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.

ABCD, community, third places, tipsJennifer DrinkwaterApril 1, 2024blogComment

Oskaloosa Public Library

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.

ABCD, community, creativity, Iowa, process, third placesJennifer DrinkwaterMarch 25, 2024blogComment

What's Your Third Place?

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.

ABCD, communityJennifer DrinkwaterMarch 7, 2024blog Comment

Skate and Bike Park: Evolution of a Painting

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.

ABCD, art collection, artist insight, community, creativity, Iowa, processJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 18, 2024blogComment

Creative Placemaking & Cross-Sector Partnerships

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.

ABCD, artist insight, community, creativity, interview, For the Common Good, tips, IowaJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 11, 2024Comment

Evolution of a Painting, Vol. 2

The gradual evolution of A Beauty We Didn’t Expect, acrylic and tempera on wood panel, 36” x 48”, 2021.

The later stages, the slower the progress. It took me several minutes to detect the differences between images eight and nine. (They’re there, I promise.)

artist insight, creativity, personal, processJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 4, 2024blog Comment

Murals, Murals Everywhere: A Community Mural Toolkit

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.

ABCD, artist insight, community, creativity, tips, toolkitJennifer DrinkwaterJanuary 29, 2024blogComment

The Book Vault: Evolution of a Painting

Get a peek at the inspiration behind and the unfolding of The Book Vault, the first painting of 2024…

art collection, creativity, community, artist insight, painting, process, IowaJennifer DrinkwaterJanuary 21, 2024blog Comments

Marks Mule Train & Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign (Marking the Mule Train Cultural Trail)

“On May 13, 2021, history was made once again in Marks, Mississippi. After three years of planning and hard work… the Civil Rights Marks Mule Train Interpretive Trail was unveiled to commemorate the 53rd Anniversary of the 1968 Mule Train & Martin Luther King, Jr’s Poor People’s Campaign.

This historic trail showcased eleven markers, displaying the history and activities, which took place fifty-three years ago of Dr. King’s visit to Marks/Quitman County, and earned Marks the duly distinction of being known as the ‘Home of the Mule Train.’ ” Text by Velma Benson-Wilson and Cynthia Goodloe Palmer

civil rights, community, creativity, MississippiJennifer DrinkwaterJanuary 15, 2024blogComment

Bookmark This List: 100+ (Weird, One-of-a-Kind) Community Events in 99 Iowa Counties.

Last week, I shared a Fairly Comprehensive List of 2024 Community Events in the Mississippi Delta-ish. Not to be outdone by my own self (idk), I upped the ante and embarked on creating one for Iowa, my current home.

To do this well, I hit up the big guns: my top-notch colleagues in the Community and Economic Development unit at Iowa State Extension and Outreach and Husband Aaron.

community, creativity, tips, IowaJennifer DrinkwaterJanuary 8, 2024blog Comments

A Fairly Comprehensive List of 2024 Community Events in the Mississippi Delta(ish)

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. :)

ABCD, community, A Quick 48, Mississippi, creativity, tips, toolkitJennifer DrinkwaterJanuary 2, 2024blogComment

Questions about Creative Placemaking? You're Not Alone.

It’s a tricky word, placemaking.

Places don’t need to be made. They exist already.

ABCD, artist insight, community, creativity, tips, toolkitJennifer DrinkwaterNovember 19, 2023blog

Woodhaven Amphitheater

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.

art collection, ABCD, community, paintingJennifer DrinkwaterOctober 21, 2023blogComment

For the Common Good: A Community Arts Leader Interview with Andy McGuire

This week’s interview continues to capture the creative and community-centered genius that Andy and Allison McGuire discover and harness in the Mahaska County communities through their work at George Daily Community Auditorium.

artist insight, community, For the Common Good, creativity, tips, interviewJennifer DrinkwaterJuly 5, 2023blogComment

For the Common Good: A Community Arts Leader Interview with Allison McGuire

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.

artist insight, ABCD, community, creativity, For the Common Good, tips, interviewJennifer DrinkwaterJune 26, 2023blogComment

Introducing Pop-Up! A Toolkit for [fun, invigorating, life-affirming] Temporary Experiences

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.

artist insight, ABCD, creativity, community, toolkit, tipsJennifer DrinkwaterJune 12, 2023blogComment

#whatsgoodtoday

This Charlie-Brown-looking-tree is What’s Good Today on my street. Read on.

ABCD, community, creativity, personalJennifer DrinkwaterMay 31, 2023blogComment

Meet Benjamin Saulsberry: A What's Good Project Interview

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.

ABCD, civil rights, community, creativity, Mississippi, interviewJennifer DrinkwaterMarch 21, 2023blogComment

A Quick 48 Hours: Tallahatchie County, Mississippi

Located right on the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta, Tallahatchie (meaning “rock river” in Choctaw) County was originally inhabited by the Choctaw Nation before they were forcibly removed by the US federal government to Oklahoma. In late 2019, I interviewed Benjamin Saulsberry, Public Engagement and Museum Education Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC) in Sumner (pop. 310). I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit their website if you can’t make it to Sumner anytime soon, and support this work anyway you can. And when you do make it to Tallahatchie County, here are a few recommendations for your trip.

A Quick 48, civil rights, community, Mississippi, tipsJennifer DrinkwaterMarch 16, 2023blogComment

For the Common Good: A Community Artist Interview with Akwi Nji

I’m so delighted to feature my friend (and one of my favorite artists, period) Akwi Nji in the community artist interview series, For the Common Good, as she truly encapsulates the essence of what this series celebrates. Each participating artist responds to a series of questions about how their personal and community creative practices align. It’s my hope that these interviews provide insights into how and why artists work with communities, both to artists aspiring to do this work, as well as to communities who strive to engage more creatively with their residents.

THOUGHTS