Tom Borrup is a national leader and innovator in creative community building in the U.S. – leveraging cultural and other community assets to advance economic, social, civic, and physical development of place-based communities. Headquartered in Minneapolis, he consults with cities, foundations, and nonprofits across the U.S. His work integrates the arts, economic development, urban planning and design, civic engagement, and animation of public space.

Borrup has written many articles for publications in the arts, architecture, city planning and philanthropy. His book, The Creative Community Builders’ Handbook, was released in July 2006, by Fieldstone Alliance. As Executive Director of Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis from 1980 until 2002, Borrup developed a nationally-recognized multidisciplinary, cross-cultural organization in a diverse urban community.

He teaches Arts and Culture Management at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, the University of Massachusetts, and Drexel University in Philadelphia. He received his B.A. and M.A. Goddard College and is enrolled in the Ph.D. Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.