At IfYouWereMayor.com we are curious how cities throughout the world work to create and cultivate livability for all residents, and how these strategies might translate to the cities where we live. Our own research suggests the right balance rests in five basic tenets: transportation, education, economic opportunities, housing & neighborhoods, and arts & culture. In Charleston, South Carolina, Arts & Culture often vies for attention with other issues, like the need for a spectrum of transportation choices and better education opportunities ranging from pre-school to re-training of older workers.
ArtPlace America, a ten-year collaboration among large foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions, is intent upon positioning “arts and culture as a core section of comprehensive community planning and development in order to help strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric of communities.” Inspired by Jane Jacobs, author of the seminal 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the organization wants to see locally informed, human centric, and holistic community development. This is precisely the aim of ArtUP: The Enough Pie Prize – a competition for grants, up to $1000 each, to realize up to 2 ideas for arts and culture in Charleston Upper Peninsula (UP). More information on how to enter is available here.
ArtPlace recently announced the twenty-one finalists for its Community Development Investments program. According to an article in the online magazine Next City (here), six winners will share this year’s grant pool of $18M and benefit from advice on everything from placemaking to finances. Part of the evaluation for the winners will include how well the initiative represents a broad range of stakeholders in a spectrum of sectors. Ultimately, ArtPlace wants to demonstrate the unique value that arts & culture can bring across this entire matrix, including every stakeholder in objectives across all sectors.
The commitments and partnerships of ArtPlace America demonstrate that Arts and Culture is aligned with transportation, housing, education, and economic development to form the nexus of any healthy community. All of these core functions contribute to a community’s overall future and require ongoing community investment. For Charleston, this means that Arts & Culture not only deserve, but must hold a permanent place embedded within the community.
On June 9, the Charleston Regional Arts Alliance, in partnership with IfYouWereMayor.com, will host the Art Matters Mayoral Summit, from 9 am until 11 am at the Woolfe Street Playhouse. Everyone interested in the arts should plan to attend this discussion with the candidates running for Mayor.
The big question probably should be – How do YOU, potential Mayor, intend to assure that arts and culture remain a key sector of Charleston’s future?
