Outline of a CREATE Semester Session
Decide to Make a Place
Someone or several people get the idea to make a unique place by involving the community in the design process.
Create a Dialogue
Bring together all the “players” in the situation—those who own, maintain, and use the space. Other teachers, principals, and support team (i.e. social workers, counselors) will refer students to the CREATE project and develop a system for feedback (follow up forms). Teachers will also publicize the group around school to recruit students who may complete a self-referral.
Document
Keep records of community and student involvement. Save organizing and design materials. Update www.CHSD218publicart.weebly.com to document the unfolding plans. Your group is making history; preserve it. Provide feedback to teachers, principals, and support teams.
Experience the Site
Explore the site. Interview site users. Take photographs. Consult neighborhood children and teens through school and community center outreach. “Paint a portrait” of the site at different times of the day and night.
Research
Gather historical information from print sources and from neighborhood elders. Seek out specialists on aspects of the area history. Collect old photographs and drawings. What is public art? Who does it serve? What are the present needs of the community? What is the history of the community? What is the future of the community?
Expand the Dialogue
Continue talking. Schedule community meetings to share what you have learned and to gather more information. Dialogue isn’t just talking—draw and write together. Share written and pictorial visions for the site. Explore other public art in neighboring areas.
Build Trust
Take the time to get to know each other. Defer decisionmaking. Continue to research, discuss, and reflect. Consider special activities to raise awareness for the project.
Set Goals
Agree on the goals of the project. High quality goals include multiple objectives. Include goals that are social, cultural, aesthetic, and functional. Determine the criteria by which you will judge your success.
Design
Gather a core design group. Create an overall plan for the site. Decide what individual elements should be included in the plan. (Plantings, pavings, sculptures, murals, mosaics, seating, etc.) Decide how to involve various community constituencies in designing or fabricating aspects of the artworks. Share plans in progress with community. Incorporate suggestions.
Develop Budget & Identify Resources
Budget needs to include all aspects of the work—building infrastructure, funding for designing artworks, facilitating community involvement, materials, artist/designer time to lead execution, installation, documentation, and organizing a closing celebration. Resources include sources of private and public money, community contributions, in-kind, and community skills. The budget for CREATE will be planned prior to first meeting, according to 21st CCLC grant.
Assign and Accept Responsibilities for Making
Let contracts for major infrastructure work. Create a realistic project timeline. Determine which activities can overlap and which must be done in sequence. Work with community artists, gardeners, and craftspeople to develop schedules for community outreach for design and execution of the artworks, gardens, pavings, etc.
Make Art & Space
Begin construction and site preparation. Complete collaborative design work. Order materials. Paint, sculpt, build, tessellate. Be open to new ideas that develop during the making. Keep documenting the work and the process.
Inform the Community
Let the larger community know the what, when, and why of the project. Seek outside media attention to build local support. Create some record of the project—a photo and text album for the local library, a video, a newspaper insert, a website, etc.
Celebrate
It’s finished. Create community events that draw on unique community resources for things like special foods, musical groups, etc.
Evaluate
Gather initial members of the dialogue as well as those who have joined the project along the way. Discuss whether the project meets the social, cultural, aesthetic, and functional goals set earlier in the process. Discuss problems encountered and solutions implemented. Identify unexpected benefits.
*This process was created through the Chicago Public Art Group’s Steps for Creating Community Designed Places, by Olivia Gude and Jon Pounds
Someone or several people get the idea to make a unique place by involving the community in the design process.
Create a Dialogue
Bring together all the “players” in the situation—those who own, maintain, and use the space. Other teachers, principals, and support team (i.e. social workers, counselors) will refer students to the CREATE project and develop a system for feedback (follow up forms). Teachers will also publicize the group around school to recruit students who may complete a self-referral.
Document
Keep records of community and student involvement. Save organizing and design materials. Update www.CHSD218publicart.weebly.com to document the unfolding plans. Your group is making history; preserve it. Provide feedback to teachers, principals, and support teams.
Experience the Site
Explore the site. Interview site users. Take photographs. Consult neighborhood children and teens through school and community center outreach. “Paint a portrait” of the site at different times of the day and night.
Research
Gather historical information from print sources and from neighborhood elders. Seek out specialists on aspects of the area history. Collect old photographs and drawings. What is public art? Who does it serve? What are the present needs of the community? What is the history of the community? What is the future of the community?
Expand the Dialogue
Continue talking. Schedule community meetings to share what you have learned and to gather more information. Dialogue isn’t just talking—draw and write together. Share written and pictorial visions for the site. Explore other public art in neighboring areas.
Build Trust
Take the time to get to know each other. Defer decisionmaking. Continue to research, discuss, and reflect. Consider special activities to raise awareness for the project.
Set Goals
Agree on the goals of the project. High quality goals include multiple objectives. Include goals that are social, cultural, aesthetic, and functional. Determine the criteria by which you will judge your success.
Design
Gather a core design group. Create an overall plan for the site. Decide what individual elements should be included in the plan. (Plantings, pavings, sculptures, murals, mosaics, seating, etc.) Decide how to involve various community constituencies in designing or fabricating aspects of the artworks. Share plans in progress with community. Incorporate suggestions.
Develop Budget & Identify Resources
Budget needs to include all aspects of the work—building infrastructure, funding for designing artworks, facilitating community involvement, materials, artist/designer time to lead execution, installation, documentation, and organizing a closing celebration. Resources include sources of private and public money, community contributions, in-kind, and community skills. The budget for CREATE will be planned prior to first meeting, according to 21st CCLC grant.
Assign and Accept Responsibilities for Making
Let contracts for major infrastructure work. Create a realistic project timeline. Determine which activities can overlap and which must be done in sequence. Work with community artists, gardeners, and craftspeople to develop schedules for community outreach for design and execution of the artworks, gardens, pavings, etc.
Make Art & Space
Begin construction and site preparation. Complete collaborative design work. Order materials. Paint, sculpt, build, tessellate. Be open to new ideas that develop during the making. Keep documenting the work and the process.
Inform the Community
Let the larger community know the what, when, and why of the project. Seek outside media attention to build local support. Create some record of the project—a photo and text album for the local library, a video, a newspaper insert, a website, etc.
Celebrate
It’s finished. Create community events that draw on unique community resources for things like special foods, musical groups, etc.
Evaluate
Gather initial members of the dialogue as well as those who have joined the project along the way. Discuss whether the project meets the social, cultural, aesthetic, and functional goals set earlier in the process. Discuss problems encountered and solutions implemented. Identify unexpected benefits.
*This process was created through the Chicago Public Art Group’s Steps for Creating Community Designed Places, by Olivia Gude and Jon Pounds