In January 2002, Intermedia Arts, witness to the dramatic demographic changes in the Twin Cities, identified a unique opportunity to invest in arts-based community development. Responding to the changes in its community, Intermedia Arts launched the Institute for Community Cultural Development, now re-named The Creative Community Leadership Institute.

During its pilot year, seven local artists and seven local community development professionals met two days a month for five months. Fellows included a city council aide, an affordable housing development specialist, a mortgage banker, a public policy advocate, and a youth worker, among others.

Since 2002, this program has trained 110 of the Twin Cities' most active community artists, organizers and developers whose work continually enriches organizations, neighborhoods and the wider community. Working in partnership with the Bush Foundation, Plains Art Museum and North Dakota State University Department of Visual Arts, Intermedia Arts will offer this unique opportunity to 25 community leaders in the Fargo-Moorhead area in the spring of 2012.

The program has maintained the same core faculty of Bill Cleveland, Director of the Center for the Study of Art and Community; Wendy Morris, choreographer and educator; and Erik Takeshita, former Policy Aid for the Mayor of Minneapolis and Program Officer for Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).