Rockland Creative Placemaking Project
Overview
Working in close partnership with the Town of Rockland and members of the REiMAGINE ROCKLAND Marketing and Promotion subcommittee as well as active citizens, MAPC developed a creative placemaking concept and executed a demonstration project between January and October of 2018.
Context
The Town identified the growing presence of artists in Rockland as an asset for its ongoing, cross-sectoral revitalization efforts. The Town convened a cross-sectoral committee called REiMAGINE ROCKLAND to guide a comprehensive effort to revitalize the central business district along Union Street. As part of REiMAGINE ROCKLAND, an Arts & Culture Subcommittee was tasked with finding ways to transform downtown Rockland through the work of artists and the arts. This subcommittee identified Creative Placemaking as a promising opportunity for engaging artists in the revitalization effort and demonstrating the potential impact of the arts on downtown Rockland. To help incorporate Arts & Culture into Rockland’s downtown revitalization, the Town of Rockland requested technical assistance from the MAPC Arts & Culture Division to develop a creative placemaking strategy around a demonstration project that would be submitted to the Commonwealth Places program in February, 2018, and executed between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019.
Primary Partners
- Rockland Town government
- Rockland Public Schools Art Department
Funding
The Rockland Creative Placemaking Strategy was funded through a grant for Technical Assistance from the MAPC Arts and Culture Department.
The Sole of Rockland Creative Placemaking project was funded through a Commonwealth Places grant in which the Patronicity crowdfuding platform was used by MassDevelopment to provide a dollar for dollar match to any project that reaches its goal. The matching goal for this project was $5,150, and an additional $1,650 was raised.
Process/ Structure
Working in close partnership with the Town of Rockland and members of the REiMAGINE ROCKLAND Marketing and Promotion subcommittee as well as active citizens, MAPC developed the creative placemaking concept, executed the crowdfunding campaign in concert with partners in Rockland, and executed the demonstration project between January and October of 2018.
Success
In addition to the transformation of local impressions and developers’ reactions to Rockland, the Sole of Rockland project generated creative resources that can be leveraged to expand the impact of the project. These resources include the following:
- A custom-built mobile creative engagement cart with wheel brakes, three supply bins, weather-resistant cushions, clothesline and pins for art displays, and a double-sided cork board for signage.
- A set of shoe-print stencils that can be used to extend the life of the project or expand the sidewalk paintings along Union Street.
- A partnership with the Rockland High School Art Department and knowledge-sharing about how to execute the sidewalk paintings.
- Hard copies of the watercolor shoeprint paintings for additional display throughout the town.
- Digital images of the watercolor shoeprint paintings and stencil designs for future use in marketing and promotion.
- Digital images of the project implementation for future use in marketing and promotion.
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