ArtPlace America
ArtPlace America was a ten-year, $150 million nonprofit collaboration (2010-2020) among foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions that funded nearly 300 creative placemaking projects to integrate arts and culture into equitable community development. It is now closed.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What ArtPlace America does
ArtPlace America was a ten-year, $150 million collaborative funded by a coalition of private foundations (including Barr, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Knight, Mellon, Rockefeller, and Kresge), federal agencies (NEA, HUD, DOT, USDA, HHS, DOE), and financial institutions (Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, MetLife, Morgan Stanley). Operating from 2010 to 2020 and headquartered in New York, the nonprofit's mission was to position arts and culture as a core sector of equitable community planning and development through the practice of creative placemaking. It served artists and cultural organizations, community development practitioners, local government stakeholders, and higher education institutions.
The organization operated as a grantmaking field-builder rather than a commercial enterprise. Its core programs were the National Creative Placemaking Fund (demonstration project grants supporting nearly 300 initiatives), the Community Development Investments program (organizational change grants to community development organizations), the Local Control, Local Fields initiative (over $12.5M placed under direct practitioner control via participatory philanthropy), and the Creative Placemaking Resource Hub with its dedicated research portal. Distribution occurred through competitive grant applications and through a partnership with the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (A2RU) for resource distribution. The underlying technology footprint was minimal: a content website (now maintained as an archive by Red Sequoia) and a searchable digital catalogue migrated to A2RU.
ArtPlace America's business model was a time-bounded philanthropic collaboration with no pricing or product revenue. All $150 million was sourced from the named funder coalition and deployed as grants to grantees, with the strategic objective of strengthening and institutionalizing the creative placemaking field. The organization sunset at the end of 2020 upon completion of its planned ten-year strategic horizon, with field-building assets (resource hub, research portal) transferred to successor organizations for long-term stewardship.
ArtPlace America firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ArtPlace America
- Legal name
- ArtPlace America
- Website
- https://artplaceamerica.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Closed
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ArtPlace America was a ten-year, $150 million nonprofit collaboration (2010-2020) among foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions that funded nearly 300 creative placemaking projects to integrate arts and culture into equitable community development. It is now closed.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ArtPlace America industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Arts & Culture Grantmaking and Creative Placemaking Philanthropy
- NAICS
- Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Community Arts, Culture & Creative Placemaking Enterprises (BPAGALAO)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ), Public Art, Arts Councils & Grantmaking Programs (BPAGAHAH), Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC)
Keywords
Where ArtPlace America is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
ArtPlace America business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
ArtPlace America product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ArtPlace America was a ten-year, $150 million collaborative grant-making initiative (2010-2020) that funded creative placemaking projects and organizations. It invested through the National Creative Placemaking Fund, Community Development Investments, and Local Control, Local Fields initiative, and produced a digital archive of toolkits, research studies, and resources for arts, local government, higher education, and community development stakeholders.
Product overview
ArtPlace America was a collaborative initiative (not a commercial tech product) that operated from 2010 to 2020 with a $150 million investment portfolio. The organization's core offerings included the National Creative Placemaking Fund for demonstration projects, Community Development Investments for organizational change, Local Control, Local Fields for participatory philanthropy, and the Creative Placemaking Resource Hub as a digital archive. These programs worked together to strengthen the field of creative placemaking by building networks, creating resources for stakeholders (arts organizations, local government, higher education), and supporting cross-sector collaboration. The website now operates as an archive maintained by Red Sequoia developers, with resources migrated to A2RU.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- National Creative Placemaking Fund Demonstration project grants awarded through a competitive application process to support creative placemaking initiatives across the US; awarded to city governments, individual artists, and organizations.
- Community Development Investments Organizational change grants supporting community development sector integration of arts and cultural practices, helping traditional community development organizations embed creative placemaking.
- Local Control, Local Fields Participatory and trust-based philanthropy initiative that placed over $12.5M directly under the control of practitioners and local assemblies across the country.
- Creative Placemaking Resource Hub Searchable digital catalogue of toolkits, research studies, and creative placemaking resources from ArtPlace and the broader field, hosted by Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (A2RU).
- Creative Placemaking Research Portal Online portal containing the comprehensive set of materials developed through ArtPlace's cross-sector research strategies; available at www.creativeplacemakingresearch.org.
Quantifiable outcome
- Nearly 300 creative placemaking, placekeeping, and placetending initiatives funded
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use ArtPlace America
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
ArtPlace America technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
ArtPlace America partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (A2RU)coreA2RU serves as the successor organization hosting ArtPlace's searchable digital catalogue of toolkits, research studies, and creative placemaking resources. The Creative Placemaking Resource Hub is maintained as a living archive building on ArtPlace's decade of field-building work.
- National Endowment for the ArtscoreFederal agency partner providing leadership and programmatic support for creative placemaking
- U.S. Department of TransportationcoreFederal agency partner integrating arts and culture into transportation and community planning
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentcoreFederal agency partner in the cross-sector creative placemaking collaborative
- U.S. Department of AgriculturecoreFederal agency partner supporting rural creative placemaking initiatives
- U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicescoreFederal agency partner exploring intersection of arts, culture, and health in community development
- U.S. Department of EducationcoreFederal agency partner supporting arts education integration in communities
- Enterprise Community PartnerscoreNational nonprofit working to build equitable communities through affordable housing and community development; strategic partner in creative placemaking field
- LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation)coreNational nonprofit supporting community development; partnered on creative placemaking initiatives and field-building
- PolicyLinkcoreNational research institute focused on economic and social equity; strategic partner in creative placemaking research
- Federal Reserve Bank of San FranciscocoreFederal Reserve partner conducting research on transforming community development through arts and culture
- iobycoreCrowdfunding platform for civic creative projects; key partnership for arts and culture sector engagement
- National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA)coreAssociation of state arts agencies; strategic partner for creative placemaking integration at state level
- NORC at the University of ChicagocoreUniversity-based research organization; research and evaluation partner for creative placemaking impact studies
- Arizona State University - Herberger Institute for Design and the ArtscoreUniversity partner for creative placemaking research and education integration
- University of New Mexico - Indigenous Design and Planning InstitutecoreUniversity partner focused on Indigenous design and planning approaches to creative placemaking
- The New School - College of Performing ArtscoreUniversity partner for arts management and entrepreneurship in creative placemaking
- Center for Performance & Civic PracticecoreOrganization focused on performance and civic practice; strategic partner in field-building
- Helicon CollaborativecoreResearch and consulting organization focused on creative placemaking field development
- The Loop LabminorTraining provider partner for creative placemaking capacity building
- Red SequoiaminorWebsite developers maintaining ArtPlace website as an archive
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
ArtPlace America competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- National Endowment for the Arts (Our Town program): The NEA's Our Town grant program is the closest direct analog to ArtPlace's National Creative Placemaking Fund, funding projects that embed arts and culture into community development. Both organizations fund cross-sector placemaking projects, but NEA operates as a federal agency with different funding mechanisms and broader cultural programming.
- Americans for the Arts: Americans for the Arts is the national service organization for the arts sector, working at the intersection of arts, community development, and policy. It addresses an overlapping audience and mission with ArtPlace but functions as a broad advocacy and capacity-building body rather than a direct grantmaker for creative placemaking.
- Knight Foundation (Arts program): Knight Foundation was a major financial partner of ArtPlace and independently funds creative placemaking and the arts as part of its community development work. It serves similar beneficiaries but operates as a single-foundation funder without ArtPlace's collaborative pooled structure.
- Kresge Foundation (Arts & Culture program): Kresge was a major ArtPlace partner and funds arts and creative placemaking as a core strategy within its broader community development mission. Comparable in cross-sector integration but at a single-foundation scale.
- Barr Foundation (Arts & Creativity): Barr Foundation was a lead ArtPlace partner and continues to fund creative placemaking and arts integration in Greater Boston and nationally. It serves similar grantmaking audiences but is region-rooted in Boston, unlike ArtPlace's nationwide scope.
- Surdna Foundation (Arts program): Surdna funds culturally rooted arts and equitable community development through its Thriving Cultures program, overlapping with ArtPlace's goals for arts as a core sector of community planning. Single-foundation funder with similar field-building ambitions.
Direct peers
- A Blade of Grass: A Blade of Grass is a nonprofit foundation that funds socially engaged art and creative placemaking projects, with explicit focus on equitable community outcomes. It directly parallels ArtPlace's grantmaking approach and field-building role within the creative placemaking space.
- Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC): LINC was a predecessor intermediary in creative placemaking, funding and supporting arts-based community development across multiple cities. It operated with a pooled philanthropic model similar to ArtPlace and served the same practitioner ecosystem.
Emerging players
- Creative Time: Creative Time commissions public art and cultural projects that engage with civic and community development themes, with overlapping team lineage to ArtPlace (Leila Tamari came from Creative Time). Comparable mission orientation toward arts in public life, but operates as project commissioner rather than grantmaker.
- Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC): LISC was an ArtPlace strategic partner and one of the largest community development financial intermediaries in the US, integrating creative placemaking into affordable housing and neighborhood development. Comparable cross-sector integration approach at much larger scale and with broader scope.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ArtPlace America social profiles
Digital presenceArtPlace America financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ArtPlace America leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
ArtPlace America funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors1 record
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ArtPlace America M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ArtPlace America
What does ArtPlace America do?
ArtPlace America was a ten-year, $150 million collaborative grant-making initiative (2010-2020) that funded creative placemaking projects and organizations. It invested through the National Creative Placemaking Fund, Community Development Investments, and Local Control, Local Fields initiative, and produced a digital archive of toolkits, research studies, and resources for arts, local government, higher education, and community development stakeholders.
Is ArtPlace America a public or private company?
ArtPlace America is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently closed.
When was ArtPlace America founded?
ArtPlace America was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ArtPlace America based?
ArtPlace America is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
Who are ArtPlace America's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are National Endowment for the Arts (Our Town program), Americans for the Arts, Knight Foundation (Arts program), Kresge Foundation (Arts & Culture program), Barr Foundation (Arts & Creativity) and Surdna Foundation (Arts program). Direct peers are A Blade of Grass and Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC). Emerging players are Creative Time and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).
Does ArtPlace America have an API?
No public API is recorded for ArtPlace America.
What industry is ArtPlace America in?
ArtPlace America's product category is Arts & Culture Grantmaking and Creative Placemaking Philanthropy. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGALAO, Community Arts, Culture & Creative Placemaking Enterprises, with a secondary code of BPAGAKAJ, Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations. Its NAICS code is 81321.