Culture Builds Communities

The D.C. Office of Planning (OP) has awarded a $75,000 “ArtPlace Arts and Culture Temporium” grant to Partners for Livable Communities (Partners) to develop and manage temporiums in underutilized spaces in the Deanwood neighborhood, one of the District’s earliest African American communities.

Under this grant, Partners will develop and manage DeanwoodxDesign, a project that showcases the rich arts, cultural, historical, and green space assets of Deanwood and Ward 7 through a community-wide, intergenerational, and collaborative effort. This project engages artists and a diverse network of Deanwood institutions and stakeholders to cultivate community pride, showcase and create great art, and invigorate the creative economy.

In early 2011, the Jamaica Youth Initiative—a working group of governmental, nonprofit and private institutions in a bustling neighborhood in Southern Queens—convened to discuss an important matter affecting their community: disengaged and idle youth. At the end of every school day, thousands of youth crowd the streets of downtown Jamaica, where after school activities are in demand. Partners for Livable Communities (Partners) views this demand as a rare opportunity to focus positive attention on the assets available to and within this youth population. With support from the Hearst Foundation, Partners  is currently collaborating the Youth Initiative, the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, and the Cultural Development Corporation to develop a framework of goals and recommendations that will expand arts-based after school opportunities. Ultimately, the goal is to provide programming that will enrich the lives of these youth, provide them with meaningful experiences, and assist them in obtaining employment.

Partners for Livable Communities’ 2011 publication, Culture Connects All, was featured in the winter 2012 issue of Preserving Your Memory, a magazine supported by the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. Sam Gaines’ article, Making the Connection, outlines the publication’s key objectives, and its recommendations to arts and cultural organizations pursuing arts programs to reach out to diverse audiences. Funded by MetLife Foundation, Culture Connects All was published in 2011 to showcase cultural institutions using innovative strategies or programs to engage two of America’s fastest- growing populations: older adults and immigrants.

Culture Connects All, a benchmark report by Partners for Livable communities funded by MetLife Foundation, offers new audience-building opportunities for arts and cultural organizations to engage two of America’s fastest growing populations: immigrant and older adult populations. 

The 2010 census confirms what many have observed over the past decade—the population is growing older, and in many areas more diverse.  And this change is happening across the face of the nation. Two rapidly expanding population groups present a timely opportunity for communities and their arts and cultural institutions to rethink and retool their outreach.

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Overview

 

Livability has become the framework for our Congress, our administration, and our federal agencies to invest in the quality of life, economic competitiveness, and recovery of the American community.  

Yet “livability” is a broad term encompassing many values.  Partners for Livable Communities, in association with the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum, hosted a forum that discusses how quality of life, economic development, and social services can be addressed  by engaging the full range of livability values, including transportation, housing, and amenities such as arts, cultural heritage, and design.  This blending of strategies has created a livability tool kit that city, state, and national leaders can use to revitalize the American community.

Our program featured a view of livability at the crossroads, a panel of federal officials outlining the federal livability agendas, and perspectives on how economic, social, and quality of life development fit into these agendas.  The forum sought to create a framework to advance cooperation among our federal partners, Congressional leaders, and staff as they weave resources together to restore the vigor and reinforce the livability of communities across America.

What:		A forum to create a common livability framework that incorporates the full range of tools available to the movement.
When:		Wednesday, September 22, 2010 2:00 - 5:00 PM (followed by an outdoor reception on the Hirshhorn Plaza)
Where:		Ring Auditorium Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden Washington, DC
Who:		Congressional representatives, federal agencies, think tanks, cultural institutions, and community development leaders

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