Strengthening Southern communities with the arts

Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit coming to S.C.

As our communities become more diverse, they may also become more divided. Creative placemaking provides ways to build bridges across these differences in hopes of more inclusive, connected, and resilient places.


Join South Arts, the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, and ArtPlace America in Columbia April 16-18, 2019 to explore how arts and cultural programming can bring people closer together!

How can creative placemaking foster public-private partnerships that magnify positive impact in communities? Among the variety of types of partnerships, we would be particularly interested in examples of public/private partnerships that include visionary involvement by mayors or city leadership. This theme encompasses case studies from the region and practical skills that can be applied to build productive alliances.


Scholarships are available

Application deadline: Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019

South ArtsSouth Arts is offering a limited number of scholarships up to $500.00 to organizations within the Southern region to offset registration fees and travel/lodging costs associated with conference attendance. South Arts encourages organizations to send teams of two or more to the conference, including representatives of arts/culture organizations and others (city government, Main Street, community development agencies, higher education, etc.) who may be likely partners in creative placemaking efforts. Awards are limited to one scholarship per organization. Preference will be given to attendees from small and rural communities.

Note: Population of 50,000 or below is one standard definition of rural. For this program, South Arts will use this as a guidepost only; applicants may describe why their community should be considered small or rural.

South Carolinians can apply for these scholarships directly through South Arts.