AC Discussion | Art & Urban Development
Last week, we sat down with neighborhood planner Manne Cook, architect Megan Lutz, and artist and educator Amy Nelson for a wide ranging discussion about the complex and often contested relationship between art and culture and urban development. Expanding artists’ roles in city planning, addressing a lack of affordable housing, and building civic engagement within our democratic processes to advocate for policy change emerged as topics about which both audience and panelists felt strongly.
At the end of the conversation, a few takeaways became clear. First of all, aggregating data to broadly communicate the value of arts and culture in our city is an important step in establishing increased support for planning initiatives that include artists’ voices. Next, alternative modes of exchange like barter systems can help artists defray the costs of increasing rents by trading services for free or reduced rate live/work space. Last, but definitely not least, we have to embrace the notion of personal accountability and realize that moving the needle means showing up, participating in neighborhood and city planning meetings, and electing officials committed to working for the public good over individual interests.
Watch a condensed version of the conversation below and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.
About the Panelists:
Manne Cook: Manuel Cook (Manne) is a creative placemaker and urban planner who works to create vibrant places and more livable built environments. Manne works closely with local artists and grassroots organizations to produce events, exhibitions, and creative placemaking projects. His most recent placemaking project, the Study, creatively purposed two vacant/underutilized spaces on 24th and Burdette Streets and resulted in a handful of creative lead projects and the establishment of two independent creative spaces occupied by seven artists and cultural entrepreneurs. He is currently a Neighborhood Planner for the City of Omaha Planning Department where he specializes in planning for people oriented, human scale development and developing a node and corridor strategy for the Neighborhood planning section. Manne studied Spatial Sciences at Rijks University in the Netherlands, and holds a Masters in Urban Studies from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Megan Lutz: Megan is an architect and partner at Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture. She possesses a comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of the design process, from master planning through building construction. She draws from a range of project and research experiences, including her time as a Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Public Space Research in Copenhagen. With a passion for Omaha, Megan takes particular interest in the revitalization of its central neighborhoods, through a thoughtful and strategic approach to urban design, planning and architecture that is driven by the needs of the city’s current and future residents.
Amy Nelson: Amy Nelson is active in the Omaha arts community. She is a member of Finding A Voice, a community partnership organization sponsored by the Siena Francis House Homeless Shelter and a Mentor in the Joslyn’s Kent Bellows Mentoring Program for young artists. Nelson was honored as the 2015 Midlands Mentoring Partnership (MMP) Mentor of the Year. Amy has exhibited her work in numerous exhibitions across the US and been an Artist in Residence at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Art in Newcastle, Maine and The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont. Amy has given lectures, demonstrations and hosted workshops on the American Craft Movement and the role art plays in civic engagement. Amy received her BFA from Creighton University in 1997 and her MFA from East Carolina University School of Art & Design in 2002. Currently Amy is an Associate Professor of Fine Art at Creighton University, teaching courses in Ceramics and Art and Civic Engagement.