Drawing the Lines: International Perspectives on Urban Renewal through the Arts	Advanced Search | Find People

Conference Description

An innovative conference designed to promote conversation about arts and urban renewal on the broader international scale, alongside more local applications for the Northwest Indiana region.    

Conference Goals

1. Explore Models of Urban Renewal through the Arts: To explore different ways in which arts and culture have internationally been effective vehicles of urban renewal. Successful efforts include the building of flagship projects such as museums or cultural centers, as well as cultural events or community-led renewal initiatives through arts and cultural activity.
2. Reflect on Impact of Renovation Efforts in the Community : To explore the roles arts and culture play in urban renewal by examining various approaches and their debatable effects on the quality of life in the communities they influence.
3. Understand How Government and Private Markets Affect Urban Change: To look at how government policies affect community and regional development with respect to the issue of urban renewal, and to present and discuss strategies to create private market incentives which support the role of arts and culture as motors for urban change.
4. Share Best Practices Among Community-Based Leaders and Scholars: To bring together leaders and scholars from communities who have undergone profound urban renewal, along with leaders in communities undergoing change, to share best practices for urban development.
5. Build A Coalition To Create Concrete Initiatives for the Northwest Indiana Region: To build a coalition of stakeholders from community-based leadership, government, housing, businesses, artists and support organizations with the purpose of creating initiatives that will have a profoundly positive effect on the economic, social, and cultural life of the region, and to increase policymakers’ appreciation for the efficacy of arts and culture initiatives as a sound basis for community development. 

Key Constituencies

Keynote Speakers

• Franco Bianchini, Reader in Cultural Planning and Policy and Director of the Cultural Planning Research Unit, De Monfort University, Leicester (England); author of Planning for the Intercultural City; The creative city; Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration: The West European Experience.
• Richard Economakis, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN; Board member of International Making Cities Livable;  co-editor of  Building Cities:  Towards a Civil Society and Sustainable Environment (with Crowe and Lykoudis) and editor of Visions for the Future and Building Classical:  A Vision of Europe and America.
• Malcolm Miles, is Reader in Cultural Theory at the University of Plymouth, UK, where he convenes the Critical Spaces Research Group and co-ordinates research methods courses in the Faculty of Arts. He is author of Urban Avant-Gardes (2004) and Art Space & the City (1997), co-author of Consuming Cities (2004, with Steven Miles), and co-editor of the City Cultures Reader (2nd edition 2003, with Tim Hall and Iain Borden). His next authored book will be Cities & Cultures (2007) in the Routledge series, Critical Introductions to Urbanism, of which he is series co-editor, with John Rennie Short. He has contributed to Space & Culture, Urban Studies, and Parallax, among other journals. He is currently researching utopian theory and the built and social architectures of alternative settlements for a further book, Building Hope. He continues to work in a field triangulated by contemporary art, critical theory, and aspects of the social sciences.
• Sharon Zukin, Brokelundian Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Brooklyn College, New York, NY; author of The Culture of Cities and Landscapes of Power:  From Detroit to Disney World.
• Joseba Zulaika, Director of Center for Basque Studies, Reno, NV; author of Crónica de una seducción:  el Museo Guggenheim Bilbao and editor of Learning from the Bilbao Guggenheim.

Conference Partners

Drawing the Lines: International Perspectives on Urban Renewal through the Arts Conference benefits from a wide array of partners who provide financial support, serve on the planning committee, and promote the conference among their constituencies. Drawing the Lines recruits both international and national partners, as well as regional partners in the conference host. Organizations interested in partnering on this conference and/or advertising in conference materials, please contact the conference organizers.

Confirmed Partners for the 2006 conference include:

• Center for Regional Excellence, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana, USA
• Northern Indiana Arts Association, Munster, Indiana, USA
• College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana, USA

Typical Session Topics

• Creativity and culture influencing community change.
• Role arts and culture can play as catalysts in urban renewal.
• Models for community renewal through arts and culture.
• Positive and negative community impact of certain approaches to urban renewal.
• Concrete proposals for the revitalization of the Northwest Indiana community through arts and culture.
• Different approaches to urban renewal over time and geographic space.

Contact

Drawing the Lines
IU Northwest
3400 Broadway
Hawthorn, Room 471
Gary, Indiana 46408