A few months ago, dance company Wonderbound moved into an old used car dealership near Denver's downtown core, a blighted property surrounded by three homeless missions and a notorious park crawling with drug dealers. The group's goal is to create a performance and rehearsal hub for artists, while also changing the narrative of the neighborhood.

Wonderbound, along with partner organization Community Coordinating District No. 1, has transformed the building into "Junction Box." Passersby stop to watch dancers perform through large open garage doors and, according to Artistic Director Garrett Ammon, foot traffic in the area has already increased. 

"I'm seeing more people riding bikes or strolling from the Curtis Park neighborhood through this part of town to some of the restaurants," says Ammon. "It's been an intersection in town that people avoid, but we're really seeing some changes."

Junction Box was made possible in part by a $250,000 grant from ArtPlace America, a collaboration of national and regional funders that awarded $15.2 million in grants to creative placemaking projects across the U.S. (including in Philadelphia) this past May. 

Creative placemaking is a growing movement -- cities around the country are using arts and culture projects to revitalize neighborhoods and boost local economies.  

Across the border

The term "creative placemaking" was coined north of the border in Toronto where the nonprofit Artscape has been turning old buildings into affordable artist housing and studios for more than a quarter century. In 2012, Artscape's tenants conducted over 2,000 performances, exhibitions and events across the city.  

"There's an incredible impact on community vitality and activity, which of course attracts more activity to the neighborhood as a whole," says Pru Robey, Artscape's creative placemaking lab director. She has worked with American organizations to instigate placemaking best practices, and wrote Canada's only placemaking course. 

"You then see that multiplier effect start to happen," explains Robey. "Our projects are having a role in the wider regeneration and revitalization of neighborhoods. The economic impacts play out at multiple levels -- from the individual artist, to the local community vitality and economic activity, to that wider impact on the transformation of our city."

This is exactly what ArtPlace America looks for when awarding grants, emphasizing projects that strive for diversity and vibrancy. This year, the organization received more than 1,200 grant applications. 

Community centers

ArtPlace, along with organizations such as Project for Public Spaces (PPS), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Artspace, have been working with cities, planning groups, developers, arts organizations and other stakeholders on placemaking initiatives for several years. Their collective impact is beginning to show.  

According to a report issued by the NEA, artists account for three percent of the nation's workforce and cultural industries support close to five million jobs. 

In 2011, Washington D.C.'s director of planning, Harriet Tregoning, used an Artplace grant to create pop-up artist showcases in empty storefronts and lots. She says creative placemaking is now a permanent part of DC's city planning process. 

"Part of what we're learning is that we can temporarily activate those places and help local businesses get a start, help create new centers of community," she says. "That temporary activity helps ensure that permanently good things will happen."

In D.C., the creative economy represents 10 per cent of all jobs. The city suffers from a "Clark Kent Complex," explains Tregoning -- it's known for government, but actually has the soul of an artist. Creative placemaking is now helping to rebrand the city. 

Cities across the country are realizing the economic value of a vibrant artistic community. In Michigan, hit hard by the decline of auto manufacturing and then further by the Great Recession, cities such as Ann Arbor and Detroit have become popular for artists thanks to the low cost of living and innovative community-based initiatives.
Detroit received more than $2 million in Artplace grants for projects ranging from revitalizing abandoned buildings to the recent REVOLVE Detroit project. Led by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), the initiative will "activate vacant storefronts with transformational businesses and art installations."  

Susan Mosey, President of the University Cultural Center Association and a member of the Detroit Creative Corridor Center, says there are several reasons why placemaking is attractive to cities like Detroit. First, artists and creative ventures add value by creating economic opportunity (one manufacturer, Shinola, prioritizes hiring students from Detroit's arts colleges). They also gravitate towards underserved, historic properties critical to revitalizing local communities.  

"It really brings in a lot of complementary activity into a neighborhood," says Mosey.  

Going places

Placemaking is at its best when it connects people and places, especially in pedestrian or transit corridors, or when it adds new ideas to a familiar place.  

In Baltimore, the Transit Initiative was awarded a $200,000 ArtPlace grant to transform transit environments in three of the city's arts and entertainment districts. Transit Initiative leaders Bill Gilmore and Randi Vega faced a variety of challenges.  

In one area, Highlandtown, there were significant conflicts between older citizens waiting for the bus and kids from nearby schools. In other areas, the transit stops were hubs of dead space that failed to connect local businesses to patrons. 

Baltimore looked to Europe for inspiration, inviting European artists with experience in transit-oriented projects to come to Baltimore and work with local artists. 

"It's become an opportunity to connect Baltimore to arts on an international level," says Gilmore.  

These themes are consistent across the country. Pennsylvania has received more than $3 million in ArtPlace America grants since 2011.

"Any place where you have foot traffic, there's an opportunity for placemaking," says David Clayton, Program Manager of Breadboard at the University City Science Center; they won an ArtPlace grant through their involvement with the Department of Making and Doing. 

DMD received $150,000 to activate a section of Market Street known as the Avenue of Technology. DMD's member art, design and tech organizations activate the corridor, increasing foot traffic and keeping visitors in the area. Arts-based workshops will help residents develop job skills.

In Philadelphia, ArtPlace also funded Destination Frankford, an initiative to improve Frankford's commercial corridor through artfully designed signage and street furniture; a Globe DyeWorks storefront for local artists; and an arts-focused marketing campaign and website.

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, the City of Asylum also hopes to increase foot traffic in a soon-to-be redeveloped part of town, focusing on a corridor known as Sampsonia Way. The organization offers residencies to international writers seeking asylum. A $300,000 grant will help expand the program, adding large-scale events, driving traffic to the area and making the city more appealing to immigrants.

Hole in one

St. Paul, Minnesota's Blue Ox artist group has learned how to play the creative placemaking game. Having grown up as mini-golf lovers in the working-class West 7th neighborhood, the members realized there was a huge redevelopment opportunity for a 15-acre plot of land at the former Schmidt Brewery. 

The idea for the mini-golf course landed them a $350,000 grant. They'll use the money to hire artists to design installation pieces for each hole and contractors to complete infrastructure such as electric and sound. The historic site will be carefully landscaped and serve as a kind of urban park. 

"One of the things that has always driven us is finding ways to bring the arts outside of the traditional venues it's always had," says Gabriel Shapiro, one of four members of the Blue Ox group. "One way is to make large public art-like sculptures. If you put it into an interactive context like a mini golf course where the art itself becomes a feature of what you're there to do … it's no longer just about the game. You're actually interacting with art as you play … It's re-contextualizing how we see art and how we see recreation."

For as much as creative placemaking is about communities and cities, it's also about supporting the millions of people who work in the cultural sector. 

"For us as artists, it's changed our world too. It's completely changing our perceptions of what art can achieve," concludes Garrett Ammon of Wonderbound. "We're gaining just as much or more from the experience as anyone else in the community. That sharing of ideas, sharing of inspiration and possibility, that's what drives us."

Sheena Lyonnais is a Toronto-based journalist and the Managing Editor of sister publication Yonge Street Media. You can follow her on Twitter @SheenaLyonnais.