LANSING, Mich. — On Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., community members, artists, policymakers and experts from all over the country will virtually join the Arts Council of Greater Lansing for its Creative Placemaking Summit 6. Registration for the now free event opened to the public this week.
For the first time in its history, this event will be “virtual+,” meaning the event will take place online with an optional, in-person “live surprise” component to close out the day, sponsored by Downtown Lansing Inc. [downtownlansing.org] With the decision to pivot from its traditional format, the Arts Council of Greater Lansing also chose to make this year’s summit a free event, thanks to its Connectivity Sponsor, Lansing Board of Water & Light. [lbwl.com]
“When deciding what made the most sense for this year’s Creative Placemaking Summit, we knew that accessibility needed to be at the forefront,” said Meghan Martin, executive director of the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. “By making this event both online and free, we’re opening the virtual doors to a wider audience than in the past. The barriers of cost and location are lowered and we’re able to invite more of our community to be a part of these meaningful conversations about creating and keeping place in Lansing.”
All attendees, speakers and performers for the event will be joining virtually from wherever they call home via the event platform Accelevents. The Creative Placemaking Summit 6 is focused on connection and will feature sessions on racial equity, community ownership, authentic work with vulnerable communities and using art to bring about social change. Speakers from all over the country will be presenting — thanks to the virtual format of the event — and performances from local artists will be featured.
“The placemaking community can only benefit from intentionally seeking out diversity, inclusion and equity in our practices,” said Martin. “The creative community thrives because of the diversity it has and not only do we want to make sure our event is a reflection of that, but we also wanted to take that one step further and use our position to connect people with each other, with new ideas and with perspectives they may not have heard before. I’m proud to say that our speakers, panels and performers come from a wide range of backgrounds and physical locations.”
To date, this event is made possible in part through the generous contributions from the MSUFCU Desk Drawer Fund, National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs.
“We are extremely grateful to BWL and all of our sponsors for helping to make the Creative Placemaking Summit be the best it can be,” said Martin. “Artists are too often undercompensated for their work and years of perfecting their skillset. We want to set a better standard. The sponsorships and donations we receive allow us to fairly pay the artists and experts who will be sharing their knowledge and their work with us, while putting on a high quality, meaningful event for free.”
Donations for the Arts Council of Greater Lansing can be made before or during the event within Accelevents
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