ABSTRACT
In 2010, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) coined the term ‘creative placemaking’ and established a broad strategy to improve the livability of American communities via arts, culture, and design. As part of a broader federal response to the Great Recession of 2008, the NEA sought to help local communities recover from the Recession’s economic hardship by harnessing arts and culture as a way to improve the quality of life for local residents. Through a federal funding program named Our Town, seeding relationships with other federal agencies to help coordinate local investments in arts-based community development, and establishing ArtPlace America, the NEA played a significant role in advancing the field of creative placemaking. This chapter explores the history of NEA’s investment in creative placemaking from 2010 to 2019, including the various programmatic approaches pursued by the agency to facilitate new, innovative partnerships between arts and non-arts sectors with a focus on ultimately strengthening local communities. The NEA’s investment in creative placemaking has particular relevance today, offering a guidepost for funders and local communities seeking to integrate arts, culture, and design into community development.
