The Avenues to the Arts Cultural Placemaking Strategy explored ideas for a new creative district in Boston, joining up a key cluster of arts, higher education and research organisations the run along Huntington & Massachusetts Avenues.

The strategy set out a vision of culture as a catalyst, uniting key stakeholders under the ‘Three Pillars’ of the Civic, Culture and Commercial Sectors. This model established a framework for the Avenues to the Arts as a means to deliver new spaces, ambitious artworks and projects, new partnerships and significant financing opportunities. Within this framework, the Avenues to the Arts cultural programme allows the area to take a ‘production house’ approach using creative placemaking to promote its identity, which in turn offers greater social permeability, local ownership and a clear sense of identity.

The end game for the Avenues to the Arts is a new approach to urban renewal, one that sees architecture, infrastructure and public realm as having cultural value. It joins up businesses, community groups, cultural organisations and city authorities and provides a distinct narrative and vision for the area.