Greensboro's Creative Character Initiative

What We Can Do to Strengthen Greensboro's Creative Character Creative people thrive where there are natural amenities, a vibrant urban district, plentiful technical and business resources, the celebration of differences, and easily accessible arts and culture. If you have ideas or would like to become involved in Action Greensboro, send us an email. Natural Amenities     Create a volunteer group to advocate and support efforts to expand the parks and trails systems, accelerate develeopment of a master trails plan for the city, and acquire and develop land for a downtown greenway system. Work with local hiking and sports organizations to provide available resources like organized trips, availability of maps, and information numbers. Build a bike path among the downtown colleges. Support and build awareness of Greensboro Beautiful and local garden clubs. Vibrant Urban District   Create a downtown trolley that would connect museums, the ballpark, major office buildings, and the colleges and universities near downtown. Hold and "extreme makeover" event for improving building facades. Hold a restaurant week where downtown restaurants offer specials. Hold an outdoor art and storytelling festival in one of the downtown parks. Make downtown moer walkable by increasing density of stores, restaurants, and galleries and by adding fountains, landscaping, sculpture, and street art. Open a small theater for independent and foreign films. Technical and Business Resources     Hold a community Tech Expo that showcases local technological accomplishments. Hire a Technology Coordinator to serve as a focal point for Greensboro's unique underground cabling and wireless capabilities. Promote expansion of wireless capabilities in parks, cafes, greensways, and new homes. Create a talent resource center where individuals can share knowledge, network about jobs, and have access to local companies. Accelerate and promote collaborations between industry and higher education, such as facilitating the transfer of technology from universities to businesses and vice-versa. Celebration of Differences     Provide more opportunities for community dialogue across group differences along the lines of One City, One Book. Provide additional support and programs for minority-owned businesses. Develop welcome packets in several languages that list helpful community resources. Celebrate the grand opening of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. Build a multicultural center to include office space, lecture rooms, activity rooms and marketplace stalls. Hold a yearly, community-wide signature festival that embraces all the multicultural aspects of the community. Arts and Culture     Create an arts incubator for the performing and visual arts. Have ongoing displays of art throughout Greensboro. Promote sponsorship for local artists by area businesses and universities. Work with local hotels to create lodging and restaurant packages during museum and theater openings, festivals, and art shows.       Tell the World About Greensboro     Greensboro has many distinct features that appeal to creative people-numerous parks and hiking trails, a wide variety of housing, thriving intellectual and technical discourse among its colleges and univerisities, an outstanding arts scene, active volunteer groups, and a high quality of life.  Our citizens have many opportunities to tell the world about Greensboro's many attributes.  Some suggestions: Encourage local media resources to report on creative efforts and to develop programming and print resources that appeal to creative people. Develop a document called Greensboro Facts to list awards, recognitions, and firsts and give it to tourists, realtors, HR directors, and business owners. Promote Greensboro as a center of multiculturism and diversity, using historical facts such as the birth of the Sit-in Movement, Quaker history, the presence of two historically black colleges, and the ongoing immigration of people of many nationalities. Actively market Greensboro as part of the Triad so that the assets of Winston-Salem and High Point are seen as part of the Greensboro Image. Brand Greensboro as an excellent place to settle with many assets for creative people. For singles--clubs, cultural events, entertainment, colleges, recreation, and inexpensive housing. For families--housing, schools, children's recreation programs, and cultural events. Hub location for the Triad with easy access to existing and developing interstates, airlines, deep-water shipping ports, and the new FedEx hub. Direct connection to nationwide Tier 1 internet backbone through Washington, D.C. Access to rail capabilities: Norfold Southern, CSX, Amtrak, Carolinian, Piedmont, and Crescent. Availability of 3,500 acres of parks and sixty miles of trails.       Getting Around Town     It is said that you can get anywhere in Greensboro in twenty minutes.  That's a real advantage for weary big-city types who want to shorten their commutes.  But how can we make the area's transportation capabilities even stronger so that when scientists, artists, or engineers are considering a new location with good transportation, they will look here? Get behing any effort to attract a new airline that will make PTI a hub. Support efforts to develop public rail transportation between Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh. Make buses a viable alternative for transportation from suburbs to job locations. Support and celebrate the completion of Painter Boulevard and the upgrades of existing roads to I-73, I-74, and I-785 status.     People Will Make it Work   The Creative Class Steering Committee and Task Forces brought Richard Florida's ideas and experiences to our attention and asked us to consider how they apply to Greensboro. Now, the job of improving, sustaining, and promoting Greensboro's creative character is the responsibility of the entire community.  The steering committee hopes that local organizations, government agencies, and the media will review the recommendations above and choose at least one initiative that they can help to implement. Individuals can strengthen Greensboro's creative character and position, too.  Some suggestions: Buy local art and support artistic spaces Buy local goods Support local theater Know what makes Greensboro special and tell others about Greensboro's strenghts Engage the immigrant community in local activities and initiatives Support the farmers' markets Tap youth as leaders Support local entrepreneurs