The City Artists built
Helping Artists Navigate Their Way Home
Creative Compass
Cleveland, Ohio. While not everyone realizes it, the city is home to one of the largest concentrations of artists in the country. Greater Cleveland’s diverse group of over 100 arts and culture organizations, plentiful industrial warehouses, distinct neighborhoods, and low cost-of-living produce an extraordinary quality of life that has drawn a massive concentration of artists to live and work in Northeast Ohio.
At the same time, Cleveland has a nationally recognized network of high-quality community development professionals. Every day, these individuals are working to revitalize the neighborhoods that give our city and our region its unique character.
But CPAC believes that we can do even more to position the city as a national creative hub and an urban laboratory for reinventing “Rust Belt” cities through arts and culture. In 2007, we launched Creative Compass, a multi-year initiative to increase artists’ access to affordable home and business space and to make them more active partners in revitalizing our urban neighborhoods. In the coming years, Creative Compass will educate artists about obtaining affordable space and will educate community development professionals about the unique roles artists can play as neighborhood residents.
Through an innovative series of programming, in partnership with Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), CPAC has launched a new conversation about how Cleveland, and other cities in the industrial Midwest, can serve their artist communities … and how artists can revolutionize how we think of industrial cities.
From Rust Belt to Artist Belt:
Challenges and Opportunities in Rust Belt Cities
While some see the Rust Belt only for its smokestacks and abandonment, we see creativity, innovation, and new life. In December 2008, CPAC released From Rust Belt to Artist Belt: Challenges and Opportunities in Rust Belt Cites, a white paper on Artist-Based Community Development and the role artists can play in revitalization efforts. Read about what role artists are playing in formerly industrial cities and why, and hear from people that are creating a new vision for industrial America.
For an overview of the white paper, view the Executive Summary.
For examples view Stories from the Artist Belt.
For access to the full report, see From Rust Belt to Artist Belt: Challenges and Opportunities in Rust Belt Cities.
From Rust Belt to Artist Belt
May, 2008 Summit
On Wednesday, May 14, 2008 CPAC hosted "From Rust Belt to Artist Belt" a convening of community development professionals working in “Rust Belt” cities. A national group of presenters and participants discussed the unique challenges and opportunities that such communities face in conducting artist-based community development (ABCD).
Summit Materials & Media Files
From Rust Belt to Artist Belt summit materials & media files can be downloaded below. If you have difficulty accessing these files, please contact us at 216-575-0331 x128.
Media Coverage
Read and listen to the media coverage on "From Rust Belt to Artist Belt".
Brought to you with generous support from:
Charter One Bank, City of Cleveland Ward 13, Dominion, Fifth Third Bank, Key Bank, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), & Ohio Arts Council (OAC).
Additional support from:
The Abington Foundation, The Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation and The Thomas H. White Foundation.
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