Up and down a six-mile stretch in St. Paul, traffic engineers are busy putting together a light rail line that will connect the Twin Cities. It’s a massive infrastructure project. But instead of suffering with an elongated construction site, a group of artists got together to turn the corridor into a  public arts project.

Irrigate, a project of Springboard for the Arts, the city of St. Paul and LISC has since seeded 150 projects involving 400 artists,  from a community-made textile piece to a  large puppet of a black dog that lets customers know a cafe is open during construction. Irrigate was one of the first projects funded by ArtPlace, a collaborative investing in creative placemaking projects that help transform communities.

ArtPlace is now accepting applications for funding through Dec. 13. With Knight Foundation as a founder, designating its funding to the eight Knight resident communities, artists and organizations in those cities have a special opportunity for support.

So far, ArtPlace has chosen projects that very much reflect the fabric of their community.

In Macon, for example, a historic church is becoming a performing arts and multi-use space  on the edge of Mercer University. Wanting to capitalize on school spirit and love for Mercer’s football team, they turned a performance of Moliere’s Tartuffe into a “Tartuffe & Tailgating” event, with a performance followed by a tailgate with the cast and crew.

On the West Coast in San Jose, meanwhile, the ZERO1 biennial has melded art and technology in a semi-annual event. ArtPlace is helping them create a physical foothold in San Jose, by launching the Garage, which houses fellows who will use artistic principles to take on design challenges.

Knight supports ArtPlace because it believes in the power of the arts to create a sense of place, that feeling of community that makes people love where they live and work to improve it.

We hope you’ll take a moment to consider submitting a placemaking project that helps engage your community.