The North Long Beach Uptown property-based improvement district, epi-centered at Artesia and Atlantic Avenues, has hired a creative community consultant to help expand the area’s renaissance.
Ryan Smolar has been selected to be its new creative community consultant, and he is hoping to optimally utilize what he has to work with in order to help the area flourish.
“I’m excited to be supporting this area’s amazing potential,” he said. “My hope is to help connect Uptown’s community, economic and cultural enterprises to new resources and relationships that help them thrive together.”
Ninth District Councilmember Rex Richardson had been a driving force behind the creation and amplification of the Uptown Renaissance, and he also led the charge to hire Smolar, according to the Uptown Business District.
“Uptown is on the road to a renaissance,” Richardson said. “We’re securing an incredible future for north Long Beach, and we’re tapping Ryan to help us expand our capacity to flourish as a well connected, creative and cultural district.”
Smolar will report to Sean Duren, the executive director of the Uptown Property and Community Association (UPCA) and the individual who has set up the organization’s clean-and-safe program. He is overseeing façade improvements and implementing new Uptown arts programs and events, like the Creative Corridor and Uptown Word poetry slam, according to the business district.
“Our first 18 months have been focused on establishing a clean-and-safe program, which in part has resulted in a reduction of serious incidents to zero,” Duren said. “Now we’re moving toward things like incubating the new economy by integrating closely with youth and creatives and the local food and maker movements.”
