Press Release
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Van Alen Institute & DC Office of Planning to Host
Intersection Mixtape and Playback Your Story on November 12
in Mid City East
and Gallaudet University Areas
A
series of public programs and interventions to unite communities
through narrative, vibrations, and the built environment
Site-specific
artistic interventions include mixtapes of local histories
and multimedia explorations of demographic shifts
Media
Contacts
Steven
Thomson, Van Alen Institute, 212-924-7000
x 12
**To view a digital
press kit, including high-resolution images, click here.
Washington,
DC (October 20, 2016) – Van Alen Institute and the DC Office of Planning (OP)
announced today two community-based projects in Washington, DC to
better understand cities through stories and the built environment, as
part of the city-wide Crossing
the Street initiative. The project culminates in two
participatory public programs on November 12: Intersection Mixtape
and Playback Your
Story, located in two distinctive DC neighborhoods. Van
Alen Institute invited local Washington, DC artist collective Furthermore,
actor and producer John
Johnson, web designer Curry Hackett, and project manager
and photographer Beth
Ferraro to create the site-specific programs.
OP’s Crossing the
Street initiative is made possible through a grant from the Kresge
Foundation. The initiative seeks to create fun and inclusive
experiences in neighborhoods across the District that are experiencing
rapid demographic and social change. These experiences are designed to
build community, using arts as a way to activate space and foster
conversation and collaboration.
“These public
initiatives ask neighborhood residents to reflect on their connections
to place and community, offering an opportunity to better understand
the city,” Van Alen Institute Executive Director David van der Leer said.
“We are excited to see how the experiences that these interventions
initiate, capture, and present can bring communities together.”
"I continue to
be excited by the collaborations we are seeing between residents,
artists, curators, and planners,” DC Office of Planning Director Eric
Shaw said. “This work highlights a new approach to showcase how we
live in cities, creating a medium that highlights the rhythm of places
and communities that comes from our very existence within the built
environment."
Project
1:
Intersection Mixtape
For Intersection Mixtape,
the Mid City East-area collective, Furthermore is building a collection
of stories and sounds through surveys and guided soundwalks in the
neighborhoods of Bloomingdale and Eckington. Since September,
neighbors and artists have collectively documented the current
soundscapes of Mid City East.
Intersection Mixtape aims to both preserve what is
interesting about the community and to empower residents to communicate
their sense of identity and place.
The event will
culminate on November 12 on the lot at the corner of Bates and North
Capitol Streets, NW, where Furthermore (led by José Ruiz, Natalie
Campbell, James Huckenpahler, and Patrick McDonough) will hold a
celebratory neighborhood listening party to play the documented sounds
and stories of the community. Visitors to the lot will receive their
own mixtapes of the city’s local sounds.
Project
2: Playback
Your Story
Taking place at
Olmsted Green, on the Gallaudet University Campus, the world’s only liberal
arts university where all programming and services are designed for
deaf and hard of hearing students, a community public program titled Playback Your Story
by Washington, DC native John Johnson will be held on November 12. Playback Your Story offers
a new understanding of the impact of changing demographics in the
Gallaudet University, Union Market, and Trinidad neighborhoods by
telling the area's community experiences and rich history through
video, audio, photography, and live performances.
The November 12
performance will feature an interactive, improvisational play, titled Playback Theatre.
Johnson, along with his team of Katie Davis, Jason Anderson, Jamil
Johnson, and Beth Ferraro, recorded over twenty interviews with local
residents, students, and business owners within the past six weeks,
which will be playing intermittently during the performances. American
Sign Language-English interpreters will be provided. These stories
weave together community members’ connections and aim to inspire local
residents to interact with one another and understand the roots of
these neighborhoods. The public is invited to explore these personal
accounts further on the project website.
Event
Details
Intersection
Mixtape
will take place on November 12, 12–3 p.m. at the lot at corner of Bates
and North Capitol Streets NW.
https://www.vanalen.org/events/intersection-mixtape/
Playback
Your Story
will take place on November 12, 4–7 p.m. at Olmsted Green at Gallaudet
University at 800 Florida Avenue NE. Enter through the gate across from
Union Market on 6 Street NE.
https://www.vanalen.org/events/playback-your-story/
All
events are free and open to the public. The project partners are
thankful for the input and support from the Crossing the Street
Community Advisory Boards for each project, local Advisory Neighborhood
Commissions, Gallaudet University, DC Office of Planning, and Kresge
Foundation. Rain date and locations can be found on the project website the day of.
**To view a digital
press kit, including high-resolution images, click here. |
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ABOUT
THE COLLABORATORS
About Van Alen
At Van Alen Institute, we believe design can transform cities,
landscapes, and regions to improve people’s lives. We collaborate with
communities, scholars, policymakers, and professionals on local and
global initiatives that rigorously investigate the most pressing social,
cultural, and ecological challenges oftomorrow. Building on more than a
century of experience, we develop cross-disciplinary research,
provocative public programs, and inventive design competitions
www.vanalen.org
Twitter:
@van_alen
Instagram:
@van_alen
Facebook:
/vanaleninstitute
About DC Office of
Planning
Office of Planning's mission is to guide development of the District of
Columbia, including the preservation and revitalization of our
distinctive neighborhoods, by informing decisions, advancing strategic
goals, encouraging the highest quality outcomes, and engaging all
communities. OP performs planning for neighborhoods, corridors,
districts, historic preservation, public facilities, parks and open
spaces, and individual sites. In addition, OP engages in urban design,
land use, and historic preservation review. OP also conducts historic
resources research and community visioning, and manages, analyzes, maps,
and disseminates spatial and US Census data.
www.planning.dc.gov and www.dcculturalplan.org
Twitter:@OPinDC
#CrossingtheStreet #creativeplacemaking
Instagram:op_indc
Facebook:/dcofficeofplanning
ABOUT
CROSSING THE STREET
The Crossing the Street grant initiative is made possible through a grant
from the Kresge Foundation. The initiative, taking place in select
neighborhoods around the District that are experiencing rapid demographic
and social change, aims is to create more locally sensitive public spaces
that promote health, happiness, and neighborhood wellbeing by engaging in
civic activities that capitalize on community assets.
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