PUBLIC ART
ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
Unlocking Potential
At-risk youth in North Carolina hold the keys to flipping a decommissioned prison into a sustainable farm and community asset.
PODCAST
Inside Our Towns: Tighe Bullock
Evan Sanford catches up with Tighe Bullock, the accountant, lawyer, downtown developer, and construction contractor, on his latest work in Charleston, West Virginia.
CIVIC LIFE
To Both See and Tell the Country: From the Road through North Carolina to South Carolina
Why seeing more of America matters.
LIBRARIES
A Library Garden Celebrates Reading, Art, and Nature
In 2015, Dillsburg, Pennsylvania relocated the town's library to a bigger space to better serve its growing population. A year later, when tragedy struck, the community stepped up to grow the library to include a reading garden.
ARTS
An Outsider Works with Insiders: Examples from Akron and Cleveland
Mac Love, who has spent much of his life outside Ohio, uses new technologies to bring community residents and college students together. That collaborative approach is now helping citizens’ voices be heard and is driving meaningful change in their neighborhoods.
WATER
Past, Present, and Future on the Water: Using StoryMaps to Explore Bucksport, Maine
What does a mile-long stretch along the Penobscot River tell the walker about Bucksport, Maine? As it turns out, a lot.
COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS
Story Maps are at the Center of Community Collaboration in Kent, Ohio
New digital tools give communities innovative and engaging ways to tell their own stories. In Kent, Ohio, a community-wide collaboration among Kent State University, Main Street Kent, and the Kent Historical Society & Museum uses story maps to teach residents about the town's rich history.
CIVIC LIFE
How River Walks Make a Community
Bucksport's waterfront is a major natural asset for the Maine town. And along it runs Bucksport's Walkway. Here's a look at the river walk and why it matters.
BIG LITTLE IDEAS
Three community leaders come together to tell the stories of American renewal in their towns.
What do Ajo, Arizona; Eastport, Maine; and Charleston, West Virginia have in common? The answer leads down a rural path.
LOCAL HEROES
In Honor of Charly Jupiter Hamilton
A person who became the soul of his community, explains his vision—in art, and in memorable words.
PUBLIC ART
"Public art has the power to change space.”
“‘The Wonder Mural’ by Charly Hamilton changed an entire community. Through inclusion, Charly made a piece for the community by literally painting the community.”
HIGH SCHOOLS
2021 Eighth of May Emancipation Celebration now available on YouTube
Eighth of May Emancipation Celebration in Columbus, Mississippi now available on YouTube.
Arts
THIS IS WHAT WE TRAIN FOR
During our five years of travel around the country, my husband Jim and I often found that artists who revealed the perspectives on their hometowns were the people who stopped us in our tracks.
Arts
A RIVER OF WORDS IN PITTSBURGH
As we've traveled around the country with our American Futures and Our Towns projects since 2013, my husband, Jim, and I have evolved from being skeptics to evangelists about the impact of public arts on communities.
Arts
Language as Art in Pittsburgh
Exiled writers use words as art and inspire a community.
Arts
How America Is Putting Itself Back Together
Most people in the U.S. believe their country is going to hell. But they’re wrong. What a three-year journey by single-engine plane reveals about reinvention and renewal.