This spring, over 260 artists, designers, planners, community leaders, students, advocates, public servants, and neighbors came together across the DC-Baltimore region for another unforgettable The Vision Is Yours Placemaking & Placekeeping Conference.
One month later, what we still haven’t stopped thinking about is the feeling in the room: people fully present with one another, exchanging ideas across disciplines, sectors, generations, and lived experiences in ways that felt genuinely hopeful, creative, and action-oriented.
At a moment when it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the challenges facing our communities, The Vision Is Yours offered a powerful reminder that local action, collective creativity, and wider collaboration remain some of our strongest tools for building more just, connected, and resilient places.
The event included:
Designed for Connection
The conference was intentionally designed not simply to talk about place-based work, but to practice it, creating an immersive experience rooted in local relationships, local culture, and the everyday spaces that make communities vibrant.
Participants experienced Mount Rainier through its arts spaces, small businesses, community hubs, and neighborhood venues.
Guided walks, site visits, conversations with local leaders, shared meals catered by neighborhood businesses, interactive workshops, public art, and community storytelling reflected the creativity and character of the city while grounding the conference in place.
Just as important as the sessions themselves were the conversations happening between them. Structured networking lunches, peer exchanges, and informal gathering spaces created room for new relationships to form across disciplines, sectors, and lived experiences.
“The passion, energy, excitement, and opportunity to network with like-minded placemakers makes this conference truly special.”
— Conference attendee
Again and again, participants returned to the same theme—
How meaningful it felt to be in a room where artists, planners, designers, community organizers, environmental advocates, storytellers, funders, and public agencies were all learning alongside one another. Collaborative table conversations and intentional networking moments sparked new ideas, partnerships, and connections that many participants said felt increasingly rare in professional conference spaces.
“The Vision Is Yours was the ideal size, in a convenient and impactful setting, consisted of immediately useful and inspiring content, and connected attendees with other motivated and action-oriented people.”
— Conference attendee
The conference was seen as an accessible entry point.
For many attendees, especially those newer to placemaking or community development work, The Vision Is Yours also offered an accessible entry point into a broader movement. Sessions balanced big-picture inspiration with practical, grounded tools that participants could bring back to their own communities immediately.
“Sometimes I leave placemaking conferences feeling defeated because we can’t afford all of the great resources we hear about. Hearing about something so impactful that was also free was incredibly meaningful.”
— Conference attendee
Attendees appreciated a diversity of formats and perspectives.
Across workshops, learning labs, and community conversations, participants explored storytelling, public art, environmental planning, wellness, tactical urbanism, adaptive reuse, equitable development, and creative engagement strategies. The diversity of formats and perspectives helped create an experience that felt both deeply practical and creatively energizing.
“Overall the best conference I’ve attended in years … with a really unique creative and artistic focus. This far exceeded my expectations.”
— Conference attendee
Hands on Impact
As part of Friday’s Build Day activities, participants helped contribute to a series of creative, ecological, and community-centered projects.
These projects were designed to leave a lasting impact on the site and strengthen visitors’ connection to the surrounding environment.
More than a volunteer activity, Build Day reflected the spirit of the conference itself: learning by doing, creating alongside one another, and investing collectively in the places and communities we care about.
Together, participants:
