This page includes resources for each of the Culture and Community Design sessions in 2023. References and readings that come up in class will be added as classes progresses.
Culture is the manifestation, cultivation and intersection of shared histories, expressions and practices that identify, magnify and uplift communities and their important, diverse, and unique perspectives.
Location
Atlanta Regional Commission, Harry West Conference Center (directions)
Agenda
Welcome Breakfast Agenda
Speakers
Mike Alexander, Atlanta Regional Commission
In his remarks, Mike recommended The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. Watch a webinar, or a YouTube interview of the author by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Materials
Location
Atlanta Regional Commission, Harry West Conference Center (directions)
Agenda
Session 1
Speakers
Materials
Homework for May 9
Read: "Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City" Roberto Bedoya, 2014
Location
Online - Zoom (Transcript / Chatlog)
Agenda
Session 2
Speakers
Paola Aguirre, BORDERLESS Studio
Download: Paola's Presentation
Homework for June 8
In preparation for the session with Paola, she has prepared four case studies for you to review ahead of our June 8 session. Please review all four project websites, read articles, watch videos listed below, and add your responses to this jamboard by June 7.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
CASE STUDIES
1. Creative Grounds - Borderless Studio
2. Redefining Redlining - Amanda Williams in collaboration with Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative
3. Inequity for Sale - Tonika Johnson
4. Paper Monuments - Colloqate
Optional!
If you are looking for more ... you can hear more from Tonika who spoke with us two years ago or check out another project from Paola:
Presentation / Conversation: ARC ALMA Session with Tonika Johnson / April 2021
Video / Passcode: almaarts2021
Presentation / Conversation: Design Justice Toolkit (Borderless + Colloqate) / May 2023
Video / Passcode: 9#&%kPW6
George F. Baker III, Artist
George F. Baker III, also known as GFB3, is a Nebraska-born, Detroit Grown, and Atlanta-Raised Creator. Using his instruments of design, illustration, and production, he employs a playful childlike spirit to engage the inner-child we all have. Currently, he is the Creative Director of Foster, a studio-collective striving to make people unafraid to play.
Concrete Creativity (pdf)
Aysha Pennerman, Artist
Aysha Pennerman, a creative who’s been on a mission to use her talents for good. With the heart to love and empower others, she has combined the skills she gained over the years as a graphic designer and painter to make an impact. She now paints murals that sparks conversations, educate, and empowers people in communities.
Speakers
Yin Kong, Think!Chinatown
Yin Kong 邝海音 is a community-based designer and curator living and working in Manhattan's Chinatown. Think!Chinatown is the culmination of her work in urban design, museum, culinary & cultural instruction, and community engagement. Previously an Urban Curator of the Dashilar Project, she consulted a municipal agency of Beijing on urban revitalization strategies in the city's historic hutong core. She also spent time teaching at the Black Sesame Kitchen in Beijing and onboard Semester at Sea. She loves sharing Thomas Jefferson facts which she picked up at her time working at Monticello. Yin holds a Masters of Architecture, Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London and a Bachelors of Arts, Urban Studies from Columbia University.
Sonia Romero, Artist
Sonia Romero (b. 1980) is an artist based in Los Angeles known for her paper-cut and printmaking aesthetics, which she incorporates into both her fine art and public art commissions. Romero’s paintings, prints and sculptures can be found in many prestigious collections, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Cheech Marin Museum of Art and Culture. Her aesthetic influences encompass Chicano art, vintage graphics, Los Angeles culture, and the natural world. Growing up in an artistic household in Echo Park, Romero pursued formal education at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her aesthetic influences encompass Chicano art, vintage graphics, Los Angeles culture, and the natural world.
Rosten Woo, Artist
Rosten Woo is a designer, writer, and educator living in Los Angeles. He produces civic-scale artworks and works as a collaborator and consultant to a variety of grassroots and non-profit organizations. including the Advancement Project, the American Human Development Project, the Black Workers Center, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, as well as the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. He is co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), a New York Based non-profit organization dedicated to using art and design to foster civic participation, winner of the 2016 National Design Award for institutional achievement.
Location
Atlanta Regional Commission, Harry West Conference Center (directions)
Speakers
ADAMA Team - Final Presentation
Full Radius Dance Team - Final Presentation
September 24, 2023
Full Radius Dance Company, an all-abilities dance company, worked collaboratively with ARC’s Culture and Community Design Class to design and host a Community Co-Design Jam at Moving In The Spirit. The event offered both an in person and virtual platform for community members to brainstorm ways to increase education about accessibility and dance and expand FRD’s engagement with its current and new communities. The session consisted of stations co-facilitated by FRD and the CCD class members, where community members were given the platform to engage in creative brainstorming sessions, collages, vision boarding, and discussion. The sessions sought to expand the understanding of what accessibility and equity means for individuals living with disabilities as well as how FRD incorporates this into their practice.
September 23, 2023
The African Diaspora Art Museum and ARC’s Culture and Community Design Class collaborated with Clarkston Highschool students in the Clarkston Community Center’s Leaders of Tomorrow program to design and implement engagement activities at Refuge Coffee’s 5K and Mile Fun Run Race Around the world. Residents enjoyed trivia, musical chairs, games, and prizes, as the engagement team collected feedback on perspectives about art and culture, and sense of belonging among Clarkston’s foreign born and native populations.
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