Artists Meet – Envision Venice
By Eric
Ahlberg
The Venice Arts Council
produced a very successful, five-hour Public Art and Culture Workshop on January
7 at the Venice Center for Peace with Justice and the Arts, 2210 Lincoln Bl.
Venice artists, organizations and the
community gathered to participate in a dialogue and interaction about the arts
in Venice. We asked the question “What do you artistically dream for
Venice?”
The purpose was to bring
our divided community together with art as a catalyst, to start a dialogue of
what we envision the arts of this artistic and cultural diverse community to be.
74 people signed in, evaluation forms were filled out by some, and we are still
evaluating the results. No proposals or decisions were made, or intended to be
made. This is a beginning for artists and community to interact with each other,
get to know each other and work together through future
workshops.
Participants from art
institutions in Venice included Jonathan Zeichner, Co-Director of Inside Out
Community Arts, who led a creative interactive activity that promoted a creative
mood. And Judith F. Baca, Founder/Artistic Director of SPARC, who led the
“Voice to Vision” workshop, that blew us all away with many, many
(so very far out) ideas.
The
co-sponsorship of many people and organizations made this workshop successful:
Councilman Bill Rosendahl, John S. Brady, West area Representative from the
Office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Grass Roots Neighborhood Council, Beyond
Baroque, 826LA, Electric Lodge, epOxybOx, Free Venice Beachhead, Inside Out
Community Arts, Social and Public Art Resource Center “SPARC,” Ulan
Bator Foundation, Venice Arts, Venice Chamber of Commerce, Venice Community
Coalition, Venice Community Housing Corporation, Venice Progressives, Aldis and
Maria Browne on Behalf of the Venice Trust, Joe Smoke, Los Angeles Cultural
Affairs Department. Venice Arts, Groundworks Coffee Co, and Playa Venice,
provided refreshments.
Here are some
collected notes from the workshop, is your vision here? You may say they are
dreamers, but they’re not the only
ones.
VOICE TO VISION WORKSHOP
Presented by Judith F.
Baca
Comments from posted
notes
Art
Programs:
• Trash as Art: the most
artistic, outrageous trashcans in the world. Created by local artists and school
kids. Coordinated with schools to learn about trash, how much is produced, where
it goes. Fun facts about trash. Learn about
recycling.
• Art in the
alleys
• Create art workshops for
children using volunteer artists
• Make
sure all public schools in Venice have arts education during class
day
• Awareness campaign that the arts
for all children promotes a sense of community and prevents social
problems
• Creating mentorship programs
(emerging new artists with name
artists)
• Police, fire, mayor, other
public workers make public art work on community art
day
Venice
Circle:
• Solar-powered “light
bricks” various colors for Venice Paths including Circle of
Peace
Sculptures
•
Celebration of buildings as sculpture
•
Redesigning street furniture
• Natural
materials to be replaced as needed by local
kids.
Most
Radical:
• Any street that is not at a
right angle to other streets turn back to a
canal
• Level all of Venice, make it a
wetlands again
• Flood the streets and
make Lincoln Blvd. a water-way with gondolas and revolving art installations on
boats.
• No
homeless
• Beautification not
Gentrification
• Make the Streets into
fairways
• Get rid of
affluent
• Lincoln as a waterway with
revolving installations
• Turn every
liquor store in Venice into a public gallery for emerging
artists.
Community
Centers:
• Housing complex, sub studio
apt., low rent. Audition, resume of arts and serous artists required for
tenancy. Evict when income increases.
•
Venice Historical Museum: photographs, paraphernalia, post cards, film archives,
collectables and video stories
•
Build/open a community art center for Venice local non-profit arts
organization
• A cultural center for
exhibitions and performances
• Venice
archives and collection in L.A. museums and
institutions
• Jazz cultural
center
Banners:
•
Selecting folks to be faces of Venice on
banners
• Keep banners
local
Free
Space:
• Remove asphalt from every
school and replace with grass or planted
areas.
• Turn Venice into a
park
• Public space for use by the
community to exhibit arts, theater and
music
• Open space (Piazzas) for public
art installations
• Declare some space
as “public space” or “commons” and place installations
and sculptures.
• Outdoor
amphitheater
Politics:
•
Require Venice developers money that goes to Cultural Affairs stay in Venice,
and or require Venice developers to contribute to public art in
Venice
• Evict all residents with a
six-figure income
• Eminent domain at
Lincoln Place for artist, environmentalist, eco village type
community
• Affordable housing –
rent/own, work spaces for artists. New developments must have a substantial
amount of affordable housing both rented and
owned.
Murals:
•
Historical community, public wall
painting
• More political murals like
the Jaya canal mural
• Mural project
for all of Venice starting at Lincoln Place in alleys on garage walls. Entire
history of Lincoln Place from 1949 to
present.
Events:
•
All Venice residents come out in costumes on our annual Venice Carnival (second
Saturday of May, every year)
• Create a
Oaxacan Arts Festival in
Venice
Performance:
•
Establish a place for the performance of jazz music that children can
attend.
Art on
Boardwalk:
• To develop and implement a
sense of our historical importance
•
Arts organization interacting with community
businesses
• Poetry square – set
up every night, an open mic on the boardwalk available to
all
• Boardwalk spot daily, 9am-6pm for
Venice Arts Collective combine artists and funds back to the
community
Installations on Store Fronts
and Streets:
• Improve Lincoln Blvd.
with art in combination with
commerce
Work on the
Beach:
• Create Venice beach as an
ongoing festival/renaissance of art
•
Regular boardwalk events with art, performances, poetry, live music and
games
• Community plan for placement of
public art
• Maintain OFW beach
pedestrian zones: employ homeless clean up trash on beach, sweep OFW and recycle
bins everywhere.
• Canopied people
mover for
boardwalk
Miscellaneous:
•
Planting of native plants throughout Venice with additional medians on
streets
• Venice carnivals; costumes,
floats, etc.
Posted: Wed - February 1, 2006 at 10:31 AM