Creative Downtown Appleton

We hosted 5 Downtown creates events that engaged the public in creating and sharing artwork. Themed events included street music night, chalk on the town and paint out on the town. The series included light up Appleton which featured youth and cultural performers on the community music stage, art and craft vendors, make and take projects, interactive displays and a treat walk. Events are the third friday of the month june, july and august and the third saturday in november.

Avenue of ice is a display of handcrafted ice carvings throughout the mile of Downtown Appleton. Carvings are sponsored by companies and cda covers the cost of a larger scale carving. In 2022 we also hosted a free trolley for those unable to walk the Downtown to be able to see the carvings. This is a february event.

Community public markets were hosted in february and march of 2022. The event was hosted in the fox cities exhibition center and cda's portion of the event included the performance stage, non profit and community organization booths, hands on art experience with a local artist, play me music instruments, and other interactive exhibits. A grant was received from outagamie county in the amount of $18,000 to support the event and to include a vaccination clinic on site at both events. A grant was received from usda for $6000 to support a winter indoor community market. We included farm market vendors as well. A grant form the community foundation for $5000 was also received.

Art and Creative placemaking and public art is another main focus. Contributions collected helped us accomplish the planning and design work for a new mural that was pushed to 2023. A large grow sculpture in houdini plaza. The mobile parklet was reinstalled on the west end with paintings of world music instruments, fresh herbs and public seating. The avenue of angels were also reinstalled for the holiday season and we are charged for installation by the city.

Mile of music production partner. The event features original live music from more than 600 performances and provides a music education series free to the public throughout the four day festival. Outdoor free music was presented in several accessible areas of Downtown, jones park, houdini plaza and lawrence university campus area. Cda manages jones park logistics and helps to oversee houdini plaza. We receive a stipend for our support.