Events can deliver transformational long-term benefits for places. Here are five places that are re-thinking the ways that they approach events to ensure that they’re prioritizing a long-term, sustainable future for their communities.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Ottawa was ready for a cultural refuel. Enter the Unofficial Museums campaign, an initiative to celebrate the hidden gems within the city. In total, 76 ‘museums’ were opened in a single day as special status was granted to festivals, restaurants, concert venues, attractions, and more. A new dessert shop, First Bite, became the Unofficial Museum of Croffle (croissant + waffle)! Learn more here. Learn about Ottawa's Award entry for Best Placemaking Initiative 

You need a purposeful, place-led, and holistic vision for economic development and tourism to ensure a thriving future for your place. Place leaders from across North America share how you can connect the dots between tourism and economic development.

Art is foundational to us as a species – but the ways in which we interact with both art and place are changing dramatically. Alex Sarian, President & CEO of Arts Commons – the largest cultural infrastructure project in Canada’s history – and author of The Audacity of Relevance, shares his perspective on how art and culture can be a positive force within cities and what it takes to remain relevant.

Action Greensboro are using carefully curated care packages to encourage ex-Greensboro residents to return to the city. Discover how this joined up approach to attracting and retaining talent is driving results - and community pride too.

As we gear up to the 9^th City Nation Place Americas conference, we’ve been surveying place leaders across the USA and Canada to provide a better understanding of where they are currently focusing their attention and what challenges they face. 

Tour Cayuga has been on an ambitious journey to transform its approach to destination marketing and placemaking through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Culturist Group's Kimberli Samuel shares valuable lessons all DMOs can learn from their work.

What can you do to cut through the noise and show your private sector partners the value in your work? Place leaders share what they’ve found to be effective tools in engaging their private sector in their place brand and marketing vision.

Colorado has traditionally spent millions each year selling the state as a place to play – yet very little on promoting itself as a place to do business. Discover how a complex research initiative helped build a regional brand for Metro Denver.

Ottawa Tourism's Glenn Duncan shares the team's recipe for success is, how they’re surfacing hidden gems in the city, and why collaborative partnerships are so important for the city’s future.

Collaboration between places and centres of learning can unlock enormous potential. Trajectory's Jeannette Hanna explores how you can develop a systematic approach to listening and collaborating with your educational partners.

Community sits at the heart of place branding, particularly at the local level. With City Nation Place Americas right around the corner, we reached out to our speakers to understand how they’re working to integrate community engagement throughout their strategy to ensure that it’s more than just a tick box exercise.

We sat down with David Goldstein, CEO of Travel Alberta, to discover how their destination management strategy is supporting long-term economic, cultural, and social prosperity for communities across the province.

Destinations around the world are leaning into the power of place branding to unite their stakeholders behind a single vision for their place. Place leaders from the USA & Canada shared their practical advice they had for organisations looking to engage their stakeholders and ensure that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

For years, Boston has had a reputation as America’s ‘most racist city’. However, renewed efforts from both city government and place marketing organisations are challenging those perceptions, and laying the foundations for a more inclusive Boston.