Professor Ann Markusen - Friday Event Lecture - 29 October 2010

Professor Ann Markusen
Creative Placemaking: Artists, Designers, and Arts Organizations as Shapers of Urban Space and Vitality

Friday Event Lecture
at the GFT 11am – 12.45pm
29 October 2010

Professor Ann Markusen has researched the livability and economic development outcomes of many American places at every scale: city, town and hamlet. In her discussion of ‘Creative Placemaking’ Professor Markusen will present research conducted over ten years and two continents, including a major White Paper, Creative Placemaking, to be published by National Endowment for the Arts in October 2010, that includes 15 new case studies of the marriage of art, design and economic development across the US. Her research concludes that partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors can strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighbourhood, town, city or region around arts and cultural activities, resulting in vibrant and stabilised places: findings that are relevant to the architecture, urbanism, design and art communities alike.

Abstract from Professor Ann Markusen:
"In this talk, I begin with human rather than physical capital, with creators such as artists and designers, to make several points about their under-appreciated contributions to cities, places, and regional economies. Using Census data and qualitative methods, I explore the career trajectories of creative workers and underscore the place-based strategies, arts organizations, and dedicated spaces that nurture them. From a scan done this year for the US National Endowment for the Arts, I explore the roles of artists and designers as initiators of and partners in revitalization, showcasing successful cases in large cities and tiny towns, documenting the challenges in building partnerships and assembling resources."

For more information, please visit

http://www.gsaevents.com/annmarkusen