Revising the Riverfront Association, Tennessee Leadership, the 911 Emergency Communications Board, and the Memphis Jobs Conference in the early 1980s. Her public relations company counseled firms on corporate giving, and she received the Initiative Award at the 1989 Women of Achievement ceremonies. In 2001 she started the Smart City radio interviews with urban experts, a show that was picked up by “It’s rare to have that the Public Broadcasting System and much real estate on your ran nationally for years. She was an organizer of the 1980 and 1981 Memwaterfront next to your phis Jobs Conference, and part of the Memphis Manifesto Summit. downtown area that isn’t 2003 All this was a prelude to the last several years when she’s been executive already repurposed.” director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, head of the public-pri— gi a bi agi vate collaboration ArtPlace, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, vice president of Community and National Initiatives for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and a senior fellow at the Kresge Foundation. These connections have been crucial to shaping what is being presented through the Memphis River Parks Partnership. In fact, Coletta still has the position with Kresge, which is paying her while she’s at MRPP. In 2016, Coletta was helping launch “Reimagining above right: The Studio the Civic Commons,” an initiative that aims to make Gang-designed Aqua the most of public spaces to encourage connection, Tower in Chicago. equity, economic development, and environmental below: Arkansas Arts sustainability. The three-year, five-city effort is a colCenter is a Studio Gang laboration of The JPB Foundation, Knight Foundaand SCAPE project. tion, the Kresge Foundation, the Rockefeller Foun-
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dation, and local partners. The five municipalities are Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Akron, Ohio. The project investment of $40 million includes $20 million from national foundations and $20 million in local matching funds. The Memphis portion was the Fourth Bluff project that would bring new lighting, amenities, and events to the area that includes Memphis Park (formerly Confederate Park), the Cossitt Library, River Garden at Mississippi River Park (formerly Jefferson Davis Park), Court Square, and Main Street. November’s grand opening of the River Line trail and River Garden was a key element to the Civic Commons project and dovetailed with the MRPP plans. So when Coletta was named president and CEO of the RDC/MRPP a year ago, she was already up to speed, not only because she was already on the board, but she also knew the players involved in the plan. The two architecture firms that have presented the evolutionary vision for the Memphis riverfront are top-tier, innovative enterprises, both headed by women with MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. Jeanne Gang (a 2011 MacArthur Fellow) founded Studio Gang 20 years ago in Chicago and has built a reputation for projects that are often daring but always grounded. Her big breakthrough was designing the Aqua Tower in Chicago, a striking 82-story building with curving concrete floor plates that protrude past the glass to give the structure a wave-like look. Studio Gang has also done the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. One project in particular — the one that got Coletta’s attention — was Polis
BOTTOM LEFT: RENDERING COURTESY SCAPE AND STUDIO GANG | TOP RIGHT: IMAGE COURTESY STEVE HALL
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