Integrating Art and Creativity Into Public Engagement

Thousands of planners convene each year in a designated host city for the American Planning Association's (APA) National Planning Conference (NPC). The annual Planners' Day of Service provides visiting planners with an opportunity to make a positive impact on NPC's host community.

Last year's event in Denver on March 29, 2025, promoted the value of integrating art and creativity into public engagement. Planners' Day of Service featured three interactive ways to participate:

• An interactive session on using improvisation in community engagement.
• A hands-on art activity to support teacher appreciation and art engagement.
• Creation of classroom art kits for local schools.

Planning Advocacy Through Art

Planners' Day of Service partnered with Think 360 Arts for Learning, a local nonprofit focused on arts education and advocacy through art. A representative from APA's Arts and Planning Division joined the introduction to talk through the importance of arts education and the benefits of incorporating art and creativity into the public engagement process.

Planners' Day of Service commences with an introduction to arts education and its parallels to the planning profession. Photos courtesy of Cory Rutz, AICP.

Think 360 Arts for Learning, the Colorado affiliate of Young Audiences and the Greater Denver affiliate of Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a history of serving K-12 schools and communities through direct services and creative experiences since 1963. Think 360 Arts provides creative programming for Coloradans of all ages, as well as:

• Serves as a liaison between schools, community organizations, and teaching artists.
• Supports over 60 Colorado teaching artists who cover a wide range of disciplines, including music, dance, theatre, visual arts, and literary arts.
• Provides workshops, performances, and residencies that spark imagination and promote personal transformation, fostering a collaborative and equitable community culture.
• Eliminates financial barriers for underserved populations by providing custom-designed programs with professional artists at a subsidized cost.

Participants at the event explored Think 360 Arts' mission, methodology, resources, and challenges, with particular emphasis on schools.

Improv teaching artist Lainie Hodges helps the group learn icebreakers and engagement strategies for community meetings.

Lessons Learned

Participants also:

• Learned how improvisation supports young people in social-emotional learning and self-confidence. This portion of the program also allowed attendees to learn new methods for engaging children and older adults in public engagement processes, as well as oral advocacy for policy changes (a key platform for Think 360 Arts).
• Worked with a teaching artist with experience in K-12 education and with older adults, including mind-mapping exercises, and culminating in two hands-on activities:
  • Created group "posters" and cards that prompted attendees to consider how the arts impacted them throughout their lives, paired with statistics of how engaging in the arts improves long-term outcomes, both with an emphasis on creative choice-making and non-representational elements (e.g., abstract) so everyone can feel successful in what they're creating.
  • Included the cards in teacher appreciation/creativity wellness kits (50), which each included a sketchbook, colored pencils, and an artist pen, to promote classroom artwork consistent with the mission and skills addressed throughout the process.

The group "poster" was later displayed in the Hub for additional engagement with NPC attendees. In addition to engaging with Think 360 Arts, attendees sharpened their oral advocacy skills and took away innovative ideas for art-focused community engagement.

APA's Impactful Community Service Events

Participants, like Erin Lapeyrolerie, lean into their creative side to engage and advocate through art.

Planners' Day of Service is an initiative conceived and led by APA Divisions, supported by the Divisions Council grant funding. The 2025 event was jointly spearheaded by the Planning and Law Division and the Latinos and Planning Division, with additional financial and in-kind support from the Arts and Planning Division, LGBTQ and Planning Division, Women and Planning Division, Transportation Planning Division, and numerous individuals who contributed to the effort and helped disseminate information.

This endeavor fosters and fortifies inter-divisional relationships, raises awareness of division benefits, cultivates leadership development opportunities, and facilitates the exchange of information about significant planning issues.

Previous Planners' Day of Service Events:

• NPC18: New Orleans District B Neighborhood Clean Up
• NPC19: San Francisco Fruitvale TOD and Village Beautification Project
• NPC22: San Diego 47th Street Station Corridor Assessment & Clean Up
• NPC23: Philadelphia Planning for Neurodiversity Service Project and Sensory Audit
• NPC24: Minneapolis Engaging Youth

Top image: E+ FilippoBacci