Tag: seattle design festival

“Designing the Equitable City” Workshop at the Seattle Design Festival

Designing the Equitable City
SEPTEMBER 19, 2015
10:45 am – 1:00 pm, Seattle Central Library
1000 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
Fourth Floor Room 1, Washington Mutual Foundation Meeting Room

Four agencies from the City of Seattle present a workshop on visioning an equitable city.

Cities are spaces where diverse cultures, experiences, backgrounds, traditions and ways of being converge. They are nests for creative expression and offer pathways for unique and dynamic opportunities. Yet, although diversity is a clear asset to all cities, not all communities reap the same benefits of what a city has to offer.

In the wake of recent events that bring into focus racial iniquities and tensions, and with on-going patterns of displacement, lack of affordable safe housing, lack of transportation, food deserts, and lack of green space in communities of color it’s clear that the cities we have created are not designed to serve everyone. The good news is that design is man-made so we all have a part to play in re-designing for cities that uplift people of all races.

The City of Seattle has made a commitment to work towards social equity with an emphasis on racial equity, across all departments. In this workshop you will hear from the City of Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights, Seattle Design Commission, Seattle’s Planning Commission and the Office of Arts and Culture as they share the role that we as designers, urban planners, and artists play in creating a new equitable vision for our cities. There will be a panel of commissioners, design professionals, artists and staff who will share what is happening at a city-wide level to realize the City’s commitment to building a racially equitable Seattle, followed by an interactive brainstorming breakout session where we will all explore our own individual roles in visioning and realizing a more inclusive home that serves all communities. There will be an opportunity to report out on the smaller-group discussions and share what we’ve learned from each other.

Speakers and facilitators will include:
Kirin Bhatti, Seattle Office for Civil Rights; Michael Austin, commissioner, Seattle Planning Commission; Vanessa Murdock, Executive Director, Seattle Planning Commission; Lee Copeland, commissioner, Seattle Design Commission; Ellen Sollod, Vice Chair, Seattle Design Commission; Valerie Kinast, coordinator, Seattle Design Commission; Leilani Lewis, Director of Marketing and Communications, Northwest African American Museum; Lara Davis, Arts Education Manager, Office of Arts & Culture; Ruri Yampolsky, Public Art Director, Office of Arts & Culture. Assisted by Payton Bordley, Racial Equity Liaison, Office of Arts & Culture.

Office of Arts & Culture participating in Seattle Design Festival 2015

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture is participating in Seattle Design Festival 2015 with two unique events; a workshop that will explore the vision of an equitable city and a hands-on art making workshop with Portland artist Horatio Law for his temporary public artwork South Park Crisálida.

The Seattle Design Festival celebrates the ways design makes life better. The 2015 festival: Design for Equity explores how design can contribute to a more equitable society. From buildings that everyone can access and move through, to apps that enable civic participation by people in every location and language, to cities where we can all afford to live – design is a vehicle of innovation. Design for Equity invites us to create a future in which everyone in our society – from every background, ability, race, age, gender, location or economic status – can access the same opportunities and outcomes, both now and in the future.

Saturday, September 19 • 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Seattle Central Library, 1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
WORKSHOP – Designing the Equitable City Four agencies from the City of Seattle present a workshop on visioning an equitable city.

Cities are spaces where diverse cultures, experiences, backgrounds, traditions and ways of being converge. They are nests for creative expression and offer pathways for unique and dynamic opportunities. Yet, although diversity is a clear asset to all cities, not all communities reap the same benefits of what a city has to offer.

The City of Seattle has made a commitment to work towards social equity with an emphasis on racial equity, across all departments. In this workshop you will hear from the City of Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights, Seattle Design Commission, Seattle’s Planning Commission and the Office of Arts & Culture as they share the role that we as designers, urban planners, and artists play in creating a new equitable vision for our cities. There will be a panel of commissioners, design professionals, artists and staff who will share what is happening at a city-wide level to realize the City’s commitment to building a racially equitable Seattle, followed by an interactive brainstorming breakout session where we will all explore our own individual roles in visioning and realizing a more inclusive home that serves all communities. There will be an opportunity to report out on the smaller-group discussions and share what we’ve learned from each other.

Sunday, September 20 • 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
8709 14th Ave S, Seattle, 98108
WORKSHOP – South Park Crisálida – Envisioning Community Transformation Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and South Park Arts co-present Horatio Law’s South Park Crisálida

Portland artist Horatio Law and South Park Arts present a hands-on art making workshop that invites community members and Design in Public participants to partner in the creation of South Park Crisálida, a temporary public artwork that will be installed in the South Park neighborhood. Law’s sculpture invites the South Park community to be co-creator of the artwork by weaving “Community Yarns” that will form the outer skin of the artwork. Each participant will be able to create a 10’ “yarn” by weaving colorful ropes and incorporating personal artifacts. Design in Public participants are invited to observe and participate in this equity-building activity that empowers the community to create change.

Law is designing South Park Crisálida to raise community awareness about a sewer improvement project that Seattle Public Utilities will construct in 2016 and become a destination piece that attracts visitors to the neighborhood during construction. Through this workshop, community members and merchants will work together to build stronger ties, as well as incorporate their vision for a future transformed South Park.

“Community Yarns” created during the workshop will be displayed at the South Park Library (8604 Eighth Ave. S., 98108) until South Park Crisálida is installed in spring 2016. The artwork is commissioned by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds.

More information on SPU’s South Park Sewer Improvement Project can be found here.

ACCESSIBILITY: ADA/Wheelchair Accessible, Family Friendly, Scent-Free Space, Multilingual program: Spanish interpretation (please check back for additional language interpretation)