Media contact: Aviva Kapust, aviva@villagearts.org or 415-531-5575

The Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philly has received $500K funding from ArtPlace America’s 2017 National Creative Placemaking Fund to Create Civic Power Studio. 

$8.7 million in funding invested in 23 projects

(December 7, 2017) On Tuesday, Dec 5, ArtPlace America announced that The Village of Arts and Humanities has been chosen from nearly a thousand applications to receive funding through its 2017 National Creative Placemaking Fund. This is The Village’s second award from ArtPlace, an honor shared by only a few recipients since ArtPlace’s inception. The Village will use this $500k grant to build the Civic Power Studio

ArtPlace received 987 applications in 2017, from which 70 finalists were selected and The Village is one of only 23 projects that will receive funding this year. ArtPlace has a deep commitment to investing in rural America, with almost 52% of this year’s funded projects working in rural communities.

ArtPlace’s National Creative Placemaking Fund is a highly competitive national program, which invests money in community development projects where artists, arts organizations, and arts and culture activity work to strengthen communities across 10 sectors of community planning and development.

About Civic Power Studio at The Village of Arts and Humanities

The Village will embark on a community-driven design process to transform two vacant row homes into a multi-media creatorspace for community members, artists, law enforcement, and neighborhood stakeholders to collaborate on new public safety strategies rooted in care rather than control. This year, The Village of Arts and Humanities is the only previous recipient of ArtPlace funding.

“This project was born within the community and manifested through trusted relationships built over many years. For The Village, this is the hallmark of equitable creative placemaking,” said Aviva Kapust, Executive Director at The Village. “We are deeply humbled and honored to have received this award for a second time from our partners and funders at ArtPlace.”

“The Civic Power Studio is like the root of the tree. From the roots grow respect. Many various projects are the branches. And public safety is the shade that the tree gives the community,” said Ms. Nandi, Neighborhood Leader

“This year’s investments highlight critical dimensions of creative placemaking strategy that can provide great inspiration to communities across the country.” said F. Javier Torres, Director of National Grantmaking at ArtPlace. “We are deeply excited to announce these 23 new investments as our seventh cohort of funded projects through the National Creative Placemaking Fund.”

 “Creative Placemaking seeks the full and robust integration of art and culture into the decisions that define the ebb and flow of community life. These projects embody what this looks like at its most effective,” said Rip Rapson, president and CEO of The Kresge Foundation and Chair of the ArtPlace President’s Council. “We were overwhelmed by the extraordinary commitment demonstrated in these projects – contributing to the growing understanding of creative placemaking efforts throughout the nation.”

Meet all of the 2017 funded projects here.

About The Village of Arts and Humanities
The Village seeks to amplify the voices and aspirations of the community by providing arts-based opportunities for self-expression and personal success that engage our North Philadelphia community, revitalize physical space and preserve black heritage.

Its creative campus is made up of 15 art parks and 10 programs buildings,  housing eight programs that work at the intersection of art, community development, and social justice.

The organization’s legacy is rooted in artist-facilitated community building beginning with the work of our founders—dancer, choreographer and civil rights activist Arthur Hall (founder of Ile Ife Black Humanitarian Center, predecessor to The Village) and civic practice artist Lily Yeh. Over 30 years, our work has evolved from a focus primarily on arts education and land transformation to a broader and intentional commitment to increasing all residents’ access to tools for creative self-actualization.

About ArtPlace America

ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) is a ten-year collaboration among 16 partner foundations, along with 8 federal agencies and 6 financial institutions, that works to position arts and culture as a core sector of comprehensive community planning and development in order to help strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric of communities.

ArtPlace focuses its work on creative placemaking, projects in which art plays an intentional and integrated role in place-based community planning and development. This brings artists, arts organizations, and artistic activity into the suite of placemaking strategies pioneered by Jane Jacobs and her colleagues, who believed that community development must be locally informed, human-centric, and holistic.

Media contact: Aviva Kapust, aviva@villagearts.org or 415-531-5575

Stay tuned: We’ll continue to update our blog with stories like this about the genesis, process and future of the Civic Power Studio!