FRIENDS IN THE FIELD
Hundreds of organizations across the country work in and around arts-based civics and community development. These groups contribute as practitioners, researchers, and advocates, and together are expanding the ways that arts and culture can contribute to how we build and celebrate our communities. Below, we have selected a handful of organizations that have produced influential and inspirational work. Their work serves as a helpful orientation to the range of ideas and projects at the center of the discipline today.
Artplace america
ARTPLACE AMERICA is a ten-year collaboration among a number of foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions. We envision a future of equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities in which everyone has a voice and agency in creating contextual, adaptive, and responsive solutions. Our mission is to position arts and culture as a core sector of community planning and development.
KNIGHT FOUNDATION
We believe that great art attaches people to place and to each other. Investing in arts and culture is central to Knight’s effort to build stronger, better informed and more engaged communities, the foundation of a healthy democracy.
METRIS ARTS
Metris seeks to provide high caliber planning, research, and evaluation services to reveal arts impacts and help communities equitably improve cultural vitality. To accelerate change, we seek to share knowledge and amplify the voices of those closest to the work.
Springboard for the arts
Springboard for the Arts is an economic and community development organization for artists and by artists. Our work is about building stronger communities, neighborhoods, and economies, and we believe that artists are an important leverage point in that work. Springboard for the Arts’ mission is to cultivate vibrant communities by connecting artists with the skills, information, and services they need to make a living and a life.