Placemakers from across the US will converge here for workshops, tours and ideation
Placemakers from across the United States will converge in Flint on Sept. 21-24 for a Placemaking Week of tours, learning, sharing and transformation.
The city, known as the crucible of the car, was one of the first communities to be designed around the automobile (literally by General Motors), and now Flint is refocusing its energy with locals reinventing the city around people and places for a brighter urban future.
What’s Up Downtown Flint and PlacemakingUS are welcoming placemakers from across the country for an in-depth exploration of how the community is reuniting and growing around art, music and culture, and evolving both its social and urban fabric through the powerful efforts of the creative, Flintstone spirit.
Flint Placemaking Week will take place in-person at a variety of interesting venues that show off Downtown Flint’s heritage, including GM’s Durant-Dort Factory One and innovative new spaces such as Flint’s cheekily-named community maker space, Factory Two.
“It’s a unique and powerful moment for Flint,” said Kady Yellow, Director of Placemaking for the What’s Up Downtown Flint project. “The energy and scene here is electric and we want to continue to harness and grow our local talent and invite everyone to catch the buzz.”
“We’ve watched Flint coalesce over the last few years around its grassroots music, art and entrepreneurial culture,” said Ryan Smolar, initiator of the PlacemakingUS network. “We recently visited placemakers in 60-plus cities and Flint struck us as being in the midst of a very special moment, brimming with creative energy.
“We organized this week to support this moment and also to share its enthusiasm with other communities across the country. Whether you’re from Flint or another city facing some of the same post-industrial opportunities and issues, this will be fertile ground to elevate place-based economies and restore social life across the country.”
Placemakers from Flint, greater Michigan and every state in the union are invited for a Placemaking Week filled with workshops, discussions, idea-sharing around the following themes:
- Connecting Neighborhoods
- Makers and the Local Economy
- Creative Placemaking
- Streets for People
- Healthy Placemaking
- Downtown Management
TICKETS: Tickets are on-sale now at PlacemakingUS.org/FlintPW. General admission tickets are $250 and a “Pay What You Will” option is available so that price is not a stumbling block for participation.
COVID NOTICE: Attendees and participants are strongly recommended to be vaccinated. Genesee County currently recommends wearing a mask when indoors.
ACCOMMODATIONS: Guests are invited to book their stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Flint Downtown in the newly renovated historic Genesee County Savings Bank building. Be sure to inquire about the conference’s special room rate.
GETTING HERE: Located in mid-Michigan, Flint is served by Bishop International Airport (which has direct flights from Chicago, Charlotte and Tampa). The city is about an hour’s drive from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Uber/Lyft costs around $100 each way for this route. Let the organizers know when you plan to arrive and they’ll try to pair you with another placemaker for rideshare.
Event produced by What’s Up Downtown Flint in collaboration with PlacemakingUS, PlacemakingX and an “Uncomittee” including UnCommittee Cathleen Edgerly, Carma Lewis, Dominique Strong, Cade Surface, Megan Heyza, Ryan Smolar, Ethan Kent and Madeleine Spencer.
What’s Up Downtown, launched in 2020, aims to diversify the types of authentic Flint cultural experiences and activities offered in downtown Flint for a livelier city center. We pair people with places and programs to celebrate Flint’s rich history in entrepreneurship, invention, and innovation with the end goal of equity and building real generational wealth for the most underserved populations in creative new ways focused on raw talent.
PlacemakingUS is a regional network organized in coordination with our global partner PlacemakingX and sister networks in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Canada and beyond.