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| Some of our creative placemakers making a pop-up park during the Better Block Middlesborough event in May 2014. Credit: Rodney Wolfenbarger, Brushy Fork Institute, Berea College. |
Since launching in April 2014 as a pop-up shop, the Market represents nearly three dozen artists, crafters, and food producers. Their work is on display and available for sale. A growing number of classes are being offered to the public every Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon. For more information, please visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MakersMarketKY.
Middlesborough has also earned a national reputation as an innovator in placemaking. Two successful Better Block events in October 2013 and May 2014 engaged hundreds of volunteers over a weekend in efforts to make the downtown a more vibrant and welcoming place. Pop-up shops, a pop-up park, and parklets have all given the downtown a new energy. In October 2014 the vacancy rate in the 40 block downtown area reached its lowest point in over three decades at 7.5%. Over the past year the unemployment rate in Bell County has fallen over 2.6%. In September 2013 Middlesborough won the "Successful Communities Contest" held by the Orton Family Foundation and Community Matters and in May 2014 Middlesborough was named "One to Watch" by the National Main Street Center.
Those wishing to participate in the simulcast should RSVP to downtownmiddlesboro(at)gmail.com. Lunch will be provided to those who register before November 3. Throughout the day we'll have fun and exciting events. We may even break out and make a pallet chair together!
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From Our Partners...
Live Webcast of Placemaking Convening
Focus on Performing Arts Organizations
DC Casineros at DanceAfrica DC 2013. Photo © Enoch Chan. FOR ONLINE ONLY 2 (1).jpg
The DC Casineros perform at DanceAfrica. Photo by Enoch Chan.
October 22, 2014
Washington, DC— The multiplatform convening, Beyond the Building: Performing Arts and Transforming Place, will be live webcast on Monday, November 3, 2014, from 9:00 am-5:00 pm ET. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), with support from ArtPlace America, is hosting this event that examines how performance-based organizations, and the artists they engage, transform places through their artistic practices. To register for the live webcast, go to the NEA's webinar page.
The goal of the event is to create an opportunity for sharing experiences and exchanging key points of view that will benefit creative placemaking practices in the performing arts realm. The onsite participants include 26 representatives from dance, music, theater, and multidisciplinary organizations along with national arts leaders and are listed on the Beyond the Building webpage. The conversation will be facilitated by Barbara Schaffer Bacon, author, teacher, and co-director of Americans for the Arts' Animating Democracy initiative.
As detailed on the day's agenda, snapshot case studies and breakout sessions will punctuate the group discussions. Twitter chats on the convening’s topics will be led by HowlRound's Vijay Mathew at #PerformPlace. The morning's chat at 10:45 will focus on "When is performance placemaking?" while the afternoon chat at 3:15 looks at "What are the opportunities and challenges to performing arts organizations engaging in placemaking strategies?
Participant bios and other resources will be posted on the convening page in the days leading to and during the convening. The webcast will be archived and posted on the NEA webinar page after the event.
For more information on the NEA's creative placemaking work go to the Partnership section of the NEA website.
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