Creative Community Builders & Cristine ZHarris

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6 With a focus on capacity building, we plan with our client partners rather than for them. High levels of client and community participation result in plans that are solidly grounded and belong to the stakeholders on every level. We hope the discipline of asset-‐based thinking, self-‐ assessment, as well as rigorous programmatic and business planning, become part of the client’s ongoing practice. As consultants working nationally, we learn from each project and bring new perspectives and best practices to our clients. In the process of community planning we favor working with a stakeholder steering committee of between 12 and 25 members who represent the City and institutional interests, balanced with artists, educators, business owners, and other key community leaders. We employ research, community organizing and capacity-‐building strategies that bring people and organizations together around common purpose, to shape plans and build ownership, shared identity, and leadership. As central to our approach we: • Look quantitatively and qualitatively at the local ecology of cultural and economic resources that comprise the city’s creative economy. • Examine and understand the community’s “civic culture” – the ways things get done. • Examine opportunities that the physical environment -‐-‐ past, present, and future -‐-‐ offer by reviewing community development and master plans, design guidelines and other historic and planned land-‐use documentation. • Analyze the current economy of the area examining existing market studies, needs assessments, other economic data from a variety of sources. • Look at marketing and promotional materials (including web sites and electronic marketing materials) and how they portray the community to local audiences and visitors. • Carefully examine the community’s resources, public policies, and shared intentions and identify the organizational capacity to successfully implement and sustain the plan.