Firm Experience & Clients
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Minneapolis, MN - Hennepin Cultural District (Hennepin Theatre Trust, Walker Art Center and Artspace) Creative placemaking includes both making a place (more) creative and doing so in creative ways. Sponsored by three major arts organizations and the City of Minneapolis, Plan-It Hennepin engaged a wide variety of stakeholders in a robust public process to shape a plan for this two-mile-long downtown cultural district. CCB managed the year-long project working with a team of four artists who led the public participation process and with multiple youth and education groups who involved young people - among many other players. (www.hennepintheatretrust.org/planit) |
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St. Croix Watershed Area, Wisconsin-Minnesota - National Heritage Initiative (St. Croix Valley Foundation, Hudson, WI) CCB worked with a task force representing an 8,000-square-mile rural region to help formulate plans for a National Heritage Area. Engaging in a story circle process, hundreds of residents offered their stories through 10 county-by-county Heritage Discover Workshops. Collected stories clustered into 4 potential themes explored further through 4 regional gatherings and leading to a proposal for federal designation of the area. (www.stcroixheritage.org) |
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Oklahoma City, OK - Artist Support Study (Cultural Development Corporation of Central Oklahoma) Leaders in the greater Oklahoma City area recognized they had an energetic artist community but a lack of support services and networks. CCB met with 120 artists and cultural leaders to devise short and long-term plans to build artist networks, coordinate a variety of city resources and launch multiple partnerships to recognize and support artists and their many contributions to the area's economy, neighborhoods, and quality of life.(Artist Support Study) |
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New Orleans, LA - Creative Sector Strategic Plan (Creative Alliance of New Orleans - CANO) A fresh spirit of collaboration followed Hurricane Katrina, and civic leaders made a push to embrace the region's economic dependence on culture and creativity. This affirmed work by CANO and the Joan Mitchell Foundation to more strategically employ resources to support artists. CCB developed a strategic plan with CANO to provide artists, traditional cultural practitioners and creative professional's information and social networking, space and training. (www.cano-la.org) |
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Brooklyn, NY - Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts Policy Recommendations (Arts + Community Change/Arts & Democracy) Arts + Community Change (now Arts & Democracy) convened a series of roundtable discussions in New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Saint Paul over a two-year period to explore the needs and strengths of naturally occurring cultural districts in the U.S. CCB documented these discussions and developed recommendations in a 90-page report related to public policy, philanthropic support and the field of practice. (http://artsanddemocracy.org/detail-page/?program=convenings&capID=119) |
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Saint Paul, MN - Lowertown Master Plan (Lowertown Master Plan Task Force and Cuningham Group) A 30-year-old artist enclave in downtown Saint Paul home to upwards of 400 artists and multiple live/work buildings, faced certain change. Construction of a new light rail line as well as re-activation of a long dormant regional railroad depot was underway. CCB worked with Cuningham Group, the citizens task force and neighborhood artists to develop a neighborhood master plan. Subsequently adopted by the City, it postioned the creative community a highly-valued contributor to the city's economy and quality of life. (www.visionlowertown.com) |
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St. Croix Falls, WI - Civic Auditorium Restoration (City of St. Croix Falls) This historic river town of 2,200 people enjoyed a 20+ year relationship with the nonprofit Festival Theatre that occupied the historic city-owned auditorium. CCB worked to align community vision for the future of the nearing-100-year-old structure and to prepare the community for the significant effort ahead to raise funds for its restoration. (http://www.festivaltheatre.org/our_home.htm) |
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Minneapolis, MN - Neighborhood Master Plan (Citizens for Loring Park Community - Peter Musty LLC) As a growing downtown residential neighborhood long known for citizen activism and as a center of the LGBT community, Loring Park sought to become a more walkable and diverse area. Through a master planning process led by Peter Musty LLC, CCB brought a significant cultural dimension to the plan and integrated artists and creative activities into the planning process. (http://www.loringpark.org/minagen/home%20page%20pdfs/MastrplnEventRecord.html) |
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Saint Paul, MN - Creative Enterprise Zone (St. Anthony Park Community Council) A historic mixed industrial and residential area between Saint Paul and Minneapolis, St. Anthony Park was a hub of rail, auto and trucking transportation. Low-cost space served as workspace to several hundred artists and small creative enterprises, as well as numerous heavy industries. Light rail construction boded a shift in the decades-long balance of low-cost multi-purposed industrial space. CCB brought neighbors and political leaders together to name and form the Creative Enterprise Zone to build on previously unrecognized regional assets, secure appropriate real estate and attract new creative enterprises. (http://sapcc.org/CEZPlan) |
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Lake Buena Vista, FL - A New Creative Community (Walt Disney Corporation) CCB was engaged as part of a team to help assess the concept of building a new theme-based residential and mixed-use community in central Florida focused around creativity. Convened at EPCOT for two days, the team explored the mix of uses, potential residents and opportunities for creative interactions with visitors. |
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Boyne City, MI (Michigan Main Street - Dreeszen & Associates) A strategic economic development plan for Boyne City resulted from a partnership with Boyne City Main Street and a wide variety of civic and cultural groups. The community arrived at a plan to reinvent the area's sense of collaboration and image. The plan drew together the talents of artists and craftspeople, with regional food producers and restaurateurs, and with multiple outdoor recreation assets. The community chose to focus on the combination of creativity, food, and outdoor experience to expand tourism, create jobs, and stimulate local investment. |
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Calumet, MI (Michigan Main Street - Dreeszen & Associates) CCB worked with the community of Calumet, engaging its remarkable arts and historic assets to revitalize a sense of a shared identity rooted in its industrial past. Development of a National Historic Park and an integrated economic development strategy pivoted on generating a renewed sense of unity and local pride - to tell the moving stories from the community's past, and elevate the creative power of its current residents. |
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Concord, NH (Dreeszen & Associates) Dreezsen & Associates and CCB delivered a city-wide economic development plan to leverage cultural and others assets for downtown revitalization and economic development. The plan served to build new partnerships, expand the capacity of the city's creative sector, promote a new identity, and enhance the area's significant cultural assets. |
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Lansing and East Lansing, MI (Michigan State Housing Development Authority) Working with the Cities of Lansing and East Lansing, Michigan State University, and the State of Michigan, CCB facilitated a cultural economic development plan designed to create synergy between the assets of these two distinctive municipalities, this major research University, and state agency resources. Emphasizing a local culture of invention brought together the creative, scientific, civic, cultural, and many other assets in the creation of a more vibrant and collaborative metropolitan area. A renewed and collective sense of purpose and identity emerged. |
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LynLake Arts District, Minneapolis, MN Tom Borrup's founding and long-term leadership of Intermedia Arts, a nationally-recognized community-based arts center contributed to development of Minneapolis' LynLake neighborhood identity and development. Partnership with a variety of other arts, business, and civic organizations, and a variety of high-visibility activities, resulted in the emergence of one of the Twin City's most vibrant arts districts, and significant new development |
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Middleton, WI (The City of Middleton) CCB implemented a community-wide planning process resulting in a 20-year public art master plan for Middleton, a fast-growing and progressive suburb of Madison. Youth from several schools, and people of all ages participated in creative activities to animate historic and newly developed public spaces across the community. Through a variety of long-term public art initiatives, the plan highlighted Middleton's unique features and connected the historic center, neighborhoods, and regionally-significant park and trail system. |
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San Jose/Silicon Valley, CA (1st ACT Silicon Valley) Working with 1st ACT, CCB conducted an in-depth assessment of Silicon Valley's cultural sector examining nonprofit, municipal, and higher education supported activities, and generated recommendations for further action. The resulting study compared the area with nine other US cities and found unusual organizational and participation patterns with significant implications for 21st Century urban regions. |
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Tulsa, OK (George Kaiser Family Foundation and Sutton + Associates) CCB spent 18 months working intensively with a diverse mix of stakeholders in an emerging arts district adjacent to downtown Tulsa. The goal was to formulate a cultural district plan as part of Tulsa's comprehensive development strategy. Stakeholders arrived at, articulated, and celebrated a shared vision, goals, action plan, identity, and brand image. The Brady Arts District was born. Visit www.thebradyartsdistrict.com to learn more. |
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Yellow Springs, OH (The Morgan Family Foundation) A three-year project with a local leadership group in Yellow Springs, helped the community re-discover many of its creative and cultural assets. New partnerships and public art projects elevated the role of art and innovation in Yellow Springs' civic identity and economy. A repositioned and reinvigorated Arts Council became a central civic player and partnerships between local educational institutions and arts groups helped spark the rehabilitation of facilities for combined uses. |
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CCB foundation consultancy and project evaluation
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Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York, NY Creative Capital Foundation, New York, NY Iowa West Foundation, Council Bluffs, IA Kresge Foundation, Troy, MI LEF Foundation, Boston, MA National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC New England Foundation of the Arts, Boston, MA Rockefeller Foundation, New York, NY State Arts Agencies - Minnesota, Ohio, Kentucky, Massachusetts The Ford Foundation, New York, NY Tucson-Pima Arts Council, Tucson, AZ Wallace Foundation, New York, NY Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, San Francisco, CA |
CCB strategic planning, evaluation, and capacity building
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651 Arts, Brooklyn, NY A.H Wilder Foundation Community Services for the Elderly, St Paul, MN Alliance for Independent Motion Media, Boston, MA Americans for the Arts, Washington, DC Arts Extension Service, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA Ballet of the Dolls/Ritz Theater, Minneapolis, MN City of Chicago, Office of Cultural Affairs, Chicago, IL City of San José Office of Cultural Affairs, San Jose, CA City of San José Redevelopment Agency, San José, CA Fifth Ward Redevelopment Corporation, Houston, TX Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, MN Juxtaposition Arts, Minneapolis, MN Legacy Project, Rochester, MI Living Arts of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK Minneapolis Telecommunications Network, Minneapolis, MN Movimiento de Arte y Cultural Latino Americana, San Jose, CA National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, San Francisco, CA New Orleans Video Access Center, New Orleans, LA Nuestras Raices, Holyoke, MA Out North Development, Anchorage, AK Portland Community TV, Portland, OR Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY |