Building Community Through Art
The Mill Hill Arts Village in Macon, Georgia, was a catalyst project to turn abandoned worker housing into a community Arts Center that could be a social focus for the surrounding neighborhood. A collaborative community design process was funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency to turn a neighborhood in East Macon suffering from decades of disinvestment into the “Arts Alley.” It positioned it to become a center of community activity and a catalyst for further neighborhood revitalization and housing. Vlad Gavrilovic while at Renaissance Planning conducted a design charrette that helped develop the initial vision for this successful community revitalization effort.
With a strategy in place to connect both community members and visitors, the assistance team addressed one of the foremost design challenges facing the Alley: designing a space that accommodates resident artists, community members, and visitors in order make the Alley a lively and vibrant cultural center.
Before
After
A large part of the focus during the public design workshop was on ways that spaces that could not only accommodate each of these groups, but also encourage interactions among them. The focus on creating spaces for connection was key to building a community center with the potential to develop into a genuine nexus of people, ideas, and inspiration.
