What happens when you team artists with local arts, culture and social organizations and task them with creating an innovative street gallery in vacant storefronts? On June 25, Staunton visitors and residents will find out, as a month-long exhibit opens in the empty windows along Beverley Street. For a downtown braving a major construction project, … More Staunton’s storefront art initiative
The performing arts are at home on Main Streets throughout Virginia. Commissioned works on a regional theme premiere at Abingdon’s Barter Theatre. Shakespearean tragedies move audiences at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton. And audiences around the country tune in to watch bluegrass legends pick and sing on Song of the Mountains from the stage of Marion’s Lincoln Theatre. South Boston’s Prizery has added to that list … More South Boston puts on a show
Wouldn’t you like to have a downtown filled with energetic and forward thinking businesses? In today’s fast changing economy, success belongs to those nimble risk takers who understand that their job is to fill consumer demand; The Entrepreneurs. Join the Virginia Main Street network of downtown revitalization professionals and volunteers in Franklin on July 22 and 23 … More Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Downtown: Summer toolkit registration now open
Give an entrepreneur a challenge and let them rise to it. That strategy is fueling two transportation efficiency efforts, and it may provide a much needed model for community problem-solving. In one case, Oliver Kuttner, a Lynchburg entrepreneur, is responding to the fuel efficiency challenge made by Progressive Automotive’s X-Prize: to create a practical, safe car that can travel 100 miles on … More The entrepreneur as community problem solver
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which houses the National Trust Main Street Center, has named Stephanie Meeks as the organization’s eighth president. Meeks replaces Richard Moe, who led the organization for the past 17 years before his retirement in late 2009. Meeks has an established track record leading large nonprofit organizations. She served as president … More National Trust names new president
Historic preservation is gaining popular recognition as a “green” practice connected to broader sustainability goals. After all, reuse of a historic building is fundamental recycling. From a national perspective, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has created a Sustainability and Historic Preservation Web resource for homeowners, Main Street communities and preservation planners. Now Virginia can … More Virginia Preservation Toolkit, a green guide?
With the addition of two new Commercial District Affiliates, the list of communities recognized as pursuing or exploring the Main Street Four Point Approach has grown to 98. There are currently 21 designated Virginia Main Street (VMS) Communities across the commonwealth. These communities have all been nationally accredited by the National Trust Main Street Center for their work in … More New Virginia Main Street Commercial District Affiliates named
Don Macke at the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship just sent out a summary of takeaways from an Economic Development Survey undertaken by the National League of Cities and the International County/City Management Association (ICMA). The Center, an initiative of the Rural Policy Research Intsitiute (RUPRI)consistently puts out substantive resources for supporting entrepreneurial development. Sign up here for … More Getting serious about downtown entrepreneurship
If you were asked to describe an entrepreneur, what words would you use? Maybe terms like “bright, energetic, or magnetic.” This 2004 article in the aptly named magazine Entrepreneur, gives a whole host of other terms, not all of them complimentary. Two descriptions of an entrepreneur that most people would not use are “ex-felon,” and … More The unexpected entrepreneur
The weather has been perfect lately for a good walk, so on Sunday, I invited some retired friends for one. They declined, choosing instead to join the centrifugal crush of their comfortably dressed peers at the mall. The mall? I couldn’t imagine any place I’d rather avoid at on a sunny afternoon, but it got me thinking. Can downtowns … More These streets were made for walking
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