It all started with Peter Pan. As a child, a trip to see the iconic musical on Broadway piqued Pennsylvania-born Jamie Bennett’s interest in the arts. But it also planted the thought in his mind that artists are people who live far away, not in your own hometown.

Fast forward a couple decades and the executive director of ArtPlace America now believes just the opposite. Not every community has a beautiful physical asset like a waterfront, but every city and town has artists – people who sing and dance and tell stories. And it’s those artists, and their creations, that foster more stable communities, develop a sense of attachment among residents, and make a significant contribution to the economy. In fact, recent statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis indicate that arts and culture bring in about $500 billion every year.

And for those reasons, the arts need to be an essential element in community planning. That philosophy is at the heart of ArtPlace America, an organization backed by 12 philanthropic foundations, with the goal of strengthening the social, physical, and economic fabric of communities by providing grants for creative placemaking projects all across the country. They view creativity as an input, not an end in itself, that needs to be combined with a variety of sectors in a community for maximum impact. They seek to support projects with transformative power that have these characteristics:

• Delineate a community
• Identify a challenge or opportunity
• Propose an arts-based intervention
• Define success

Bennett cited several creative placemaking projects that ArtPlace America has supported in recent years. In St. Paul, MN, the Irrigate project of Springboard for the Arts used their funds to reorient the construction of the Green Line from a negative to a positive experience for the community. They trained 600 artists to partner with local businesses and do creative things all along the line – from performance art to outdoor concerts. The project resulted in numerous positive news stories, and residents and visitors came to see the area as someplace cool to come to, not as a noisy construction site to avoid.

In California, the small town of North Shore was saddled with a polluted lake right in the middle of the city. Kounkey Design Initiative worked with residents to uncover their vision for their hometown. What residents wanted most was a place to share their cultural identity. North Shore now boasts a unique plaza for artists, dancers and just plain gathering. Nuestro Lugar – our place – has given them a community identity and sense of place.

Artists and government officials got together for a one-of-a-kind project in Austin, TX. Historically, the city council had been comprised of at-large councilmembers. Nearly 80 percent of residents were represented by a councilmember who didn’t live in their section of the city and didn’t know them very well. When Austin decided to change to a district system, they hired 10 artists to map the new districts. Each councilmember then received a creative view of the people in their district.

Since 2012, ArtPlace America has invested over $50 million in creative placemaking projects all over the U.S., including $2.5 million in Michigan. They are now accepting grant applications for 2015. Interested communities need to apply by Oct. 31, 2014.