In a shift from earlier approaches to economic development and the arts, ArtPlace neither treats the arts as an add-on nor expects development to follow on its own from stand-alone investments in cultural projects. Instead, ArtPlace supports projects in which cultural groups operate in concert with other community partners, private and public.  By leveraging the arts and culture with all of a community’s other existing assets, ArtPlace aims to help communities achieve vibrant growth while doing more with less.

ArtPlace sees its role as providing venture capital, seeding entrepreneurial projects that already enjoy strong local buy-in, connect to a community’s economic development strategy and have the potential to attract additional private and public support to the community.