New Formula: Arts philanthropy goes grassroots

Since 2010... two distinct arts funding initiatives have marched off the federal and private-sector collaborative fields: respectively Our Town and ArtPlaceAmerica. These exemplify the latest linguistic leaps in turning “creative” into a verb: “creative placemaking.”

Just as at the beginning of any new movement, much effort goes to understanding beyond the slogans and into the meaning.

In a June blog post, “Postcard from the Future of the City,” NEA Senior Deputy Director Joan Shigekawa reported on a global city symposium in Chicago.

Shigekawa culled out points made by the keynote speaker, UK researcher John Holden. Holden critiqued American cultural policy as being myopic and offered that the view needed expansion into “three spheres where culture happens”: the funded, the commercial and the “homemade.”