Connective Corridor

The Connective Corridor represents more than just an opportunity to strengthen the urban environment through design and transportation. Ultimately, the purpose is to build stronger relationships throughout the community, showcasing the city’s great resources and opportunities in the arts, culture and business. There are over twenty community arts organizations and three major universities within one mile of each other in the city’s center, as well as a strong concentration of artists and creative industries throughout area. Several collaborations exist throughout the city that are bringing life to the Corridor and providing a wonderful opportunity to connect with each other, strengthen the community and showcase what Syracuse has to offer.

How can you connect? Learn more by visiting our Venues and Happenings pages, or follow the links and information below about collaborative programs in the community.

40 Below
40 Below is a service organization united in a common purpose to:

* Make Central Upstate New York a more vibrant place to live, work, learn and play.
* Restore pride and hope to its communities.
* Spark a cultural renaissance that will put the region on the “creative” map.
* Harness the collective strength of its communities to make positive change.

40 Below coordinates a number of volunteer programs including public art, civic engagement, downtown revitalization and community branding. Its annual summit is to date the largest gathering of young professionals in the country. For more information, visit www.40belowsummit.com. 

Arts and Culture Leadership Alliance (ACLA) of Central New York
ACLA is a consortium for executive leaders of non-profit arts and culture agencies located in Central New York. These leaders meet each month to address current regional issues that involve the arts in economic development, social justice, community building, education, and arts advocacy.

Community Geography
The Rosamond Gifford Foundation and Syracuse University have partnered to develop a community geographer position at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs to support local projects. Since 2005, Jonnell Allen has been working with local nonprofit agencies and community members of Syracuse and Central New York to create maps to better understand regional issues and assist in project planning. You can click below to view maps of the Connective Corridor area, which show the residential composition of its neighborhoods and other demographic data.

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Cultural Resources Council
The Cultural Resources Council was created to promote and support local cultural activity.  For nearly 50 years, the Council has developed and strengthen the arts and culture in Central New York and shaped a vital presence in our community.  From school children to grassroots organizations, from individual artists to the general public, from our neighborhoods to downtown celebrations, the Council is committed to helping local artists showcase their creative works for the benefit of the community

Enitiative
Enitiative is the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative – connecting academic institutions, community groups, faculty, students, and community members to work together to nurture the seeds of revitalization.  Made possible by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, this 5-year, $3-million endowment will enable the coalition of committed academic and community partners to incorporate entrepreneurship into every facet of advancing the vision of Scholarship in Action throughout Central New York.  Academic and community partners include Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, Onondaga Community College (OCC), SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF), Morrisville State College, Cayuga Community College (CCC), Central New York Community Foundation, The Gifford Foundation, Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, National Grid, and Messenger Associates, Inc.

Imagining America
Imagining America is a consortium of over 70 universities and colleges with operations based at Syracuse University.  Its mission is to strengthen the public role and democratic purposes of the humanities, arts, and design. In order to fulfill this mission, IA supports publicly-engaged academic work in the cultural disciplines and the structural changes in higher education that such work requires. IAs’ major task is to constitute public scholarship – faculty and student sworking and learning directly with community partners – as an important and legitimate enterprise.

Imagining the Connective Corridor Program
In Spring 2006, Syracuse University launched Imagining the Connective Corridor, an academic-based program designed to develop ideas and identify issues for the Connective Corridor project. Six interdisciplinary courses explored different aspects in the Connective Corridor’s development including transportation, public relations, design, community service and technology. For more information about these classes, follow the link to the left. Also check out the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service at Syracuse University.

Partnership for Better Education
Syracuse’s colleges and universities are working together to assist the Syracuse City School District by providing new opportunities for quality instruction and programs. Partners include the District, Syracuse University, LeMoyne College, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, Onondaga Community College, and SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Syracuse University South Side Initiative
Syracuse University and the South Side Community Coalition – an organization of neighborhood residents – are partnering to restore, revitalize, and rejuvenate the South Side through several collaborative projects. Every project addresses at least one critical area: changing perceptions, increasing the city’s tax base, decreasing crime, improving the neighborhood infrastructure, and enhancing communication between generations. Projects have included the annual South Side Music and Arts Festival, digital access at Beauchamp Library, the South Side Technology Center and developing a plan for the south side food cooperative. Additional partners include Home Headquarters, Southeast Gateway CDC, Onondaga County Public Library, Morrisville College, SUNY ESF, and South Presbyterian Church.

TH3: A City Wide Art Open
Th3 is a citywide gallery open that takes place on the third Thursday of each month from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. This gallant project, initiated by the Everson Museum of Art and the Delavan Art Gallery, is joined by the most distinctive venues in the city in a grand event to bring the artistic experience to the public. Th3 establishes Syracuse as a city for the arts in this initiative effort to reach out its local and regional communities.

Urban Video Project (UVP)
UVP is a public arts and cultural initiative seeking to bring art and community together through dynamic video displays on the sides of buildings in Syracuse.