Transportation for America announces the Arts, Culture, and Transportation (ACT) Fellowship, a new opportunity for professionals to increase their knowledge of the transportation planning and design process, and develop creative placemaking skills to better integrate artistic and cultural practices in transportation projects. With generous funding from the Kresge Foundation, T4America will be providing hands-on, curated learning opportunities to a cohort of approximately 10-15 working professionals from across the United States including transportation engineers, designers, and planners, artists, community organizers, and others working at the intersection of the arts and transportation.
The fellowship is generously funded by the Kresge Foundation, which defines creative placemaking as an approach to community development and urban planning that integrates arts, culture, and community-engaged design strategies.
ELIGIBILITY
Artists working in any media are encouraged to apply. Transportation professionals of any background are also encouraged to apply, including planners, engineers, landscape architects, and policy analysts. In addition, applications from community organizers already active in creating change in their local area are welcome to apply. Applicants should be able to attend all scheduled events throughout the ACT fellowship. Professionals at any career level may apply. It is helpful, but not essential, for artists to have experience with community engagement and collaboration as part of their practice—and for other fellows to have an interest in the arts, including a desire to think outside the box to incorporate creative placemaking to improve transportation. T4America retains the right to use documentation of each fellow’s work in promotional materials.
Teams should apply if their goals include any of the following:
HOW IT WORKS
Fellows will remain employed by their organizations and agencies during the fellowship. The ACT fellowship will include an online distance learning component and three in-person convenings. T4America and Smart Growth America staff, as well as a team of national experts, will educate fellows on best practices in various areas of transportation, arts, and culture, while fellows will have an opportunity to share their own challenges and learn from one another. After the fellowship concludes, several graduating fellows will be offered the opportunity to assist with the next round of T4America’s State of the Art (SOTA) Transportation Trainings in communities across the country. By serving as consultants on these trainings, participating fellows will have the opportunity to develop new leadership, facilitation, and presentation skills.
Teams of candidates (at least two, but no more than four for each team) who share a geographic locality will apply. We recommend that your team have a mix of unique or shared experiences in the arts & culture and transportation sectors.
This is an excellent opportunity to learn how you can leverage creative placemaking in transportation projects, gain hands-on technical assistance geared towards addressing your community’s unique challenges, and put in practice the concepts T4America explored in our Creative Placemaking Field Scan.
INFORMATIONAL WEBINAR
An informational webinar will be held on April 22 from 2pm-3pm Eastern Daylight Time. Register here.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE--Dates are subject to change
Complete information about the application can be found in this informational PDF. Be sure to apply online by 5:00 p.m. EST on May 1, 2019.
QUESTIONS? Contact Ben Stone, ben.stone@t4america.org
