Many cities have long been investing in art and culture, marrying it to placemaking, and generating extraordinary local transformations. Hazel Borys offers up a little inspiration from an art opening this week, and a few pointers for urbanists.
"Placemaking often comes down to preserving, repairing, or intensifying urban or rural places. Creative placemaking can take that to another level, helping to tease out the character of a place and celebrate it in an unusually insightful and invigorating way. A way that reaches deeper into the culture and adds nuance to the local landscape. Tonight, I went to an art opening that I found particularly consoling and uplifting. In conversation, the artist pointed out:
"I don’t add anything. I don’t take anything away. I just accentuate what was already there."
"That’s from William Eakin, a senior artist, photographer, and teacher, represented by Actual in Winnipeg and the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto."
Creative placemaking "not only captures value locally, but it also drives value. Many cities have long been investing in art and culture, marrying it to placemaking, and generating extraordinary local transformations."
Borys goes on to draw lessons for urbanists from the night's show.
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