October 2015 Partner Spotlight- ArtPlace America
Congratulations to our October 2015 Partner Spotlight of the Month: ArtPlace America!
Urban Land Conservancy celebrates the achievements of its partnerships that create and preserve nonprofit facilities and affordable housing for communities in metro Denver. ULC’s Monthly Partner Spotlight is awarded to partners who demonstrate the value of collaboration, furthering our mission to improve the lives of Denver area residents through our real estate investments and community assets.
ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) is a unique collaboration of foundations, federal agencies and financial institutions that focus on positioning arts and culture as a core component of community planning and development in order to build stronger communities.
In practice, this means including arts and culture in planning conversations alongside sectors like housing and transit, with each sector being worthy of individual investment and each also having a responsibility to contribute to the goals of the others at the table.
ULC was honored to have been selected as a recipient of the 2015 ArtPlace National Grants Program for creative placemaking. ULC was one of only 38 organizations nationally to receive this grant, out of nearly 1,300 applications. With the $250,000 planning grant, ULC will address concerns in the Northeast Park Hill community by designing an art, health and cultural heritage trail now branded as the 303 ArtWay.
“This grant will support an innovative placemaking initiative that not only highlights and preserves the unique existing cultural legacy of this neighborhood through artistic expression, but also physically connects places, residents and businesses to the greater metro Denver region with the linkage to the new commuter rail line,” explains F. Javier Torres, Director of National Grantmaking at ArtPlace America. “ArtPlace is thrilled to support this work.”
On September 26th ULC and partners Northeast Transportation Connections (NETC) and PlatteForum launched a community engagement and online crowdfunding campaign for 303 ArtWay. The ArtPlace grant enables ULC to lead a vital collective effort in direct response to community concerns regarding the fundamental lack of existing connectivity to Denver’s East Commuter Rail Line now known as the A-Line. The community visioning process will ultimately lead to the creation of a new 9 mile Art, Health and Heritage themed multi-use, bike and pedestrian trail to provide connections throughout Greater Park Hill in conjunction with the arrival of the A-Line scheduled to open April 22, 2016. Over the next 18-24 months a community engaged vision planning effort will explore ways to implement the 303 ArtWay.
“The origin of the 303 ArtWay comes from the proud and passionate collective voice of Northeast Denver residents, calling for respect and recognition of their varied cultural identities as well as a clear desire for new improved linkages to valued neighborhood destinations.” Tony Pickett, ULC’s Vice President of Master Site Development states. “The ArtWay responds to that call and will result in a unique network of social and physical connections; new cultural arts programs, a signature urban trail, relevant public art installations and unique inclusive celebrations, all significantly improving this community’s quality of life for generations to come.”
This unique First Last Mile Connection (FLMC) strategy will link ULC’s 9.4 acre equitable transit oriented development site, with access to Mayor Michael Hancock’s designated “Corridor of Opportunity” along
Denver’s new A-Line , to additional ULC place based investments at Dahlia Square, Holly Square, and across the larger surrounding neighborhood area. ULC and our partners will use this creative placemaking effort to more fully engage the community we serve and highlight the best aspects of Greater Park Hill, while specifically emphasizing the diverse multicultural identity of Northeast Denver. In light of Governor Hickenlooper’s September 2015 commitment to make $100M available over the next 4 years for an extensive new greenway/bike trail system across Denver, the timing of the ArtWay planning process presents great opportunity, helping to make Denver one of the most connected cities in the nation.
ArtPlace’s National Grants Program has funded 227 creative placemaking projects in 152 communities of all sizes, totaling $66.8 million worth of investments across 43 states and the District of Columbia. ULC chose to highlight ArtPlace America as this month’s Partner Spotlight to celebrate their national support of Northeast Denver. 303 ArtWay was born thanks to the support from their National Grants Program. Congratulations ArtPlace for catalyzing this new community asset that will improve the lives of so many!
For more information about ArtPlace America, please visit www.artplaceamerica.org