Celebrating the Placemaking Program's Fifth Anniversary: Tim Miner

Published on June 06, 2024

Spring 2024 is the five-year anniversary of the Urban Design Center’s Placemaking Grant Program and Creative Pool.

For five years, the UDC has been helping to transform Charlotte into a more vibrant city by providing opportunities to local artists; encouraging applications to the grant program; funding projects that preserve the identity and character of the city; and emphasizing the public good that comes from placemaking projects.

Chances are, you’ve experienced a project that was brought to life because of the Placemaking Program, from the signal cabinet wraps along Beatties Ford Road to the famed Rita’s Mural at Five Points Plaza to the living pillars in the Historic West End.

The impacts of the Placemaking Program fill the Queen City. To celebrate the five years of hard work and transformation that have taken place, we wanted to hear from a local creative who has been involved: Tim Miner, co-founder of Charlotte Is Creative and self-proclaimed Creative Troublemaker.

*Answers edited for clarity.

Can you tell me about yourself?

I have lived in Charlotte since the late ‘80s. I've been a writer, performer and graphic designer throughout my life, and, in my professional career, I have long worked with and for organizations that support and promote the power of arts and culture, like Charlotte Center City Partners and the CRVA (when it was the Charlotte Convention & Visitors Bureau). I have been part of Charlotte SHOUT! since it was first established in 2002 and since it's returned in 2019. But, my true passion for supporting, funding and managing individual artists and movements kicked into overdrive when my longtime friend, Matt Olin, and I launched the Charlotte Chapter of CreativeMornings/Charlotte in 2015. Since then, we've established Charlotte Is Creative, the H.U.G. Microgrant Program, Queen City Quiz Show, OneBand, The Drop and the Creative Entrepreneurs Initiative. At some point in my post-college career, I have been fortunate to support creativity in the Queen City in some way... and I hope to continue for years to come.

How did you hear about the Creative Pool Program?

Through my work with the city Placemaking team, I heard about it when it was first started. I loved the idea from the jump and Charlotte Is Creative was honored to do all we could to promote it and encourage creatives to join.

Why did you decide to get involved?

I wanted to be involved from the moment I heard about it. But, it wasn't until arts organizers and managers were invited to submit applications the second year that we jumped in enthusiastically.

How has the Placemaking Program opened up opportunities for you as an artist or changed the outcome of your career?

This program has allowed us to do amazing things, most notably creating installations with artists in the Sugar Creek and West Boulevard Corridors of Opportunity. But, it also led to us being involved in the creation of the Albemarle Road Playbook, organizing artists to both elicit community feedback and then give those thoughts voice and presence through events, visual art, poetry, photography and more. That was a lifechanging experienced that allowed us to engage 10+ local creatives in our work. It helped lay the foundations for much of our current community engagement work with artists, creatives and makers. It made us even more proud to be Charlotteans.

You are a champion of creatives and creativity in Charlotte. What role do you think the Placemaking Program has had in elevating the city?

Art and creative acts have a singular power to bring people together to comfort them, challenge them, inspire them, enliven them and introduce them to one another. Art can help people confront difficult truths, but it can also heal in ways no seminar, charette or community meeting ever could. My team and I firmly believe that people need great places to congregate, meet and celebrate. But, great places – no matter how well-designed – need people. The placemakers at the Urban Design Center get that. Before it was "hip," they invited artists in to help build and establish the built environment. They have worked with artists to invite the community in... to give them beautiful reasons to gather in public spaces. And, through that, community – true community – is realized. I feel fortunate to live in a city with a government team dedicated to building community and community spaces in communion with the people for whom those places are built. Not all communities do that. Not all governments understand the power of art. The Urban Design Center does.