po·ten·tial en·er·gy is aimed at enhancing understanding of the reciprocal relationship between built environment, urban landscape and the communities who inhabit them, toward the development of art-based practices that put planning and self-determination in the hands of community residents. 

po·ten·tial en·er·gy will inform the development of new transdisciplinary under-graduate and graduate academic programs that embrace the intersection of Community Arts and Community Development. 

Speakers: 

Denise Brown, Executive Director of the Leeway Foundation in Philadelphia; Co-Chair of Bread and Roses Community Fund; serves on the boards of several key Philadelphia community-oriented arts organizations including Philadelphia Public Access Corporation and Scribe Video Center. 

Roberto Bedoya, Executive Director of the Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC); established the innovative P.L.A.C.E. (People, Land, Arts, Culture and Engagement) Initiative to support artist initiatives in Tucson, Arizona; former Executive Director of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations 

Bill Cleveland, author of Art in Other Places: Artists at Work in America’s Community and Social Institutions and Art & Upheaval: Artists on the Worlds Frontlines (New Village Press, 2008); creator of the Center for the Study of Art and Community. 

Rachel Engh is a community planner and researcher with a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs; current partner at Metris Arts Consulting based in Easton, PA; has contributed articles to Public Art Review, Createquity and Americans for the Arts’ ARTSblog.