How three communities integrated arts & culture with transportation—and how you can too


Last week the arts & culture team caught up with this year’s  State of the Art (SOTA) Transportation Training participants to learn how arts organizations and transportation agencies in these communities are successfully collaborating to address unique transportation challenges. We’re also releasing the DIY Toolkit so that you can hold SOTA Transportation Trainings in your own community.

Creative Placemaking Transportation

Washington State Department of Transportation to be the first statewide agency to host an artist-in-residence


Washington will become the first state to embed an artist in a statewide agency, bringing a creative approach to advancing the agency’s goals like improving safety, reducing congestion, promoting economic vitality, supporting multimodal transportation systems, and creating healthier communities.

Creative Placemaking Transportation

El Paso is rolling again with its 1970s streetcars

a picture of the restored art deco El Paso streetcars
An art project about the historic streetcar in the border communities of El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, sparked public interest and then took on a life of its own. This month, the streetcars that once rolled through both border communities are back on the streets of El Paso, a demonstration of the power of art to capture the imagination of a community and create a better future.

Creative Placemaking Transportation

Janette Sadik-Khan: Paint the city you want to see

Janette Sadik-Khan spent six years spearheading some of the most pioneering approaches to people-first street design while leading the transportation department for in America’s most populous city. She’ll be bringing that experience and more to Intersections: Creating Culturally Complete Streets as a keynote speaker in April.

Complete Streets Creative Placemaking Transportation

Arts, Culture and Transportation: A Creative Placemaking Field Scan

Arts, Culture and Transportation: A Creative Placemaking Field Scan is a rigorous national examination of creative placemaking in the transportation planning process. Released by Transportation for America in partnership with ArtPlace America, this resource identifies ways that transportation professionals can integrate artists to deliver transportation projects more smoothly, improve safety, and build community support.

Creative Placemaking