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The Importance of Storytelling for Placemaking

Creative placemaking uses arts and culture to transform communities, creating vibrant and inclusive spaces. Storytelling is essential in this process, helping to communicate visions, build community, and inspire action. Placemakers connect with various people by sharing engaging narratives, gathering support, and bringing about meaningful change.

Humans love narratives, for millennia, we have used them to make complex ideas more relatable and engaging. Stories work because they connect us emotionally. When community members hear stories reflecting their experiences and aspirations, they are more likely to feel invested in placemaking efforts and participate. Effective storytelling raises awareness about placemaking projects in general, too. Keeping the community informed and involved with openness builds trust and fosters a sense of ownership, encouraging community members to support and advocate for the project and possibly others.

Stories can inspire action and gain support not only from the community but also from philanthropic funders, decision-makers, individual donors, and volunteers. By illustrating a project’s impact through personal stories, placemakers highlight the importance of their work and persuade others to contribute their resources and expertise. Storytelling allows us to showcase unique approaches and successes, setting our work apart and attracting support and funding.

Documenting and sharing these stories creates a legacy that inspires future generations, provides valuable lessons, and maintains the spirit of placemaking. Additionally, engaging stories capture online audiences’ attention, increasing visibility.

Now we know the “why?”, let’s get to the “how.” 

Step 1
Identify the Great Stories
  • The Nature of Our Challenge: Describe the problem your project addresses using personal stories rather than just statistics. This makes the issue more relatable and compelling.
  • The Creation Story: Share how your organization or project started, including key milestones and inspirations. This internal story builds a strong foundation and sense of purpose.
  • Emblematic Success Stories: Highlight unique approaches and successful outcomes to demonstrate the effectiveness of your work. These stories help differentiate your project from others.
  • Values Stories: Show how your organization lives its core values through real-life examples. This reinforces your commitment and authenticity.

The Vision Story: Describe the future goals and what success looks like. This aspirational story inspires and motivates audiences.

Step 2
Source Stories from the Community
  • Programming: Events and initiatives often contain powerful stories. Document these moments to share later. Sometimes, the way you do the programming or the unique content IS the story. Consider telling the story of the programming through the people who are impacted by it. 
  • Interviews and Profiles: Conduct interviews with community members, leaders, and artists to capture their experiences and perspectives. This is also a great way to build community and deepen relationships. Interviews can feel intimate, and a level of trust and transparency can be achieved when it’s done right.  
  • Grassroots Efforts: Highlight the work of local leaders and activists making a difference in the community. Again, it shows you are listening and that you are not the community expert but are willing to learn and defer. 
  • Relationship Building: Stories often emerge from the connections and relationships built within the community. Engage with community members to uncover these narratives.
Step 3
Make Stories Sticky
  • Structured: Ensure your stories have a tight narrative arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end; just like in every film or novel you love.
  • Textured: Use detailed descriptions to make the stories vivid and engaging, moving beyond numbers and data. Remember, data is people, and people like to hear stories (about people) 
  • Igniting: Craft stories that drive action by including a clear call to action. It’s a good way to begin by considering why you are doing it. Do we want people to read our story and say, “Oh, that’s nice,” or do we want them to take a particular action after they have been moved or galvanized?
  • Connecting: Make the stories relatable by connecting them to the audience’s experiences and memories.
  • Kid-Leveled: Your academic writing is brilliant in the right hands. Simplify stories for the public to ensure they are easy to understand and resonate with a broad audience. A few years ago, it was said that people have the attention span of a goldfish. These days, research suggests it’s worse than a goldfish.  
Step 4
Multiple Channels for Sharing
  • Social Media: Share stories on Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to reach a wide audience. Choose a platform that fits the demographic.
  • Website and Blogs: Publish detailed stories and updates on your website and blog to provide a comprehensive view of your project. This will also provide great historical detail when describing your project to others or seeking future funding.
  • Press and PR: Use press releases and media coverage to reach a broader audience and gain credibility. Local press are usually interested in great community stories from their area, so make some relationships, buy some tea, and see where it goes.
  • Conferences and Op-Eds: These are great ways to spread the word wider and fashion yourself as a thought leader on the subject while you’re at it. Present your stories at conferences and write opinion pieces to influence public opinion and decision-makers.
  • Word of Mouth and Art/Culture: Encourage community members to share stories through word of mouth and artistic expressions. Having multiple ways to collect stories, as long as they are used, is key. (People get upset if you interview them or make a film, and then it never gets used, or there’s insufficient communication about when and where it will appear.)  
Step 5
Engage the Community
  • Seek Connection: Organize town halls, pop-ups, and door-knocking campaigns to gather stories and feedback from the community. 
  • Relationships are Key: Build relationships with folks in the community so they feel heard and included. It’s amazing the stories people want to share when they trust you.
  • Folk Love to Talk: People LOVE telling stories about how a project has impacted them or the area’s history.
  • Move at the Speed of Trust: Active engagement helps build trust and uncover new narratives.
Step 6
Persuade Decision Makers
  • Persuading Decision-Makers: Present compelling stories to decision-makers to gain their support and funding.
  • Highlight the Community’s Needs: Talk about the impact of your project to make a strong case.
Step 7
Demonstration Projects

This can be a great way to help people understand the value and impact of what you do. Before you’re ready to share your own stories, lean on the many already available. Here are some resources:

    • Artplace America: This was a ten-year, $150 million collaboration among several foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions from 2010 to 2020. Our mission was to position arts and culture as a core equitable community planning and development sector. Creative Placemaking stories from ten sectors in this extremely useful archived site
    • Policylink: Artplace worked with Policylink on multiple placemaking projects, which you can find at the link. 
    • A2ru Creative Placemaking Hub: The core of the Hub is the resources gathered and created by ArtPlace America during its ten years of field-making activities (2010-2020). ArtPlace transferred its archive to a2ru with the intention that the Hub should continue to grow over time, incorporating additional resources from the creative placemaking field to reflect its continued evolution.
    • National Endowment for the Arts Our Town program Technical Assistance: Our Town is the NEA’s creative placemaking grants program. Through project-based funding, the program supports activities integrating arts, culture, and design into local efforts that strengthen communities over the long term. Our Town projects engage various stakeholders to advance local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes in communities. Competitive projects are responsive to unique local conditions, develop meaningful and substantive community engagement, center equity, advance artful lives, and lay the groundwork for long-term systems change.

 

IAF Re-Imagine