Exploring Creative Community Engagement

Exploring Creative Community Engagement examines the role of artists in a planning process by researching the intentions of planners when they engage an artist to carry out a community engagement process, how the techniques of artists doing “creative community engagement” differ from those employed in more traditional participatory planning processes, explores if there is something about the creative process of being an artist that influences how they design public engagement methods, and seeks to understand what are the characteristics of an artist-led community engagement process that can spark creative problem solving. The research design involves a comparison case study method focused on the public engagement process of the CreateNYC cultural plan and the Boston Creates cultural plan. Key findings are that intentions of planners for the inclusion of artists in public engagement should be clear and that the optimal role for an artist to play in a planning process is in the design of the public process as well as the execution of it. Recommendations include the expansion of artist residencies in planning agencies, launching an artist/planner fellowship program at the American Planning Association, conducting additional research and creating joint planning/arts degrees with universities and colleges in partnership with the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities.