Cultivating Creative Communities: A Survey of Creative Placemaking in North Carolina

In the practice of creative placemaking, arts, artist, and cultural organizations become essential partners with private, public, and non-profit organizations to help promote the character and wellbeing of a neighborhood, town, or city. In North Carolina, creative placemaking is occurring across the state through practices that celebrate the histories of communities, cities, and regions while also creating opportunities for improved livability for citizens and healthier local economies. Through interviews with cultural leaders in the state and research of the projects being executed by HandMade in America in Asheville, the Ashe County Arts Council in West Jefferson, Charlotte’s Arts and Science Council and McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Greensboro’s Elsewhere and Action Greensboro, the Department of Public and Cultural Arts in Chapel Hill, the North Carolina Arts Council in Raleigh, the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in Wilson, and the African American Music Trails in Kinston, creative placemaking in North Carolina can be characterized as a diverse practice that engages local communities in order to create distinct visual representations of place that celebrate local heritages while also acknowledging and strengthening communities’ opportunities for economic advancement in coming years.