This community project is dedicated to the memory of Dr. John Pettegrew
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
During the mid 1970s, a surprising shift of fortune befell the small Mid-Atlantic city of Bethlehem. Almost at once, as the curtain fell on a century of steel-making, the post-industrial city of Bethlehem underwent a most unanticipated rebirth — a transformation from a Steel town to an Arts town.
Since that time, over thirty new cultural non-profits, a dozen galleries, major festivals, and a set of small creative businesses have taken root in Bethlehem’s Moravian soil. And, developing in parallel with the growth of the academic, commercial, and entertainment arts of Bethlehem, a strong, independent arts community took shape and color. This local community of artists and arts organizations, dedicated to the preservation, growth, and creativity of Bethlehem’s cultural life, is the inspiration for this study in cultural placemaking.
Cultural Placemaking
Cultural placemaking is the nurture and development of the local cultural community through the collaborative and creative practices of the resident arts community, innovative businesses, and the active support of city government. Separate in mission, content, and values from for and non-profit entertainment venues, Cultural placemaking is a wholly independent sector of the creative placemaking concept.
About the Cultural Placemaking Project
The Cultural Placemaking Project began as a conversation between Doug Roysdon of the IceHouse Performing Arts Center of Bethlehem Pennsylvania and Dr. John Pettegrew of the Lehigh University History Department in May of 2015. Working with an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant secured through the university, the project formed to explore the nature and direction of the local arts community. The study, led by a team including anthropologist Alison Kanosky, historian John Pettegrew, and local artists Doug Roysdon, Anna Russell, Avi Setton, and Aidan Gilrain-McKenna, engaged over 100 local artists, business people, and citizens in its development.
A special thanks to these people for their wisdom and support of the Cultural Placemaking Project:
Tom Moroz: Founder of the Lehigh Valley Social Impact Center
Bill George: Co-founder of Touchstone Theatre
Susan Weaver: poet, freelance writer and magazine editor
Julia Maserjian : Lehigh University's Digital Library Project Coordinator
Mary Foltz: Professor, Lehigh University Department of English
Kevin Kirner: Zoelliner Art Center and freelance film maker
Ron Yoshida: freelance photographer, former Provost at Lehigh University
Marco Calderon: freelance photographer
Jason Slipp: Senior Instructional Technologist at Lehigh University
Silagh White: Arts Administrator with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Aidan Gilrain-McKenna: Website Design
Ed Gallagher: Professor Emeritus, Lehigh University Department of English