The City of Thomasville, along with Thomasville Center for the Arts, is proud to be the host city for Georgia’s “More Than Murals” Workshop to be held February 22-24. This three-day intensive workshop focuses on creative placemaking and public art, providing the opportunity to showcase what Thomasville has accomplished through strategic partnerships with artists, arts organizations, local businesses, and the city.
Twelve cities across Georgia will bring a team of three representatives to Thomasville to participate in a crash course in creative placemaking and public art, addressing community challenges to encourage economic growth. The cities to join Thomasville in this three-day intensive workshop are Cairo, Canton, Doraville, Griffin, Homerville, Milledgeville, Monroe, Sugar Hill, Tifton, Valdosta, Vidalia, and Watkinsville.
“We are honored to host this event here in Thomasville and are thankful for Georgia Council for the Arts and Georgia Municipal Association for seeing their vision played out here in Thomasville,” said April Norton, City of Thomasville Managing Director of Marketing and Communications. “Thomasville is proud to offer creative placemaking projects, and we are truly fortunate to have an arts organization like Thomasville Center for the Arts that brings creative visions to life in Downtown Thomasville.”
Thomasville Center for the Arts has been pushing creativity with outstanding and interactive public art experiences for more than a decade. “It is quite a compliment that the collaboration between Thomasville Center for the Arts and the City of Thomasville is being used as a model for educating Georgia cities on creative placemaking,” said Darlene Crosby Taylor, Thomasville Center for the Arts Public Arts Director. “I feel extremely proud of our town and our community and want to also thank Flowers Foods for their support in this conference and future creative placemaking initiatives.”
Thomasville Center for the Arts is a key partner with the City of Thomasville in activating Downtown Thomasville with creative and cultural art experiences, encouraging placemaking initiatives quarterly. The partnership created and developed between the two organizations is one that exemplifies how together is better.
The City of Thomasville and Thomasville Center for the Arts welcomes these twelve Georgia cities to Thomasville along with partners, Georgia Council for the Arts and Georgia Municipal Association. Norton added, “Together, we are preserving the historic fabric of Georgia’s downtowns, connecting community through arts and creative placemaking for a stronger city and a stronger Georgia for generations to come.”
About the Georgia Council for the Arts: Georgia Council for the Arts champions the creative economy of Georgia with its support of quality of life, the draw of millions of tourists each year, revitalizing downtowns, contributing to Georgia’s booming film industry, supporting lifelong education and the billions of dollars contributed to communities across the state to maintain a thriving creative economy to do business, as well as an incredible place to live and explore.
About the Georgia Municipal Association: The mission of the Georgia Municipal Association is to anticipate and influence the forces shaping Georgia’s cities and to provide leadership, tools and services that assist municipal governments in becoming more innovative, effective and responsive.