C3: Meeting 2 Creative Spaces

Tuesday November 11th 2014, 6-8PM

We had five C3 members present on their Creative Space projects already happening throughout Santa Cruz County. These members were “Sparks” to activate discussion, ideas, and connections to strengthen their work on the issue of activating Creative Spaces in our county.

Here are the sparks and their dreams:

Collaborative Dance Performance- Cid Pearlman  Economies of Effort: 1 is an evening-length dance exploring the virtues of self-reliance and the creative impulse. Cid’s dream is to engage local audiences and workshop participants, spread the word, and find new partners for her work. Learn more about the project here, and check out Cid’s most recent collaborative dance project here.

Watsonville Film Festival- Consuelo Alba-Speyer  We share films that inspire, entertain, educate and focus on issues relevant to the local community, as well as empower local youth to use film as a way to transform our world. My dream is to create a multicultural film festival that puts Watsonville on the map regionally, bridges the divide between South & North County and provides economic development opportunities for my community. We need help spreading the word, engaging local audiences, developing a financially sustainable program and collaborating on special projects.  Learn more at our website here and the Arts Council’s Arts and Economic Prosperity Study here.

Creative Town Square- Marcus Frost The MAH is working to transform Abbott Square, the plaza outside the museum, into a vibrant community plaza. Our dream is to create a positive social dynamic in the plaza in partnership with diverse performers and artists. Learn more about the project here, and check out a project in Minnesota that inspires us here.

A Revitalized River- Laurie Egan The San Lorenzo River flows through the heart of Santa Cruz. Today, it has a negative reputation spanning from pollution control issues to disdain and neglect. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Laurie works to bring the Santa Cruz community to reconnect to this key river through her work at the Coastal Watershed Council and San Lorenzo River Alliance. Learn more about this exciting river revitalization project here.

Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium Renovation Leadership Team- Jim Brown The Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium has been a place where our community has gathered to play, commemorate, and be entertained since it was built as a WPA project in 1939. The Civic Leadership Team seeks to support the design, planning, and financing of a renovation of the Civic as a performing arts and cultural center and to catalyze community enthusiasm for the project.

After each presentation, members chose which project they would like to strengthen based on the interests and assets each individual could bring to the discussion.

Groups formed around each topic for a more in-depth workshop. Members first shared their assets- the skills, knowledge and interests they could bring to the dream. Groups then brainstormed ideas based on their assets that could strengthen the dream.  They then imagined, fifty years from now, what does that dream look like, who is part of it, how has it changed? Each group then built an artifact of the future for our Pop Up Museum that was representative of that dream out of cardboard, paper, tape and markers in a mere fifteen minutes. Objects and labels were presented to the whole group and can be viewed here.

At the end of the meeting each individual made a commitment to strengthening creative spaces in Santa Cruz County. Commitments included continuing group discussions, connecting contacts, volunteering and learning more.

We left inspired, motivated, more connected. We’re eager to see what evolves from these discussions.