A nonprofit placemaking organization is bringing events, parks, public art and more to downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas, one playful experiment at a time.
Something as small as public art can help transform the public’s perception of a troubled neighborhood park. It’s a testament to the power of bottom-up, incremental change.
A pop-up music venue is making a big impact in Akron, Ohio.
What can signmaking’s past and present tell us about our cities’ futures?
As new residents move in, will the arts be pushed out?
Hurdles to revitalization based not on substance but control are the last thing America's cities and towns need.
This Public Art Week, we discussed big questions about the value and role of public art in our towns. Here's what got the most reads this week.
Is public art doomed to only be invited and placed in locations that are lacking and empty—a band-aid to cover up our cities' design failures?
This park has served its purpose and now it's time to move on to the next phase of its life: as a mixed-use development that will support local businesses and bring more people downtown—to stay.
For one day in June, hundreds of artists, dozens of venues and tens of thousands of residents take part in a free, all-night art festival in the Twin Cities. Here's the story of Northern Spark.
A unique program in Cook County, MN gives local organizations and businesses grants of up to just $1,000 to take on small projects that improve their town. And it's making a big impact.
Art that invites interaction and play can help us build more social and active towns.
A "museum without walls" draws visitors and residents to Asheville's downtown, providing an opportunity to learn about the city's history and culture, as well as encouraging patronage at local businesses.
We challenge you to use public art to encourage positive, concrete change in your town.
How can towns support artists in a way that benefits the community as a whole? Several unique art spaces and programs offer examples of this across the country.
Muralist and community advocate, Pasqualina Azzarello, discusses her experience creating murals across the country and working with neighborhoods to use art for social change.
We’ve become so used to decline in our cities. Buildings are demolished and lots sit open. We walk by and, at most, we call it a shame. We don’t stop to look.
Public art invites us to ask questions and imagine new possibilities.
Just as we at Strong Towns do not have a formula or solution for productive growth, but rather an approach to development, I believe that effective art is more about process, than project.
Thomasville, GA took full advantage of a pivotal community moment to ask what its residents wanted and build on their ideas, strengthening its arts and local economy as a result.