BostonAPP/Lab Notes from December 15, 2015

 

The many participants in the Lab’s November 24, 2015, workshop – where we began to bring the ArtsCommons to life -- created a rich set of both general and specific responses to the ArtsCommons’ core questions:

• Location: where can/should the ArtsCommons best be sited?

• Users: who will/can/should be engaging with these spaces?

• Curation: what topics/ideas issues can the ArtsCommons’ programming address?

• Criteria: how do we set priorities - and who is “we?”

• Infrastructure: what are the essential mechanical, electrical, environmental, safety requirements for the ArtsCommons?

 

One of November’s participants wrote later that the ArtsCommons’ “openness is its generosity; once the artists and community get their minds and hands on it, it will go beyond anything we come up with in a workshop.”

The challenge, then: identify the specific steps required to create a successful launch and ensure a residual impact of the ArtsCommons. For example:

• What are the most critical ingredients for structuring an effective ArtsCommons partnership?

• Given the flexibility built into the ArtsCommons’ initial design, what are the most efficient/effective approaches to siting, configuration, use of materials, etc.?

• What kinds of “prompts” will activate what kinds of activities or uses over the course of a two week long residency at a single site?

• What are the definitions of success – immediate as well as ongoing for the ArtsCommons?

   

The ideas summarized in the notes below suggest the multiple strategies by which participants saw the ArtsCommons coming to life.

 

Brainstorming kinds/examples of potential partnerships:

• Community Investors, via ideas and/or time

• Town Hall meetings to provide the community a voice in what happens in their space, as well as a way to find out what we should/can be leaving behind

• Space is money. What is a surplus in the community that needs to be shared?

• “Life Is Good”

• Studio Fresh

• Loft F Gallery, Design Museum Boston, Industrial Designers Society of Boston, Energy companies – solar, batteries etc.

• Blockchain (bitcoin) companies – enabling people to prove concepts

• Incentivizing partnerships via potential profitable scalability

• Organizations already established in communities that can foster activity. Places may not have the kind of venue like the Children’s’ Museum; however, they do have organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, where children can create a sense of community and are encouraged to express themselves through art. Thus maybe a “leave-behind” or performance is not a physical mark on the location, but enhancing these established communities via existing assets.

• Micro communities

• Boston Redevelopment Authority

 

Brainstorming kinds/examples of activities:

• Collaborative/diverse performances based on the specifics of a particular community (anniversaries, memorable dates).

• Themes for local civic engagement; dialogues and themes via installation(s) that would address social issues, and travel from one site to the next.

• Incubator for social groups.

• Physical platform that can engage and enable communities to evolve/continue.

• Location, location, location: The “black box” as a means of creating a place of activity? To draw, engage, and connect people – perhaps in a place with little or no pre-established initiatives re social engagement.

• Visual, lecture, performing -- one of each.

• Theme for X amount of time.

• Social media pulling attention, keeping focus on creative direction.

• Food and gardening (seasonal).

• Campfires.

 

Brainstorming kinds of/criteria for success:

• Knowledge: consistency, accessibility (social media), word of mouth, visibility.

• Create/sustain dialogue with the community to see what the ArtsCommons means or could mean to them.

• Pre-work with and preparing the community for the ArtsCommons as crucial component of what happens on/in/around the ArtsCommons.

• Regularity, reliability.

• Variety of audiences at one time (be open and consciously ambiguous enough to appeal to everyone)..

• Cross-seasonal unit that can scale and be simple/pure/"magical"/intuitive

• Timeline enabling community to engage and adapt to it before taking it away.

• Physical “list” that can be passed on.

• Growth of community in platforms, groups, friendships.

• Educational components such as people learning about local activities or just generally learning from one another.

• Cross-fertilization of cultures.

• Drop Box – social media hype before it gets there. 

• Equal Opportunity: “natural selection” shouldn’t rely on funding – kit of parts should enable any idea to be seen through and given the chance to “prove itself.”

• Spatial/ physical hype: what happens in the space before the physical structure gets there? Excitement, questions, mystery, imagination

• Ideological hype/community Influence: community brainstorms for topic/themes that reflect an understanding of community needs. Who knows best? Insider or outsider?

• Constructive community input – ideals, not problems. Fill the space with good, not remove the negative.

• Involvement – core community vs. outside community.

• Incubator for movement: urban gardens, uplift what exists, reality that needs healing.

• Creating community: social media ... network > physical space ... destination

• Sponsor a network via, e.g., Kickstarter.

• Must-haves: power, wifi, security.

• Performance: intimate, secured stage, collecting something – filled with stuff.

• Barber shop; mani-pedi.

• Transparent walls.

• Open studios/open streets.