Art, Design, and Entrepreneurship: Creative Placemaking Beyond the City

3 units

This course invites students from diverse areas of interest to engage with the cultural landscape of Marion County and Hannibal, Missouri - a region that, through the work of Mark Twain, popularly epitomizes both rural life and the allure of the Mississippi River. While a quarter of a million tourists visit this area each year to follow in Tom Sawyer's footsteps, the work of local artists, designers, and entrepreneurs are innovating the narrative of this place and opening up room for consideration of African-American experience, local food systems, and the complex series of social and economic connections within life along the Mississippi. This course puts that spirit of collaboration and imagination in the hands of students, challenging them to think beyond the borders of their disciplines to create projects that present new connections between place, community, and culture to both rural and urban audiences. The National Endowment for the Arts defines creative placemaking as an opportunity when public, private, not-for-profit, and community sectors partner to strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region around arts and cultural activities. Through fieldwork, research, and idea-creation, students will collaborate with mentors on the ground to create locally appropriate projects that address questions of culture and design in the region. Occasional off-campus visits will be joined in the classroom to a wide range of readings, case studies and webstreamed conversations with national leaders across fields. The course will conclude with small teams designing a specific plan, event, or project that could later be implemented in the community.