Mural at the Ventnor City Cultural Arts Center.
The South Jersey Cultural Alliance has announced that Ventnor City is among the five finalists vying for the first-ever ArtsTank creative placemaking grant. Other municipalities in consideration are Camden, Runnemede, Washington and Woodbury. The winner of the $5,000 award funded by OceanFirst Foundation will be announced May 29 at the Noyes Arts Garage in Atlantic City.
According to SJ Cultural Alliance Executive Director Karen Pinzolo, creative placemaking can develop sustainable, prosperous, equitable, inclusive and resilient places in South Jersey using arts, history and culture to engage a community in addressing a local challenge. Creative placemaking can add vitality to vacant storefronts or increase pride and belonging through community murals, she said in a release.
“SJCA wants to encourage local investment in arts, history, and culture. This kind of cultural development can ignite revitalization to strengthen the southern New Jersey region.”
Five finalists are being coached by the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking and will pitch their plans to a panel of expert creative placemaker “sharks,” who will select the winner in front an audience of artists, cultural leaders, local officials, planners, and economic and community development professionals.
Ventnor’s proposal is the continued installation of a mosaic on the walls surrounding the Ventnor City Community Building at the rear of the Ventnor City Cultural Arts Center at 6500 Atlantic Ave.
The ArtsTank competition is just one component of the full-day conference on Creative Placemaking: Investing in Your Town being held 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 29 at the Arts Garage. The event includes a session on how to finance creative placemaking, a networking luncheon and a mural tour of Atlantic City.
For information about registering for the event, see http://southjerseyculturalalliance.wildapricot.org/event-3249383
All five finalists will be highlighted in New Jersey Municipalities magazine of the NJ State League of Municipalities. The mayor of the winning municipality will be invited to author a feature article on their municipal challenge and the creative solution they chose to address it.
