Creative Placemaking Cohort

The Creative Placemaking Cohort is part of ELGL's Creative Community partnership with Civic Arts, supported by ArtPlace.

The 2020 Cohort closed on May 28 and will take place from June 16-December 19, 2020.

The 2021 cohort will be announced in late winter 2020.

Civic Arts & ELGL are excited to announce the Creative Placemaking Cohort, a six-month learning opportunity designed for busy local government staff who are currently working to develop and implement creative placemaking projects and processes in their communities. Part of ELGL’s Local Gov Cohorts Program, this cohort is designed to help public service professionals identify opportunities, increase knowledge, and incorporate creativee placemaking ideas and strategies to make their communities better places to live, work, and play. 

• Applications Open: April 25, 2020
• Applications Due: May 30, 2020
• Program Dates: June 1 - December 18, 2020

Learn more about the cohort in the Program Overview (PDF). Ready to apply? Fill out the application form here.

The cohort-model learning process allows local government practitioners in any department to enhance their knowledge of creative placemaking and the integration of creative, arts-based, or culturally-based strategies to meet community goals.

The cohorts will comprise up to 4 teams of 8-10 individuals from different communities who will work together to learn from national experts, develop strategies, build project management skills, and identify solutions to the complex challenges that arise in cross-sector work. Cohort participants will work as peer groups to support one another’s developing knowledge and understanding of creative placemaking tools and strategies, and will be mentored in support of individual solutions and strategies.

What Cohorts Offer

• Peer coaching and problem solving in cohort groups of 8-10.
• Sessions organized and facilitated by Civic Arts staff who bring over a decade of experience in the creative placemaking sector.
• A peer-learning framework that aids each participant in learning project management skills while addressing real-life issues. 
• Rotating opportunity to present a work challenge or issue for the peer group to discuss and problem-solve together
• Development of each participant’s own toolkit for creative strategies and knowledge of model case studies
• Creation of a trusted, understanding peer network to lean on in the future.

Read full details in the Program Overview (PDF).

Full program details are available in the Program Overview (PDF).

Who's eligible to participate? 

Local government employees who are interested in creative placemaking opportunities in any department are invited to apply. Applications will require a short 350-word essay identifying a problem or project in your community that they are currently working on, or planning to work on soon, that integrates arts and cultural strategies as part of its development. 

What are the time commitments? 

Applicants must commit to roughly nine hours per month of participation: 

• One monthly collaboration call of 1.5 hours
• One monthly training opportunity of 1.5 hours
• Six additional hours of asynchronous work that can be completed on your own time

How much does it cost? 

With generous funding from ArtPlace America, this year’s cohort cost is only $1,000 (with a scholarship of $1,500 from APA). All cohort materials, resources, and trainings are included, as is registration for ELGL20 (October 14-16, 2020 in Portland, OR). Travel to and from the conference are the responsibility of the participating agency. Additional scholarship funds, up to 100% of program costs, are also available.

What do I need to do to get a scholarship? 

Scholarship application details are included in the application form. You'll provide a brief description (250 word maximum) of how the additional scholarship funds would benefit your community and enable your participation. Note that ALL applicants automatically receive the $1,500 scholarship from ArtPlace.

What if I have more questions? 

Contact Emily, our program manager, at emily@elgl.org.