MACON, Ga. – July 6, 2016 – Macon Arts Alliance will advance the development of the Mill Hill: East Macon Arts Village and engage residents in shaping their community with $140,000 from the the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The new commitment will match National Endowment of the Arts funding to support a neighborhood and cultural district planning process for Mill Hill. It will also help establish a Community Land Trust to maintain affordability and preserve public space in Macon’s urban core.
Related Link
“Residents will help turn ‘Birthplace of Macon’ into an arts village” by Jonathan Harwell-Dye on Knight Blog, 7/6/2016
The Mill Hill initiative is a collaborative process that engages residents and community partners in creative placemaking, which focuses on developing more vibrant public spaces where the community can meet and connect. Through the effort, vacant and blighted mill houses and a dilapidated, yet historic, community center will be repurposed to establish the Mill Hill: East Macon Arts Village. The initiative aims to reduce blight in East Macon’s Fort Hawkins neighborhood and increase economic opportunity by attracting new attention to the neighborhood. The Mill Hill initiative is a key component of the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority’s Macon Action Plan.
“The project will help to bring together residents of different backgrounds and income levels to share their voices and ideas on how to make their neighborhood better. It will attract new talent and interest to Mill Hill, laying a path to a brighter future and creating new opportunities for Macon,” said Beverly Blake, Knight Foundation program director for Macon.
“This is a catalytic investment that will lead to lasting change for the residents of East Macon and the entire community,” said Jan Beeland, executive director of Macon Arts Alliance.
In July, the Mill Hill Visiting Social Practice Artist Program will bring together artists from around the country to work in partnership with residents and local artists to ensure neighborhood stories and strengths are reflected in the neighborhood planning process. Together they will identify and celebrate cultural narratives within the neighborhood and create positive momentum around the initiative. Artists and neighbors will work side-by-side as agents of change.
“The neighborhood and cultural district planning process engages residents and artists as collaborators in creating a shared vision for the future,” said Jonathan Harwell-Dye, director of creative placemaking at Macon Arts Alliance. “By creating and implementing the plan together, all voices are recognized and included in the decision-making process.”
The Mill Hill initiative is currently focused on three major projects. Clinton Street Gateway Park is a new neighborhood park under development by the Urban Development Authority and its partners. The park will be a shared space for residents, artists and visitors that connects the neighborhood to adjacent tourism assets, such as the Macon Convention Center and the Ocmulgee National Monument. The former Bibb Mill auditorium, constructed in 1920, will become the Mill Hill Community Arts Center, a place for artists, residents and visitors to build and strengthen community ties. Vacant mill houses on the two streets immediately behind the Arts Center will repurposed as housing for artists. These investments will reduce blight and create a hub for creative and economic activity in East Macon.
Planning consultants were hired by Macon Arts Alliance in June 2016 to support the Mill Hill initiative by working with neighborhood residents, community partners and visiting artists to develop a master plan reflecting a shared vision for the Mill Hill: East Macon Arts Village. Creative Community Builders helps communities identify cultural and creative assets and leverage them for community revitalization and change. Creative Community Builders founder Tom Borrup is a leader and innovator in community building for 30 years and is the author of “The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook: How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Arts, and Culture.”
Support for Macon Arts Alliance forms one part of Knight Foundation’s efforts to expand opportunities in Macon, while fostering talent retention and attraction. Knight has made many investments in this area including previous support of the Mill Hill: East Macon Arts Village.
About the Mill Hill Planning Process
The Mill Hill Neighborhood and Cultural District Planning Process is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works; a Community Grant and Neighborhood Grant from the Community Foundation of Central Georgia; and by two grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
About Macon Arts Alliance
The mission of the Macon Arts Alliance is to foster and support the advancement of arts and culture in Central Georgia. We strive to be an innovative leader of a diverse and thriving arts community as well as a strategic partner in creating an open, inclusive, and vibrant place for artists, arts organizations, residents, businesses, and tourists. Macon Arts Alliance is the designated local arts agency of Macon-Bibb County. For more information about the Macon Arts Alliance, please visit www.maconartsalliance.org or call 478-743-6940. The Macon Arts Alliance is located in Historic Downtown Macon at 486 1st Street, Macon, Georgia 31201.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.
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Contacts:
Lauren M. Kritsas, Macon Arts Alliance, 478.743.6940, [email protected]
Anusha Alikhan, Director of Communications, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 305-908-2646, [email protected]