What changed in the past 12 months?

Remember how Colfax, Washington, shared their progress in business and in art since I visited? Well, your fellow reader Leota Childress was inspired to share progress from her town, Molalla, Oregon. The list ran to 12 items, including a new shared retail space for artists, lots of new businesses, and a cool recycled piano art project.  Now seems…

How do you make a grants program more Idea Friendly? ?

“How do we make our grants program more Idea Friendly?” That was the question right after I spoke at the NADO (National Association of Development Organizations) conference. It’s a good question. Let’s talk it through.  A regional organization runs a grant program. They make grants to local groups who have come to rely on this…

Colfax did a future mural! [PICS] Plus the chain link dress up you can steal for your town

Last week, Sarah McKnight gave us an update on the new businesses in Colfax, Washington, since I was there a year ago. I forgot to say their population is 2,800. (Thanks for the reminder, Ned Overton!) Now let’s talk art!   Colfax already has an active arts group. Occasionally, they will create “crack art” — cute…

Another example of a city using Idea Friendly principles – even though they don’t know it

This story from CityLab is really about Idea Friendly cities, even though they don’t know that. They thought it was about a city that wanted to try something new with their traffic pattern: “Instead of starting with a plan on paper, city officials just went out one week in December and stuck cones along a…

Other people can’t do it as well as you can do it yourself. What if they make a big mistake?

Last week I said we’d talk about what to do when you invite people to co-create events with you, and they make mistakes or fail. One of the conversations we had at the RuralX Conference was about what to do about volunteers that don’t meet your standards. When putting together an event, one person had…

Doesn’t someone have to drive the bus? Who’s really in charge?

When Deb and I were at RuralX Conference, we heard from a leader from a local arts performance group. They are putting on beautiful well-planned performances, but they are struggling with low attendance at their events. I suggested they stop planning it all themselves.  I told her the tale of two concerts: One was fully…