Sunday, January 31, 2010

Stand & Deliver: Education // Tell Your Friends, via Facebook + Twitter

For those with a social media bent, a few ways additional to help us get the word out on Stand & Deliver… all 140 characters and under.

I voted to provide innovative and affordable education to all. I voted for Stand & Deliver. http://tiny.cc/standdeliver

I’m voting for Stand & Deliver every day in February because education needs our help 7 days a week. http://tiny.cc/standdeliver

I voted for Stand & Deliver because I’ve got a big idea for improving education. How about you? http://tiny.cc/standdeliver

Vote for #CHA schools!  Vote for Stand & Deliver! http://tiny.cc/standdeliver

Support a #CHA initiative up for national honors! http://tiny.cc/standdeliver

City love is for everyone. Support #CHA, and our community schools. http://tiny.cc/standdeliver

Stand & Deliver: Education // Tell Your Friends, via Email

Voting for Stand & Deliver: Education opens in a matter of hours. In preparation, we’ve crafted an email you can send to friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues. Spread the word to your contacts near and far: education is everyone’s business.

Friends, Neighbors, and fellow Chattanoogans,

I’m asking for your help in supporting Stand & Deliver, a six-month change process focused on improving education for the city of Chattanooga. The project is up for a public vote through the entire month of February, in conjunction with the Refresh Project, a Pepsi and GOOD collaboration. This initiative awards millions of dollars to innovative ideas around the world, and Chattanooga is up for big honors.

Stand & Deliver: Education follows in the footsteps of Stand, a community visioning effort that engaged over 25,000 people in the summer of 2009. From that survey, education has emerged as one of the top concerns for Chattanoogans, and Stand & Deliver is a platform to involve a diverse group of residents in tackling this issue. It involves 5 months of community conversations, distribution of ground-setting documents, expert help, and finally, two 24-hour summits where citizens can champion projects, and see them actualized.

Pepsi awards grants based on a public vote. Polls are open February 1 through the 28, and users can vote DAILY for up to ten projects. By the end of the month, you can cast 280 votes for innovative projects, and specifically, 28 votes for Stand & Deliver. To vote, visit http://www.refresheverything.com/createhere.

I voted for Stand & Deliver because I believe in my city, and because I know education has the power to turn communities around. Will you join me?

Thank you.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Stand & Deliver: Education // Voting Starts Monday!

CreateHere is pleased to announce our participation in the Refresh Project, a vetting process for innovative ideas sponsored by Pepsi and GOOD. Our project is Stand & Deliver, a six-month community change process focused on improving education in Chattanooga. Awards are determined by a public vote, and polls are open February 1 through February 28.

We’re asking anyone who supports education to get the vote out during the entire month of February! Users can vote daily for up to ten different projects, which means you can cast 28 votes for Stand & Deliver, and up to 280 votes for projects that are revitalizing communities across the country. On Monday, our application goes live, available here.

But what’s the project? Stand & Deliver starts with the production and distribution of ground-setting documents—infographics, best practices, Stand data, and local interviews. These research pieces will be widely available in several formats, and will play a major role in engaging 1000+ people in two 24-hour citizen summits, to be held in October, 2010. During these summits, citizens will pitch potential projects, produce asset maps, connect with diverse skills sets, and act on the needs, and strengths, of local education. We’re asking for $50,000 to make this project possible.

So, how can you get involved?

First, vote for Stand & Deliver on Monday, and continue to do so during the entire month of February.

Next, get out the vote. To prepare for the openings of polls on Monday, we’ll be posting customizable emails, twitter messages, and Facebook statuses to the blog all weekend long. You can use these to reach out to neighbors, co-workers, and friends.

Finally, think big, and act accordingly. CreateHere believes all the ingredients for innovation and community renewal are already here: it’s just a matter of connecting people, ideas, and action. Help us kick-off this exciting project, and help us deliver on a promise to make our community better.

Friday, January 22, 2010

SSAWG Foodie Flicks Schedule

CreateHere showtimes:

7:35pm The Adventures of the Big Bad Chef: John Currence, aka BIG BAD CHEF & the 2009 James Beard Award Winner for Best Chef South, takes us on a magical journey to The Bourbon Mall outside of Leland, Mississippi. Like a lot places in the Mississippi Delta, the Bourbon Mall serves hot tamales, but so far they’re the only folks we’ve found with enough guts to deep-fry them. Check your cholesterol at the door and follow the BIG BAD CHEF on a deep fried detour through the Secret South.
RUNNING TIME: 3:00

7:40pm Smokes and Ears: Smokes & Ears tells the story of the Big Apple Inn in Jackson, Mississippi. Known as “Big John’s” by its faithful customers, the Big Apple Inn’s defining duo of pig ear sandwiches and hot smoked sausage sandwiches (known as “smokes”) has kept folks coming back again and again for over 70 years, and counting.
RUNNING TIME 20:09

8:02pm Greenhorns: The Greenhorns is a documentary film that explores the lives of America’s young farming community—its spirit, practices, and needs.
RUNNING TIME 13:01

8:18pm HomeGrown: HOMEGROWN follows the Dervaes family who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. While “living off the grid”, they harvest over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, make their own bio diesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a website that gets 4,000 hits a day.
RUNNING TIME: 52:00

green|spaces showtimes:

7:47pm Buttermilk: It Can help: Cruze Family Dairy, located outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. Hear proprietor Earl Cruze extol the virtues of buttermilk. It might not solve all the world’s problems, but it can help!
RUNNING TIME: 13:18

8:02pm Hush Hoggies Hush: Tom Johnson’s praying pigs as filmed by a documentary crew in 1978.
RUNNING TIME: 4:17

8:08pm Fresh: FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.
RUNNING TIME: 72:00

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Art Inspires Theatre Inspires Art

Garry Posey is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director for the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga. He brings us this update on MIXED MEDIA, a uniquely Chattanoogan arts event.

Thomas Spake and I, both SpringBoard graduates, have teamed up to present an evening of original art, visual and performance. I approached Spake in the fall of 2009 with an idea I had for a project, a project that I thought would bridge the gap between the artists and audiences of different artistic disciplines. The premise was create a piece of art, use elements of that art to create original plays, then orchestrate plays and the piece of art into an evening an theatre.

Tomas was instantly interested in the project. His interest set us on task to put together a unique performance unlike Chattanooga—and dare I say most of the Southeast—has seen before. Tomas used the month of October to design the art piece, working in his medium of metal and glass. Once he had completed the design, he put together three short documents discussing his actual process for constructing the piece, his inspiration for the piece and then an artist’s statement about the piece. With those three documents and a sketch of the piece, I then contracted four out of town playwrights to each write a short play based on one of those four elements, without any knowledge of the other three. The playwrights took the month of November to complete a first draft.

In December, the Ensemble Theatre company convened with the four rough drafts in hand and filmed a reading of each script. Accompanied with feedback from the readings and the actors, the playwrights took the rest of the month formulating final drafts of the plays. Once the new drafts arrived, I realized that I could take this project one step further by involving four more visual artists to create a piece based on each of the four plays. Just like the original piece from Thomas, all four of these pieces will also become part of the staging in some special and unique way. Creating a project that is cyclically inspirational among different disciplines of creative expression.
As January speeds into February, the shows have been cast and are in the midst of rehearsals and the art pieces are in various levels of completion.

As I finish out this post, I wanted to introduce you all to fifteen artists involved:

Visual Artists:
Thomas Spake, Chandra Morgan, Matt Dutton, Shaun LaRose, Cathy Collier

Playwrights:
Derek Van Barham (IL), Rob Smith (IL), Anthony Garcia-Copian (NC), Peter Macklin (NY)

Theatre Artists:
Garry Lee Posey, John Thomas Cecil, Ryan Laskowski, Mark Edward Murray, Christy Gallo, Brenda Schwab, Ellen Poole

We have named the project MIXED MEDIA, as we are truly mixing artistic media.  Stay tuned for another blog post about performance dates and times and an introduction to the work. Chattanooga becomes more creative when we work together. I can honestly say that this project has endeared me even more to our amazing and supportive community of artists.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Mountain Music Folk School is on the Map

Jessica Martin is a senior fellow at CreateHere, and an aspiring Mandolin player. She sends us this update on the Mountain Music Folk School.

In less than one year, Mountain Music Folk School (MMFS) founders Matt Evans and Christie Burns have laid groundwork for the preservation, perpetuation, and promotion of folk music in Chattanooga. By way of innovation, alternative thinking, and love for the music, Christie and Matt have established themselves as entrepreneurs and artists in our community.

Since the inception of MMFS in 2009—aided by a MakeWork grant—the program has completed a successful first semester of classes, landed a brick and mortar space on the North Shore, and revitalized the breadth of energy surrounding folk music in Chattanooga.

After helping administer MakeWork grants for two years, it has become apparent to me that there is certainly no lack of talent in our city. And along with many other projects and initiatives that were born out of the grant program, this is one worth mentioning and even getting involved in. 

The beauty that lies in the MMFS model is that it’s all about participation and collaboration. Classes are held in group sessions and not only embrace the music itself, but there is a strong emphasis on collective knowledge and experimentation.

Fortunately, whether you’ve signed up for the next semester of classes or are just scoping out the scene, it matters not; the group is holding an event to honor past, present and future students this Sunday, January 24 from 1 PM to 4 PM at Barking Legs, so join the party, bring a friend and bring an instrument!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Celebrate Community with Films that Explore Sustainable Food

CreateHere and green|spaces are pleased to partner for a Night of Foodie Flicks on January 22, in conjunction with the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group’s (SSAWG) annual conference, Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms. Held in Chattanooga for the second year in a row, the conference draws 1100+ attendees from across the region. The Night of Foodie Flicks event aims to create a dialogue between this group and the Chattanooga public using films, food and libations.

Chattanooga’s food economy is a fascinating, vibrant one. The local food economy here is unique not only in flavor, but in the intimate connections that exist between those involved. The SSAWG film night is an opportunity to showcase our community, bringing local foodies, food producers, residents, and regional talents together to celebrate our sustainable foods.

The film night runs from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, with both short and feature-length films to be screened at CreateHere and green|spaces.

Short films include:
Buttermilk: It Can Help Knoxville’s Earl Cruze, proprietor of Cruze Family Dairy, extols the virtues of buttermilk. It might not solve all the world’s problems, but it can make a big dent.
Hush Hoggies Hush A look at Tom Johnson’s famous praying pigs, circa 1978.
Greenhorns Get to know a growing and diverse network of young farmers—scrappy, resourceful, and adaptive.
The Adventures of the Big Bad Chef Like a lot places in the Mississippi Delta, the Bourbon Mall serves hot tamales, but so far they’re the only folks with enough guts to deep-fry them. Follow the Big Bad Chef on a deep-fried detour through the Secret South.
Every Third Bite Two years ago, honeybees started disappearing: about one in every three colonies left their hive never to return. Every Third Bite attempts to discover what plagued these hives.
Smoke & Ears Smoke & Ears tells the story of the Big Apple Inn in Jackson, Mississippi. Known as “Big John’s” by its faithful customers, the Big Apple Inn’s defining duo of pig ear sandwiches and hot smoked sausage sandwiches (known as “smokes”) has kept folks coming back again and again for over 70 years, and counting.
Mutton: The Movie Visit the northwestern corner of Kentucky, where descendants of the Welsh who originally settled the banks of the Ohio River don’t count sheep; they barbecue them.

Feature-length films include:
Fresh Fresh celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Home Grown Home Grown follows the Dervaes family, who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. While “living off the grid”, they harvest over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, make their own bio diesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a website that gets 4,000 hits a day.

This event is free and open to the public.

CreateHere is located at 55 E Main Street, Suite #105 + green|spaces is located at 63 E Main Street

January 20: City Share featuring Casey Caplowe of GOOD

Casey Caplowe is the creative director for GOOD, an integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good, community-based work. GOOD seeks to be both a company and community for the people, businesses, and NGOs moving the world forward, with a mission to provide content, experiences, and utilities to serve this community.

For next week’s City Share, Caplowe will not be discussing one city in particular, but rather explaining several city enrichment initiatives that GOOD is featuring, encouraging, and participating in. Through open-source brainstorming and international design expos, GOOD is helping to connect big ideas in small towns across the country and the world. On Wednesday, Caplowe will give us a tour of some of these ideas and we’ll have a chance to voice some of our own.

Please join us Wednesday, January 20 from 12-1 pm at CreateHere.

Lunch will be provided by JJ Mavericks, so you don’t need to bring anything to the table except your ears and your ideas.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Blair Waddell at blair [at] createhere.org or 423.648.2195.

By Alison Burke

Monday, January 04, 2010

Audition Announcement: Tonight at 6:30 pm

Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga will hold open auditions for an exciting project that will combine the visual and performing art disciplines in a way that is unique to Chattanooga and the Southeast.

Local artist Thomas Spake was commissioned to create a sculpture, that sculpture inspired four commissioned playwrights to write four new plays; those four plays each will inspire their own piece of visual art. The result will be an evening of jointly inspired theatre and art which we hope to present at various venues in the Chattanooga area, including at ETC.

The auditions will consist of cold readings from the current drafts of the four plays. If you have never performed or auditioned with ETC before, then please bring a headshot and resume.

We will be casting up to 3 females ages 20-35 and up to 6 males ages 20-35.
We will also be looking for a stage manager.
All roles will be paid.
Where: St Andrews Center
When: January 4th between 6:30-9:30

Rehearsals will be in January and performances are planned for February.

Any questions or concerns please email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).