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SIDE BAR Jeffrey A. Parks, Esq.

Born			November 30, 1948 Bethlehem, PA, USA

Nationality		American

Education		Lehigh University University of Pennsylvania School of Law Publication 		Stronger than Steel, How the Arts Saved Bethlehem (July 2018)

Occupation	Social entrepreneur, attorney, and creative consultant for urban development projects using arts and cultural programming

Awards		For development of SteelStacks arts and cultural campus: Rudy Brunner Award for Urban Excellence, 2017 ULI Global Award for Excellence, 2014 Inaugural ULI Philadelphia Willard G. Rouse III Award for Excellence 19 Insanely Weird Concert Venuses to Visit Before You Die, Buzzfeed, 2015

For creating Musikfest, the largest free music festival in the U.S.: National Geographic Best Summer Festival, 2014 New York Times Summer Stages, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

For creating Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem, a German-style Christmas Market: Top Christmas Markets in the World, Travel + Leisure For developing the Banana Factory Arts Center, a visual arts and cultural center: Governor’s Award for Arts and Youth Education Programs, 2009 For the City of Bethlehem, PA: Top City in the Third Federal Reserve District in Economic Vitality, 2012 10 Best Places to Live in Pennsylvania, CBS Philly, 2014 Top 10 Main Streets, USA Today, 2015

Current Positions	Chair, Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Vice President, Alibi Music, LP, a musical production library serving the advertising industry in all media outlets

Jeffrey A. Parks, Esq.

Jeffrey A. Parks is an American lawyer and social entrepreneur who is best known for founding Musikfest, the country’s largest free music festival; SteelStacks, a 10-acres arts and cultural campus located on the grounds of the former Bethlehem Steel plant; Banana Factory Arts Center, a visual and cultural arts center located in an former banana distribution facility; Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem, a German-style Christmas market; ArtsQuest, the parent organization of these programs; and ArtsQuest Foundation, the fund-raising arm of ArtsQuest. Parks is heralded as a pioneer in using arts strategies, now known as Creative Placemaking, for community development.

Early life Parks was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, graduated from Lehigh University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After completing law school, he returned to his hometown, where he practiced law and became active in civic life. From this viewpoint, Parks watched as deindustrialization decimated the community. Once the home of the mighty Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the city lost residents and vitality. A scion of a small business family—Parks’ parents owned an independent stationary store—and an attorney to dozens of small business owners, he branched out into a second career as a social entrepreneur. His new venture, which was unheard of at the time, was to found a nonprofit economic development organization that would use arts and culture to foster community development. For his engagement in community activities, he was named “Young Man of the Year” by the Bethlehem Area Jaycees in 1983. Arts and Economic Development Career In 1982, during the major recession that decimated the American steel industry, Parks was asked by tourism committee of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce to develop a plan to bring visitors to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, home of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, in the month of August. With unemployment in the region at 13percent, Parks proposed a free music festival to bring people to the historic retail district of the town, with its recently revived Victorian Main Street, collection of Eighteenth Century Germanic-style buildings and an adjacent park along the nearby Monocacy Creek. Opened on August, 1984, the nine day Musikfest, was an unexpected success, drawing almost 200,000 people. During the collapse of the Bethlehem Steel through its bankruptcy in 2001, Musikfest continued to grow, ultimately presenting over 500 live shows during the expanded ten day event with audiences regularly exceeding 1,000,000. Musikfest became an economic anchor for the downtown as well as a source of positive branding for the city throughout the period of deindustrialization, which continued into the Twenty-First Century. In 1993, in order to support the Christmas City brand of Bethlehem, Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem, a German style holiday market with a decidedly American twist was conceived by Parks as a new attraction for the community. Instead of being an open air event, as it is in Germany, the American version was designed with heated tents on a parking lot adjacent to the downtown. Featuring regional crafts and arts, as well as seasonal retailers and ethnic foods, the market has become a sustaining element of Bethlehem’s Christmas program, with over 60,000 visitors each year. Seeing the need for an arts element to begin revitalization of Bethlehem’s devastated South Side retail district, Parks worked with artists, nonprofit groups, educators and donors, to create the Banana Factory Arts Center, one of the first major capital projects in the area adjacent to the steel plant, which closed in 1995. The Banana Factory opened in 1998, spawning additional investment, including a 180 unit condominium, parking and retail project in a six acre former Bethlehem Steel building across the street from the Arts Center. With the fate of the historic core of the Bethlehem Steel plant in the heart of the South Side in question, Parks began a movement for an “Arts Park” on a portion of the plant closest to the formerly robust retail district and adjoining residential district consisting primarily of former steelworker row houses. After a 2003 visit to Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord, a former steel plant in Germany’s Ruhr Valley, Parks shifted his view from tearing down the steel’s blast furnaces to keeping them as landmark and as an element in SteelStacks, a new arts and culture campus that would celebrate the history of the community while adding to the contemporary cultural offerings. With donation of the land from the group that developed the Sands Casino Resort on a portion of the former steel plant, SteelStacks opened in April, 2011. The campus includes the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks, an outdoor concert venue that presents concerts throughout the warm weather months; ArtsQuest Center, a contemporary arts center with the Musikfest Café that presents concerts throughout the year; the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema with two screens offering independent, foreign and documentary films; the multi-purpose Fowler Blast Furnace Room, where music, dance, theatre and spoken word are presented, along with spaces for visual art exhibits and year-round performance by regional musicians.

Author

Parks will be releasing his first book in July 2018, titled Stronger than Steel, How the Arts Saved Bethlehem. The book gives the history of the founding of Muskifest, Christkindlemarkt, Banana Factory Arts Center, SteelStacks and the parent organization ArtsQuest. In addition, Parks explains the impact of Creative Placemaking in Bethlehem and the positive economic impact the arts have had on a city that was decimated by deindustrialization.

Advocate for the Arts

Parks continues to be an advocate for the arts. He currently serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Council for the arts and is a highly sought after speaker. He has spoken around the country on Creative Placemaking, urban development and other relevant topics.