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In this film Laura Zabel and Jun-Li Wang of Springboard for the Arts talk about how to build the infrastructure that helps communities and neighborhoods tap into their Creative People Power. An economic and community development organization run by and for artists, Springboard is a national leader in artist-led, equity-driven community development, creative placemaking and creative cross-sector collaboration. ‘Creative People Power’ is their new framework, produced in collaboration with Helicon Collaborative, for combining creativity-centered and people-centered development to build community health.

To that end they have recently launched ‘Creative People Power’, a new report and framework for combining creativity-centered and people-centered development to build strong, healthy, and resilient communities. Through our work at Springboard for the Arts, we felt there was something missing from the conversation. Research on creative placemaking and creative community development has demonstrated that there is great impact from art projects and programs across almost all sectors of our communities.

Economic impact studies of the arts have proved that arts activity is a valuable asset to cities and neighborhoods. What’s missing is an exploration of the conditions that make those valuable projects, and their impacts possible. In particular, what are the systems that support artists, culture bearers and creative thinkers’ ability to thrive, dream up, and deliver these projects?

 

What Laura Zabel had to say about DIYdoc:

“DIYDoc was straightforward and easy to use, plus the format helped us stay on task. And we only had to do one retake!”

 

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Creativity Lives Here is a year-long digital storytelling campaign to showcase the people and places behind creative community development. #CreativityLivesHere is a collection of grassroots video stories from amazing artists, community planners, local leaders, and allies, who are sharing the ideas, challenges, and inspirations that drive their work every day.

We’re going to share these stories across our social media platforms, and many of our friends and partners are ready to do the same.

The only thing missing is YOUR STORY.

All you need is an iPhone, the DIYdoc App, and a story about how arts and culture is helping address a challenge or opportunity in your community. From there, enlist a friend to help, or shoot the video yourself through the app and add your voice to the growing collection of grassroots stories from across the United States.

Check out some of the stories that have been collected so far on our YouTube channel, and make yours today!