Providing expertise on how arts connect community and economic development

We all know the arts help make communities more sustainable and prosperous.  But how can you best achieve your goals?  What do you do first?  What do you not do? Who should be involved? What risks are worth taking?

Arts Build Communities can help you answer these questions, and more.  ABC, a Rutgers University center anchored in Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, works with creative sector professionals, elected officials, economic development professionals and urban planners – and the people and communities they benefit.

We provide training, coaching, guidance and knowledge through capacity building, continuing education, practical research and thought leadership.   We are a diverse partnership of community development, economic development and cultural professionals working to make communities more sustainable and prosperous.

	Courtesy: Freehold Borough Arts Council

We work directly with New Jersey communities through community coaching and the annual Creative Placemaking Conference, and with leaders and professionals around the country through the Creative Placemaking Master Practitioner Certificate program and the Creative Placemaking Toolkit.

If you’re interested in building, growing or sustaining creative communities and economies, we can help show you how.

Contact: Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP, vazquezl@rutgers.edu, 848-932-2747

Arts Build Communities is produced through a partnership between the Rutgers University Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic & Public Partnerships in the Arts & Humanities and the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.

Arts Build Communities is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Read more in About Us