Last night's Carnegie event was a success. If I were smart enough to explain exactly what triggered in my head watching images of a petite, Glasgow-based artist blasting holes in embroidered pheasants with a carbine rifle (think traditional feminine refinement juxtaposed against crude violence), I'd ask the senior editor for a raise.
Then again, if I were as smart as one of the other artists she referenced who tore down a boat storage shed along a river, used the lumber to build a new boat, paddled it down the river to another town, and then busted up the boat to rebuild the shed in a new location, I'd be the senior editor.
Barring that, I should probably just write about dinner.
It was actually better. Better not because of the food and drink, but because a whole group of smart, creative people sat around a table immediately after having been inspired by another smart, creative person who joined us.
There were working artists, a museum curator, a museum director, an artist-in-residence program director, an art professor, an environmental consultant, and some who qualified as more than one of the previously mentioned. Your author was at least smart enough to sit in the middle. Even that, though, was mostly due to Mrs. Author, who kindly saved me a seat while I retrieved a couple pairs of old work jeans that are now headed for recycling as part of an art project.
Each person at the table had things they wanted to accomplish. Each knew some of the others but not all. An hour later, everyone was closer to both. Email addresses were exchanged. Resources are being shared. Further resources will be sought jointly. No tribalism. No turf. The regionalism long touted by moribund institutions was birthed in an evening by people whose chief transportation concern was expressed as a desire to be able to ride their bicycles across the river.
All we have to do is that a thousand more times or so and people will come to expect it of us.
By way of explanation, I'll turn you over to CoolTown Studios, who've sat in the middle a lot. Their work is shared here under a Creative Commons license.
How do you crowdsource the evolution of a retail district?
This is a question I'm often asked - how can crowdsourcing help develop and/or revitalize a commercial district, especially a natural cultural district?
It starts with preparation, understanding crowdsourcing as a solution to a 'cloud problem', and recognizing the importance of third places, scenes and events. Read more about their roles here.
The first action step involves establishing a creative community, which will then crowdsource the scene for the district, such as arts and entertainment, fashion, music, high-tech, multimedia, green/triple bottom line businesses...
The second step results in having the group, now known as a beta community, identify ten third places that they feel are both missing/needed and necessary to establish the scene. This is followed by identifying VIBEs to run each of these businesses, and crowdsourcing a loyal customer base to ensure success from opening day.
The third step has the group crowdsourcing events at both the business and district scale that attract that critical mass of people essential to ongoing economic and cultural prosperity, filling the venues and establishing not only a scene, but a community and a heritage.
CoolTown visual guide to crowdsourced placemaking (PDF)
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4 comments:
Bluegill - if you organize a permanent breakfast, i will gladly join in. How 'bout we create an actual "park" downtown for the breakfast?
I spent part of this afternoon speaking with Dave Thrasher aout much of the same topics as this post.
One of the things we discussed was the idea of a periodical of some sort banging our own drum.
When last employed as a driver I did local work in and around Louisville. Much of that was in the Portland area and I found they have a neighborhood newspaper that is published monthly called the "Portland Anchor".
It consists of events past, present and future in their neighborhoods.
Columns about museums, art exhibits, book stores, retail shops, festivals, eateries and most anything else of interest to anyone in and around that area.
There are snippits about community gardens & playgrounds. Specialty shops & shut in care. History of what had been & speculations of what could be.
Is something along these lines feasible for us?
Would it help draw walkthru traffic?
Do IUS, Ivy Tech, or Prosser have journalism classes for whom this could be an ongoing project?
Would neighborhoods, civic groups, and downtown business's support such and endeavor?
Food for thought.
like your idea Lloyd...would give us a chance to promote in ways no one else seems able to do.
"Do IUS, Ivy Tech, or Prosser have journalism classes for whom this could be an ongoing project?"
Why farm out an ongoing community project to people who may have no interest in the community?
A community newspaper, I think, would be most effective if produced by members of that community, rather than students looking to earn class credit or build their resumes.
As for feasibility, I can only speak from my own experiences with self-publishing a periodical over 10 years ago. The Tribune had very reasonable rates for commericial printing back then. I paid about $250 for 4000 copies of a 32-page, 9x12 (roughly) newsprint magazine. If local business could be convinced to buy ads, such as endeavor is certainly feasible, so long there's a good person at the helm to keep the ball rolling month-to-month.
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