An Advent of Sense

I adore festivals. I've been fortunate enough to attend many small-scale festivals, and I particularly enjoy ones that feature music, dance, and other culturally expressive elements. I study how festivals and similar arts/cultural "happenings" are useful for gathering people and adding to a framework of sustainable economic activity in an area. I'm lucky to be here with the time to write about these topics and I invite you to use yours to entertain healthy appreciation for and skepticism about the arts/cultural happenings you observe in your community. What is perceived as "public art" may not be for everyone.  Festivals are a tool in the tool bag of Creative Placemaking. Creative Placemaking is both an urban development theory and practical strategy to elevate a physical space through tools such as public art installations, street festivals, and development of arts businesses. The term was first coined in a 2010 whitepaper by Anne Markusen and Anne Gadwa