Concurrent Session – Energizing Places to Activate People

Spark Towns is a fourth-wave, people-centered economic development curriculum that teaching communities how to build and strengthen their creative energy. Based on the success of CREATE Portage County, a nonprofit arts advocacy organization that grew to become Wisconsin’s Economic Development Initiative of 2020, Spark Towns’ four-step program applies emerging research in zoning, social capital, creative placemaking, and ecosystem building to power up the ideas already moving through communities. This workshop will introduce communities to our simple formula to help participants energize the people and places that will strengthen their local economies.