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Providing expertise on how arts connect economic and community development
About | Communities | Coaches | Schedule, fees and registration | Contact | Register now
About
When your community is ready to build, grow or sustain a creative community or economy – and want to do more than hear someone else’s success stories -- community coaching can help.
Through this program, a diverse pool of leaders, artists and officials can team to work on a creative placemaking project or goal that would have significant impact in the community. Guided by coaches from Arts Build Communities, the program will help community leaders who want to do such things as attract more artists to their communities, make their areas more welcoming for the arts, promote cultural tourism, or take advantage of the growing creative economy.
Any community in New Jersey, or within two hours of Newark, is eligible to apply for the program. Communities will be accepted if they can put together a team of up to 10 people who can commit to working together on a creative placemaking project. Each team must have at least one current elected official and one working artist.
Coaches challenge, support and guide community teams as they explore their creative placemaking goals. Coaches ask the kind of questions that cause team members to think about what they’re doing, and why. Coaches help teams select the best choices – which means the choices that best fits the team’s goals, interests, values, and risk tolerance. Every team produces a tangible product – which could be a plan, report, or other outcome depending on the goal. More importantly, community teams come away from the experience being able to make smarter, more cost-effective and sustainable choices -- not only for creative placemaking, but for any community or economic development issue.
Teams meet with their coaches at least once a month for six months. Each meeting is about two hours, and is focused on whatever needs to be addressed to help the team pursue its goal. All members of the team have to be committed to the team’s goal and to working with one another.
Community coaching is a new approach to addressing difficult challenges in community, economic and cultural development. The process combines training, advisory services, team building and leadership development to arrive at practical and sustainable solutions. The community team is not like so many “advisory” committees that are formed to provide occasional ideas to consultants. The team is a working group of leaders who are expected to be the catalysts for creative placemaking in their community for the long-term.
Communities
As of April 2012, ABC has worked with or is working with three New Jersey communities, Perth Amboy, Atlantic Highlands, New Brunswick and coastal Monmouth County
In Perth Amboy, ABC is helping leaders develop a city-wide creative placemaking plan that would, among other things, promote the City’s rich heritage and diversity, enhance business activity, and enhance the quality of life and environment for residents and area artists.
For more information on Perth Amboy, please contact Lis Mery Ramirez, Assistant Recreation Supervisor and Municipal Alliance Coordinator, City of Perth Amboy, 732-826-1690, x4325, lramirez@perthamboy
Coaches
Chair: Suzanne Ishee, Producer, Broadway Center Stage Productions
 Suzanne Ishee (Chair) is an Emmy and Drama Desk Award winning producer, actor and playwright. She continues to play leading roles having performed in a multitude of Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theatres and she is soloist for symphonies and arts series throughout North America. Suzanne produces major special events most notably for international music festivals. Carnegie Hall and The Theatre League and with her company, Broadway Center Stage, she creates and produces chamber musicals. She was instrumental in the organizational development of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and has also served on the boards of The International School of Performing Arts and advisory board of The Balm In Gilead. Suzanne has been a lifelong advocate for artists as catalysts for social change and is an active member of Actors Equity Association, American Guild of Musical Artists, The Dramatists Guild, and the NJ Board of Realtors focusing on growing community cultural capital. She and husband, Michael, live in Maplewood.
Joseph Barris, AICP/PP, Supervising Planner, Monmouth County Planning Board
 Joseph M. Barris, P.P., A.I.C.P. Mr. Barris recently began working as a parks planner for the Monmouth County Park System. Prior to this, he was a staff member with the Monmouth County Division of Planning since June 2003 and a Supervising Planner with the Long Range Planning Section since March 2006. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science from Cook College, Rutgers University and a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning, from the Rutgers University Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. His career has been one of diverse interests and assignments in the fields of environmental planning, transportation, development review, parks and open space, redevelopment, master plan and ordinance writing, as well as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. As a project manager he has incorporated planning for the arts into Monmouth County's regional studies; reinforcing the importance and affect that the arts have on both the local economy and community identity. He is a board member of the recently formed Freehold Borough Arts Council. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey.
Stuart Koperweis, MPPPS and former President, Jersey City Economic Development Corporation
 Stuart Z. Koperweis has more than twenty five years of experience in economic growth, revitalization and development, having served U.S. Congressmen and Mayors. As president of S3X Associates, LLC consultants he has assisted both municipal governments and private corporations from New York to Colorado utilizing the moniker "making public/private partnerships simple.” As Director of Government/Corporate Relations for Downtown New Jersey, Inc. (DNJ), a state wide organization working with downtowns, he has been instrumental in developing alliances and partnerships with numerous statewide organizations. Mr. Koperweis has overseen the effective formation of Special Improvement Districts (SID), Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) programs, Economic Development Corporations (EDC); Transit Oriented Development (TOD) impact studies, and progressive economic incentive programs – embodied in the Holistic Urban Building (HUB) approach – which he has developed utilizing the arts. Mr. Koperweis lives with his wife and three children on Deal Lake, adjacent to Historic Asbury Park.
Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP, Director, Arts Build Communities
 Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP, (Director) is a co-founder of Arts Build Communities. He has more than 15 years of experience as a community and economic development planner, and has special expertise in creative placemaking, cultural competency, leadership development, and strategic communications. He is a co-founder and former director of the Professional Development Institute and The Leading Institute at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. He is the author of Leading from the Middle: Strategic Thinking for Planning and Community Development Professionals; co-editor of Dialogos: Placemaking in Latino Communities; and author of dozens of essays and articles on creative placemaking, diversity, leadership and urban planning practice. He is the principal author of all reports produced by Arts Build Communities and the lead (i.e., principal investigator) for all research and technical assistance conducted by ABC. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey.
Schedule, fees and registration
Community coaching is offered in three sessions:
- June 2012 to January 2013 (no coaching in August) Fee: $2,500
- September 2012 to March 2013 (no coaching around winter holidays) Fee: $3,500
- 2013 sessions to be announced
Fees can be paid through check or credit card. Purchase orders from government agencies are also accepted as promissory notes.
To register, go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/abc_cc_2012
Contact
For more information, please contact Leonardo Vazquez, at 848-932-2747 or vazquezl@rutgers.edu
To learn about how Arts Build Communities can help your organization or community, please contact Leonardo Vazquez at 848-932-2747 or vazquezl@rutgers.edu
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