Last February, Post-Dispatch reporter Amy Bertrand broke the news that the Central West End had been nominated as one of the top 33 ArtPlaces in the country. No one in the neighborhood had been alerted by the ArtPlace organization based in Chicago of this recognition; it was Bertrand's report that drew our attention.
"ArtPlace, an initiative of national and regional foundations, federal
agencies and major banks to accelerate creative placemaking, identifies
the Top ArtPlaces in the nation’s largest U.S. metropolitan areas with
neighborhoods that have been exceptionally successful at combining art,
artists and venues for creativity and expression with independent
businesses, retails stores and restaurants, and a walkable lifestyle to
make vibrant neighborhoods."
Also recognized for 2013 was the Gold Coast & a section of the Near
North Side in Chicago, the intersection of Downtown, Fort Greene,
Gowanus, Park Slope and Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, and South Beach in
Miami. A group of us decided that
this award for the CWE should be recognized. We asked several residents and others who work in the neighborhood to join in planning a celebration. They include Roseann Weiss, Regional Arts Commission's Director of Community Art & Public Art Initiatives, World Chess Hall of Fame's Lauren Stewart, and CWEA Board Members Amy Howell and Frances Thompson, Bill Kasalko and myself.
Identifying the top ArtPlaces involved a search of 33,000 zip codes to find areas that scored highest on a set of six indicators identified by Impresa Inc., a Portland-based consulting firm. Four of the indicators measured ingredients of vibrancy: the number of retail and service businesses; the percentage of independent businesses; the neighborhood’s Walk Score, and the percentage of workers in creative occupations living in the neighborhood.
Two arts-related indicators were also used: the number of arts-related non-profits and the number of arts-related businesses.
Here is the area of the CWE that ArtPlaces included in this recognition:
ArtCWE is planned for next Friday, November 15th, from 5 to 7 p.m. on McPherson Avenue. Galleries and shops will stay open late, and there will be refreshments provided by area restaurants. At 6:30 p.m., several dignitaries (see flyer above) will speak at the Philip Slein Gallery about the arts in the CWE. Then everyone is invited to walk to the Trova sculpture "Gox A" recently installed next to Left Bank Books where there will be a champagne dedication.
There is also an opportunity to purchase 1/2 price tickets to the World Chess Hall of Fame's "A Queen Within" (see yesterday's post) as part of this celebration. The museum will stay open until 9 p.m. on Friday. Visit the Central West End Association's website to purchase tickets to the exhibition.
We hope all of you will join us for ArtCWE next Friday evening – residents are included as contributing to what makes a neighborhood one of the top 33 ArtPlaces in the country. It isn't necessary to live here however to participate, all are invited.
The ArtCWE event is a collaboration between the CWEA, NCID, the RAC and CWE residents and businesses that recognize the importance of art in our community and the value in celebrating it.
Definitely Mary!!!
Are we on that map, Nicki???!