Ann Markusen
2004–2005 Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs

Ann Markusen, professor of planning and public policy and director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics (PRIE) at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, was named to the Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs for 2004–2005. For more information, see the announcement about Markusen’s appointment in the Summer 2004 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file).

Markusen used the resources provided by her appointment to conduct intensive field research on artists’ clubhouses and live-work spaces in Minnesota, enabling her and her colleagues to investigate more closely the social and economic benefits of such spaces for neighborhood and regional economies, as well as their impacts on artistic creativity and livelihoods. The results of this research will inform cultural policy debates at city and neighborhoods levels and help policy makers allocate arts and economic development dollars among competing uses. An article on Markusen’s Fesler-Lampert research titled “Building the Creative Economy for Minnesota's Artists and Communities” was published in the Summer 2006 CURA Reporter (download article, PDF file).

(Photo courtesy of Ann Markusen)