build a Creative Placemaking KnowledgeBase for planners and develop a creative placemaking strategy for the town of Natick, MA to explore how to incorporate the arts into planning projects. Americans for the Arts lead the evaluation process for the creative placemaking strategy and developed this report.  

Americans Believe in the Power of the Arts in Communities

Learn More About the Social Impact of the Arts

A screenshot of the Americans for the Arts' Social Impact Explorer webpage, which shows a wheel with various colors in a rainbow gradient

Social Impact Explorer