Berryville has caught on to the economic development potential of the arts. On Jan. 9 Berryville Main Street (BMS) held a grand opening of the Fire House Gallery and Shop with wide-eyed enthusiasm. After all, this latest project is a new direction for the organization. The Fire House is a public-private project initiated by the … More Berryville Main Street embraces the arts
Maps make sense of the world around us. They are both descriptive (think of the elevated ridgelines of topographic maps) and prescriptive (the Google maps navigator telling you how to get from here to there). And they don’t always match reality. As this Slate slideshow of strange maps demonstrates, maps may not fit so much into neat categories of right … More Mapmaker, mapmaker, make me a map
As part of a downtown commercial revitalization course at Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Main Street intern Margaret Barre and her colleagues have developed a revitalization strategy for the community of Ashland. The real-world case study ended in a presentation to the Town Council. Watch the NBC-12 news video to learn more about the student’s strategic … More Video: VMS Intern Margaret Barre’s downtown revitalization effort featured in news
Economic development and arts professionals convened in South Boston last week to explore strategies for harnessing the “creative class” in their communities. The conference, “Art and the Creative Economy,” featured notable speakers presenting examples of how small towns and cities have enhanced their economies by embracing the arts. The term “creative class,” as coined by Richard … More Arts and the economy converge at South Boston conference
Download the Fall 2009 Main Street Monitor for a look at revitalization efforts centered on arts and cultural assets around the commonwealth. The Art of Downtown: Revitalization with an arts and cultural approach features include 10 tips for building on your community’s cultural assets 7 best practices for implementing a mural program 3 elephants, a … More The Art of Downtown: Revitalization with an arts and culture approach
Public policy can direct private investment. By creating opportunities and incentives that align with a community’s economic development strategy, a locality, whether small or large, can put the tools in place to turn the vision into a reality. Abingdon, the historic Washington County town, recently approved two new tax credits to help local property owners … More Abingdon puts policy tools to work
Virginia Main Street’s annual essentials training provided a two-day session focused on economic restructuring and design challenges facing communities today. A group of more than 60 participants gathered in the heart of Old Town Manassas at the renovated Candy Factory, now home to the Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas and Prince William County. Hilary … More Intensive two-day training attracts 60
A recent Daily Yonder article was forwarded to the VMS Blog from the City of Martinsville, which is pulling together community investment in their central business district through the Uptown Partners project. “The Town that Builds Entrepreneurs” uses data from Oklahoma communities to demonstrate the power of the Main Street economic restructuring approach: an incremental effort to … More Towns that build entrepreneurs
As the song says, if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere. If the Big Apple can make a park-like setting out of one of the city’s busiest streets, what’s to stop your town from making a pro-people shift in one of your important spaces? Of course we need cars and trucks, delivery access and … More New York rethinks Broadway
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