Uniting Creativity with Development

Whether through the development of public arts and festivals or by reconfiguring old spaces into vibrant arts facilities, arts and culture can serve as key ingredients in energizing neighborhoods. In 2008, TRF released a report that explores the role of community-based arts and cultural activity in neighborhood development.

Written by TRF’s Jeremy Nowak, Creativity and Neighborhood Development: Strategies for Community Investment discusses approaches to combine creativity with development to enhance its placemaking role and potential. The report resulted from a collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania’s Social Impact of the Arts Project, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. This collaboration also produced four policy briefs examining other related issues.