CPCP’s Learning Lab

A cohort-based program hosted by arts agencies that builds local capacity for artist and community/municipal partnerships.

In a series of 4 all-day sessions and one-on-one mentoring, artists and civic partners:

  • Explore public and placekeeping artistic practices

  • Learn tools to develop and work in equitable arts-based partnerships through deep listening and co-design skills

  • Engage partners in change efforts reflecting community-defined needs

  • Explore how artistic tools can be utilized for community change processes

After the workshops, Learning Lab funds and coaches newly imagined local projects that cohort teams undertake. Some of these in Nashville have included:

  • Creating an ethnobotanical art project using elements of Kurdish textile design and gardening traditions

  • Designing a coloring book featuring influential African Americans in Nashville history

  • Implementing a pottery studio employment program for adults with intellectual disabilities

 


"CPCP helped us create invaluable resources to cultivate partnerships between locally-based artists, government agencies and non-profits to create deep, community-led change on a neighborhood level. We’ve seen the healing power this work can have on communities and local arts ecosystems alike and we are thankful for our amazing thought partners at CPCP.”
– Van Maravalli, Public Art & Placemaking Project Manager, Metro Arts, Nashville Office of Arts + Culture
 

We first launched Learning Lab in the summer of 2016 with the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, co-created with Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville.  The Nashville Learning Lab has been supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission, and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville.

To connect with us about possibilities of hosting a Learning Lab in your city, click here.

 

Watch a short video about CPCP’s Nashville Learning Lab Round 1.