Lincoln Park Finalist for Artplace

The Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District, Inc. (LPCCD) is one of 105 finalists selected nationally and the only one in the State of New Jersey for ArtPlace's Creative Placemaking Grants. Finalists were chosen for their potential to transform communities through placing art and culture at the heart of portfolios of integrated strategies that drive vibrancy and diversity. LPCCD was selected as one out of 1225 applications submitted this year. Approximately 50 grantees will be announced in May.

This is an important milestone for LPCCD and they will be in the company with such nationally acclaimed organizations such as the Dance Theater of Harlem, Hennepin Theater Trust and Youth Radio. According to Baye Adofo Wilson, LPCCD Executive Director, "The application process really challenged us too openly, honestly, and clearly articulate what we were doing in LPCCD and why our theory of change is important."

Here's some info about LPCCD (conveyed by Mr. Wilson):
Our redevelopment efforts started when the City conveyed 26 scattered Brownfield sites to us. We thought about diversity across race, ethnic, age and class lines. We decided to design and develop innovative USGBC LEED buildings, for people to live and work in the community and we built affordable housing for low-income families and artist. We created a multi-day, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, house and hip-hop music festival to attract multi-ethnic, intergenerational fun audiences into Newark. We engaged our community through community meetings and food--our urban farm has been important to that process. And our job training programs are designed to train people on our latest development projects, which are often emerging fields in New Jersey, providing trainees with first-hand experience in a developing industry. We do all of this with friends, teams, family members, consultants, colleagues, partners and institutions who have the experience and expertise to implement these tasks.

More info: www.artplaceamerica.org