Arts & Culture

Yesterday at our "Vacancy to Vibrancy: the Creative Use of Space" program, suggestions from speakers about how to get involved included two calls for ideas. Here's more information:



    We are living a new economic paradigm, with profound impacts on our built environment. To what creative uses can we put vacant or underutilized buildings? Can partially constructed projects contribute to, rather than diminish, our neighborhoods? Are there more constructive uses for vacant lots than just another parking lot? How might we rethink outmoded infrastructure? How does the new economy create opportunities for lean, fresh solutions to our urban problems?
    AIA Seattle’s Forum magazine is seeking illustrated ideas that repurpose or rethink underused or vacant spaces of all kinds for its upcoming issue, “Coming Out of the Curve.” We challenge designers and artists to think boldly about innovative approaches to underutilized land, buildings or infrastructure.

Submittal instructions

• Send a 72dpi jpeg with a 100 word synopsis to Isla McKetta at imcketta@aiaseattle.org by the deadline above. Jpegs should be at least 8.5”x9”. We cannot accept previously published images. If your idea is selected, a 300 dpi version will be requested. Selected ideas will be published in the August/September issue of Forum magazine. (Publication date August / September 2010.)

    The Seattle Design Commission wants your ideas for Holding Patterns, interim uses for stalled project sites.
    We are seeking your concepts to transform the following types of stalled project sites around the city: holes in the ground; surface lots; ongoing construction above or below street level.
    Whether a concert space or a bumper car track, basketball hoops or a fleeting performance stage, from temporary to semi-permanent, wacky, practical or both, the Design Commission is welcoming any and all ideas. Artists, designers, non-profits, businesses, developers, students, astronauts, everyone is invited to contribute ideas. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged.

Your submission should include the following:

1. a brief narrative including rationale, goal, purpose, program, and design intent
2. the location, if specific (all city-wide locations are acceptable)
3. a site plan and/or images that communicate your ideas
4. maximum of four 8.5” x 11” single-sided pages per site category.

There will be a follow up implementation workshop for selected ideas, so please be prepared to make a two minute pitch for potential partners who are able to help make your ideas a reality.

Submit via e-mail to Valerie.Kinast@seattle.gov - a pdf formatted file and, in the body of the email, the names/backgrounds of participants and contact information for one person. Please put “Holding Patterns” in the subject line. 6 MB maximum file size.



Do you know of other projects in the community? Other ways to get involved in this issue? Let us know in the comments!

As our program "Vacancy to Vibrancy: The Creative Use of Space" nears, we thought we'd share some programs that are already doing work on this topic.

No Longer Empty is an organization in New York City. "The non-profit organization was conceived as an artistic response to our present economic condition and to revitalize empty spaces and areas around the venues by bringing thoughtful, high-caliber art installations with accompanying programs to the public." Spaces for these exhibitions are donated rent-free by the landlords, and the art chosen is site-specific.

Ford Foundation has launched an initiative called Supporting Diverse Arts Spaces "to help artists and arts organizations develop vibrant cultural spaces even in times of economic hardship." This is a 10-year, $100 million initiative.

Spaceworks Tacoma's tagline is "creative use for vacant space". A collaboration between City of Tacoma, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce and Shunpike, the organization focuses on empty storefronts in Downtown Tacoma.

Do you know of other organizations doing similar work? What are your ideas for empty space?

Unfortunately our photographers were unavailable to snap today's program with new Seattle Art Museum director Derrick R. Cartwright - but we did snag this photo with a staff cell phone!

Pack your lunch on Thursday and check out this fantastic event hosted by Seattle Art Museum. I can't wait to hear what this outstanding panel has to say! I've never considered myself "in" with the art scene in Seattle (what does that even mean?) but I've been quietly watching the work of the Free Sheep Foundation for awhile, and hearing great things about the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Additionally, from CityClub experience, I know Michael Kinsley is fantastic in these kinds of panel/moderator discussions.

Free and open to the public! RSVP info is below.

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Art and Sustainable Cities: A Dialogue
August 27, 2009
11:30 am–1 pm
Olympic Sculpture Park, PACCAR Pavilion

Introduction: 
Maryann Jordan, Interim Director, Seattle Art Museum
Moderator: 
Michael Kinsley, American political journalist
Panelists: 
Randy Engstrom, Founding Director, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
D.K. Pan and NKO, Founders, Free Sheep Foundation
Buster Simpson, Northwest artist
Beth Takekawa, Executive Director, Wing Luke Asian Museum
Closing Remarks: 
Gene Duvernoy, President, Cascade Land Conservancy

SAM and the Cascade Land Conservancy present the next panel discussion exploring the intersection of art, culture and the environment. Can steps be taken to ensure that revitalization and increased density are beneficial for both the arts and artists? How can we avoid artists being pushed out of our cities by rising prices? What roles do diversity and equity play in building vibrant, sustainable cities? Join us as we consider these and other questions.

“Art and Sustainable Cities: A Dialogue” is part of SAM’s Pivotal Perspectives series.  Bringing together some of the most compelling thinkers on a given cultural subject, Pivotal Perspectives is a timely and innovative forum that addresses pressing issues in art and society.

Free and open to the public. To reserve your space, please email
boxoffice@seattleartmuseum.org or call the SAM Box Office at 206.654.3121.
Presented with support from the Seattle Office of Arts&Cultural Affairs

In honor of our upcoming program with Susan Hildreth, Seattle's new City Librarian, our unofficial book week continues with a book review contributed by guest blogger and CityClub board member Jennifer Giltrop from the Seattle Public Library. At her very first meeting as a member of our board, Jennifer suggested this book as required reading for the rest of our board members!

Before we get there, however, let's talk book clubs. We may not have an official book club, but we'd love to meet yours. Is your favorite book club interested in coming as a group to our conversation with Susan Hildreth? Grab one or two friends and join us for cookies and coffee on Friday, April 10! Contact Sara Neppl at 206-682-7395 to learn about our special book club rate for this program.

If you are reading this CityClub blog, chances are you’re already engaged in your community.  You care about your community.  You want to help make a better reality for yourself, your family, and future generations.

Whatever your degree of engagement or connection, Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block shares ideas for community building that will inspire you to action.

As our our world becomes more connected and the pace of life picks up speed, knowing your neighbors face-to-face is becoming exception to the rule. Work consumes our lives, which seem increasingly disconnected, and making a meaningful contribution to community can seem impossible.

Nonetheless, Block shows us how. He talks about turning our conversations from problems to the potential for building community.  “Citizens,” Block tells us, “become powerful when they choose to shift the context with which they act in the world.”

Block, a partner in Designed Living, shares ideas to construct a cohesive community.

You will learn:

• Why communities are fragmented and how various sectors work against one another
  
• How to build a community based on inclusion and belonging
  
• How to develop local leadership and grassroots based ideas
  
• What the steps are to transform a society into one based on accountability 

The Seattle Public Library has copies of the book available for check-out. Place a hold now!  I hope this book will inspire you and give you new ways of thinking about community and what we can achieve together.