MicroFest USA: Revitalize, Reconnect, Renew

What is the impact of art in your community?

The challenges facing America are immense…and the solutions will involve art.

MicroFest USA: Revitalize, Reconnect, Renew is a look at America and the role that art and artists play in creating healthy, vibrant communities. Part festival, part think-tank, the MicroFests are galvanizing local and national artists/activists/thinkers around placemaking efforts, while creating opportunities for learning exchange and inspiring new models across the United States.

The MicroFests are designed as multi-disciplinary events. Programming will include:

• performances
• local and national project profiles
• learning exchanges/hands-on participation
• neighborhood tours; and
• meals featuring locally grown food

Events will take place out in these communities – not in rooms talking about community.

The goals of MicroFest USA are to:

• have fun, create art, and strengthen communities;
• offer a field-wide learning exchange to strengthen cross-sector, civic-engaged work;
• expand how we view and discuss creative placemaking;
• foster collaborations among local and national artists and community leaders;
• document learning and best practices for art-based community revitalization; and
• advance ensemble practices as tools for community development
   

NET is partnering with Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for the Arts that works to make the arts an integral part of solutions to the challenges of communities. Photos and a mixtape plus documentary essays are now available from Detroit. Essays from the KY/TN MicroFest are also available. You'll find them all here.

For more information, contact Ashley Sparks, MicroFest USA Event Coordinator.