*****Deadline Extended

Due to a high number of requests, the team application deadline for the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge has been extended to Friday, October 20, 2017, at 11:59pm EST. To apply, visit http://www.naco.org/creativecounties. If you have already submitted your application, you may still edit it up until the extended due date.

Overview 

NACo, in partnership with Americans for the Arts and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, has launched the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge to support counties as they work to identify and strengthen ways to integrate arts into solutions to local challenges. The Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge invites counties with populations of less than 250,000 to form multidisciplinary teams to apply.

Teams that submit winning applications will attend an in-person, 2 ½-day training and peer exchange workshop on March 28 – 30, 2018 in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. Guided by expert facilitators and practitioners, the workshop will be designed to assist teams as they identify local place-based assets and how they might be leveraged to promote more livable, dynamic, resilient places with the arts at their core. The convening will feature panel discussions, small group exercises, mobile tours and team presentations.

Important Dates and Deadlines

Team Application Deadline: Friday, October 13, 2017, 11:59 p.m. EST

Announcement of Selected Teams: Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Workshop in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa: Wednesday, March 28 – Friday, March 30, 2018

Creative Placemaking Forum in Washington, D.C.: During NACo Legislative Conference March 2019

Selected teams will be presented with the systems and tools necessary to develop successful creative placemaking solutions, and will be given time to meet and design solutions tailored to their communities’ unique culture, assets and needs. Teams will leave the workshop with an implementable action plan, and an improved local capacity to integrate arts and culture into community building and problem-solving. In addition, teams will be able to access pre- and post-workshop technical assistance and mentoring support.

Click here for more information. 

As a reminder, the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge supports counties as they work to identify and strengthen ways to integrate arts into solutions to local challenges. Counties with populations of less than 250,000 are invited to apply. Teams must consist of at least one county elected official, one local arts leader and one local business leader. Teams that submit winning applications will attend an in-person, 2 ½-day training and peer exchange workshop on March 28 – 30, 2018 in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. Teams will leave the workshop with implementable action plans and access to pre- and post-workshop technical assistance and mentoring support.