About

John Delconte is the founder of Smallwander. He has been enamored with small towns ever since he moved to his adopted home town of Hillsborough, NC. From the time he moved there, he loved living in its historic district, but did not have the language to describe what made it so special. After joining the Hillsborough Arts Council and eventually becoming its Chair, he came to realize that art and culture played a significant role in making the town cool and interesting. The council hosted monthly public get-togethers, hosted house concerts, and planned giant puppet parades. These social events were the backdrop for meeting lifelong friends and for learning the history of the area. After 5 to 10 years of arts council activity, he saw how the restaurant at the corner of the main intersection was doing well where previous ones had failed every couple of years. Meanwhile several new restaurants had been established, including one with a James Beard finalist.

John decided to study this intersection of the arts, small business, and tourism by earning a Master’s in sustainable tourism at East Carolina University. During that program, he learned that the process of using art and culture to improve the physical and social character of a place was called ‘creative placemaking.’ He went on to propose a way to define and measure an outcome of creative placemaking, which he calls ‘place vibrancy’ for his doctorate dissertation at the University of Massachusetts (UMass). He is certified as an interpretive guide through the National Association of Interpretation and teaches classes on creative placemaking at New England College, UMass Arts Extension Service, and geography and planning at Westfield State University.