From Rust Belt to Artist Belt is an exciting one-day event that will begin to transform the way we think of industrial cities. Community development professionals working in “Rust Belt” cities will meet to discuss how we can re-position our region as an ideal environment for artists. We’ll examine the specific community development environment that Rust Belt cities face, such as declining population, low in-migration and abundant vacant properties. We’ll then start to talk about how these trends can provide “Rust Belt” cities with a unique set of opportunities for serving the creative workforce and how best to do so. And we’ll begin to build a regional agenda for pushing artist-oriented community development forward in “Rust Belt” cities.

Participants will hear from 19 experts in artist-oriented community development and practitioners who are leading such projects in the industrial Midwest. Topics will range from marketing and branding to financing to legal concerns to engaging artists as residents.

Key speakers will include Ann Markusen (Director, Project on Regional and Industrial Economics, University of Minnesota), Jeremy Nowak (President and CEO, The Reinvestment Fund), and Mark Barone (Founder, the Paducah Artist Relocation Project).

Text from Cultural Policy Listserve http://www.culturalcommons.org/eventdetail.cfm?ID=1243