Arrival & Welcome

8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.

Open Registration, Breakfast, Networking, Entertainment, and Welcoming Remarks

Keynote Speaker on the Main Stage

9:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Kimber Lanning
Founder & Executive Director, Local First Arizona
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Kimber Lanning leads us in a discussion about building great places and the importance of local ownership. Building hometown pride will inspire young people to stick around and community members to be more engaged. Creative placemaking plays a huge role in that. If the creative sector is sitting at the table, they will be part of the decision-making process and make creative placemaking a priority.

Networking Break
10:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Breakout Sessions (4 concurrent sessions)

10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Your Community is Your Canvas:
​Wide Open Walls

Wide Open Walls founder, David Sobon, shares his experience and passion around the inaugural year of the Wide Open Walls Mural Festival. The event, which brought over 40 artists – local, national and international – to Sacramento, Calif., celebrated the relevancy and diversity of street art and transformed walls and neighborhoods throughout the city. Through this case study, you will learn the trials and tribulations of producing an inaugural festival of this scale. David will share his passion and the process of how to promote an arts festival, develop essential community partnerships and lay a strong foundation for the future. 

Presenter:  David Sobon, Wide Open Walls

Getting There: Transportation & Transformation

How can cities apply artistic and cultural practice to positively shape transportation, build social capital and support local business in rapidly changing neighborhoods? How can they engage the community to celebrate their stories, cultural history and diversity? How can planners inspire community members to participate in important civic conversations about the future of their neighborhoods? Artists and cultural workers are key to answering these questions. Ben Stone has been tracking trends and providing technical assistance to planners, activists, artists and engineers working at the intersection of community development, transportation and the arts. Case studies, best practices, barriers and funding opportunities will all be explored in this presentation.
 
Presenter:  Ben Stone, Smart Growth America & Transportation for America

Leveraging Your Localness

The buy local message is sweeping the nation, but are you doing all you can to stay in front of the curve? Kimber Lanning will be talking from her perspective as a small business owner and founder of Local First Arizona about vital examples and strategies you can bring directly to your business and your community. This session will cover: useful strategies to win new customers and drive tourism to your community; finding new ways to partner and work more collaboratively together; developing language to talk more effectively about your business and all that your community has to offer.

Presenter:  ​Kimber Lanning, Local First Arizona

Michigan Creativity Group:Connecting the Dots

This session reveals how Creative Placemaking - together with “educational placemaking” - is strengthening community partnerships, creating unique learning experiences and increasing economic prosperity. Michigan Creativity Group co-founders will share tips on implementing Creative Placemaking strategies, transforming education culture and creating win-win scenarios and supportive ecosystems. These strategies embrace, nurture and celebrate all forms of creativity, helping students succeed and communities thrive by building relationships that extend far beyond the classroom.

Presenters/Facilitators: ​
- Jeff Croley, Michigan Creativity Group
​- Jason LeFay, Michigan Creativity Group

Contributors:
- Edythe (Edee) Hatter-Williams, CAMW!
- Darcy Kerr, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
- Chris Holman, MI Business Network

Lunch Break​

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Networking Break
1:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Breakout Sessions (4 concurrent sessions)

1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Growing the Economy with Creative Placemaking

Creative Placemaking has the ability to draw people out of their homes and into their community, helping local business grow and thrive. Hear regional experts share how Creative Placemaking has been quickly changing the conversation around the drivers of economic development. Facilitated by our Greater Lansing Metropolitan  Planning Organization's senior planner of economic development, Rachel Elsinga, this session will explore how the arts boosts economies and development efforts. 

Facilitator: Rachel Elsinga, Tri-County Regional Planning Commission

Presenters:  
- Bob Trezise, Lansing Economic Area Partnership
- Dru Mitchell, Clinton County Economic Alliance
- Jason Vanderstelt, Dutch Brothers Development Group & Charlotte Rising

Measuring Success: What's the Impact?

Most Creative Placemaking projects have both tangible and intangible results - some that are easily observed and measured and others that require sophisticated evaluation techniques. Rachel Engh will discuss evaluation methods used for Pillsbury House & Theatre (Minneapolis, MN) that empowered 30 community-based artists to engage their neighbors to create art where they live. Artists organized 52 projects ranging from a stilting club, to puppet shows, to photographic portraits and more. Evaluation methods focused on whether and how these projects increased levels of residents’ community attachment and vibrancy.  
 
Presenter: Rachel Engh, Metris Arts Consulting

Working Through the Culture of "No"

Sometimes the "red tape" is what cuts a project off at the start. Michigan Municipal League Director of Civic Innovations, Luke Forrest, plays a role as a middle man between community project leaders trying to start a Creative Placemaking project and municipalities keeping a community in order. In his session, you will hear examples of success in Michigan communities trying to execute Creative Placemaking projects; how both groups are meeting in the middle; and how they are building effective relationships.
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Presenter: Luke Forrest, Michigan Municipal League

Contributors:
- Rebekah Kik, City of Kalamazoo
- Danielle Lewinski, Center for Community Progress

Avenues to Funding: Pick Your Lane

You have an amazing creative project idea. You've brought together leaders, collaborators, partners and built a fully-established plan. But now you need money! Funding innovative projects presents  plenty of challenges, but they shouldn't stop you in your tracks. Learn from fundraising experts and granters as they breakdown the "wheres" and "hows" of funding and what's available to make your Creative Placemaking ideas come to fruition! 
Facilitator: Tony Willis, Lansing Economic Area Partnership

​Presenters:
  - Ben Stone, Smart Growth America
  - Laurie Baumer, Community Foundation
  - David Sobon, Wide Open Walls
  - Jeff Garrett, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs 

Networking Break
2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

Keynote Speaker on the Main Stage

2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Zach Mannheimer
Founder, Des Moines Social Club &
Principal Community Planner, McClure Engineering
Attracting and keeping younger adults as active community members is a challenge that many small cities and towns face. Zachary Mannheimer bucked the trend and, after a 22-city road trip, decided to settle in Des Moines, Iowa. Now he’s focused on getting others like him to see the upside of living in smaller places. Zach’s work takes a fresh approach to economic development in small towns with young people and creative professionals in mind. Hear how Creative Placemaking creates vibrant, attractive communities with viable business models, enthusiastic investors, and dynamic programs, including the Des Moines Social Club.

Closing on the Main Stage

4:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Debbie Mikula, Executive Director, Arts Council of Greater Lansing

Arts Impact Project Unveiling

4:30 p.m.

We will lead you across the street to the unveiling of the 2017 Arts Impact Project, a sculpture by kinetic metal sculptor Ivan Iler, designed to lead visitors down to Museum Drive's cultural organizations.

Meet the Block

4:45 p.m. - 6:45 p.m.

After the Creative Placemaking Summit, join the Riverwalk Theater, R.E. Olds Transportation Museum and Impression 5 Science Center, in partnership with the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, for an evening of entertainment and artisan cocktails! You’re invited to “Meet the Block” and experience the fantastic cultural organizations that live at the end of Museum Drive, right along the Grand River. 

Featuring special musical guest, Gabriel Brass Band and custom craft cocktails from American Fifth!

You won’t want to miss this celebration of community in the district that Museum Drive Arts Impact sculpture artist and engineer Ivan Iler himself calls “Lansing’s best-kept secret.”