As places for anybody and everybody, pubs, parks, piers, and public libraries epitomize third places.
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During 2022, I interviewed a dozen Oskaloosa residents in a variety of places: Smokey Row coffee shop, private homes, downtown offices, golf carts, and Penn Central Mall. Among the myriad things I learned about the community is that’s a whole lot going on in Oskaloosa. Like a LOT.
As you travel through Iowa, I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit. Here are a few recommendations for your trip.
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So let’s get back to third places.
For the next few months, I’ll introduce each of the six essential qualities that effective third places share, why they matter, and wisdom we can glean for other parts of our lives.
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The Oskaloosa Public Library was built in 1903 with support from a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation and leadership from the Oskaloosa Women’s Club. Beyond books, the Oskaloosa Public Library provides cultural programming, language classes, reading programs, music events, a seed library, a makerspace, a library of things, and a genealogy room.
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If you’re not even sure what your first or second place is, do not fret.
According to the late Ray Oldenberg, first places are your home place, second places are your workplace, and third places are where you go to connect with people, blow off steam, and have a good conversation.
This can look like many things to many folks: coffee shops, bars, gyms, barber shops/salons, diners, libraries.
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In 2011, Oskaloosa’s Skate and Bike Park broke ground. This urban park sits north of Penn Central Mall and downtown Oskaloosa and was funded by grants from the Tony Hawk Foundation, the MCRF, local donations, and young folks fundraising.
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Last spring, Arts Midwest invited me to host a really fun conversation with Amber Danielson, Melissa Bond, and Gabriella Torres, three really smart women who do meaningful, creative things in rural communities, for the Arts Midwest Rural Threads podcast and programming series.
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I’m happy to report that I am contacted monthly, and increasingly weekly, by someone in Iowa who wants to begin a community mural project. The smallest community to date was a call from McIntire, Iowa (pop 122). The fact that more and more communities are finding value in community art projects fills me with joy.
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As January is for plan-making, and I’m feeling a touch homesick for the Sipp, I thought I’d make a list for, well, pretty much everybody: including all you fellow Mississippians, you Mississippi-appreciators, you adventurous folk always gunnin’ for a road trip, and especially for you folks who’ve never been to Mississippi, but have a lot of preconceived notions about it. :)
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Allison and Andy McGuire, two theatre-makers at the George Daily Community Auditorium, zipped me over to this magical spot in their golf cart during a tour of the town.
Here’s the run down of what they shared with me.
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Back in 2017, I had the very good fortune of meeting Allison and Andy McGuire, two talented and community-centered theatre-makers from the George Daily Community Auditorium in Oskaloosa, Iowa (population 11,463). The Auditorium had just been awarded an Arts Build Communities grant from the Iowa Arts Council to create Home Again, a multimedia variety show to explore and share the many stories of the Oskaloosa and Mahaska County communities.
Read More![Introducing Pop-Up! A Toolkit for [fun, invigorating, life-affirming] Temporary Experiences](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d5c5356fd05ea000147ac14/1686585103047-4D09C5XMKUAVWZYAA8J8/Screen+Shot+2023-06-04+at+7.19.50+PM.png)
I can't wait to share the fourth Community Arts Toolkit with y'all.
Pop-Up! offers an introduction to the nuts and bolts of planning for and pulling off a pop-up experience, be that an exhibition, a one-night event, an out-of-the-box community experience, or anything in between. Ideally, this toolkit will aid you in being thoughtful about every decision you make so you can squeeze the most mileage out of your event.
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This Charlie-Brown-looking-tree is What’s Good Today on my street. Read on.
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Please make the acquaintance of Mr. Benjamin Saulsberry, the Public Engagement and Museum Education Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) in Sumner, Mississippi (pop. 310). I met Benjamin in 2019 during an impromptu trip to Sumner to visit the ETIC, and he was gracious enough to agree to be interviewed a couple months later. Please enjoy a few snippets of our 2019 conversation - lightly edited for clarity.
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A small town of 1800 residents in Quitman County in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Marks played a big role in the histories of Civil Rights and American music. In June 2019 (which seems like a lifetime ago), I spent time with Mrs. Velma Benson-Wilson, the former Quitman County Administrator and current Director of Tourism and Economic Development for Quitman County, to hear her stories and the history of the area. She also gave me a wonderful list of what to see and do while in Quitman County for a weekend.
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Say what?
Artist who?
In a sentence, Artist Relocation Programs attempt to lure artists to live and work in their communities, knowing full well that artists can transform places.
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Recently, I co-facilitated How Can Community Arts Help People Feel Like They Belong in Your Town?, a Small City Workshop for the Iowa League of Cities.
This workshop is part of the Rural Shrink Smart initiative, a interdisciplinary team funded by the National Science Foundation that's exploring how to increase the quality of life in rural communities with shrinking populations.
When I first started working for Iowa State Extension and Outreach, I learned to focus on the assets a town has and not on their deficits. I’ve found this to be so helpful and so effective. I grew up in Mississippi and I’ve lived in Iowa for the last 15 years. In both states, I spend a lot of time driving around and listening the stories. It’s the best part of my job. In each new community I visit, I inevitably meet hear about someone doing some really creative thing to make their community better. These folks are scrappy – pulling together local resources and assets and talents together that’s grassroots, creative, and locally impactful.
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Last month, I was invited to participate in the Placemaking in Small & Rural Communities Virtual Conference hosted by the amazing Arts Extension team at the University of Kentucky. (They are the OG of community arts extension and rural placemaking.)
I thought I’d share a few key points from that presentation over the next few weeks, including 4 common themes that I’ve noticed in effective and inclusive rural placemaking efforts.
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