Sunday, April 5, 2015

"you can start with culture and get people kind of reinvested in their place"

Spend a few minutes with this TED Talk by Theaster Gates. Listen as he talks about rebuilding his neighborhood by starting with what he knows about his art, making clay pots.

There were several points during this 17 minute video that caught my attention. I could use these to help enhance the Franklin community whether through my efforts here, at the Food Pantry, the grass roots efforts for #shopFranklin, the Shop Small Co-op or with the Franklin Cultural Festival (coming this summer!) 

I will let you view the video and see what you come up with. Let me know via email or comment what you find and together we'll see if if we have come up with the same points or something different. As they say, two heads are better than one!

Enjoy!


Theaster Gates, a potter by training and a social activist by calling, wanted to do something about the sorry state of his neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. So he did, transforming abandoned buildings to create community hubs that connect and inspire those who still live there (and draw in those who don't). In this passionate talk, Gates describes his efforts to build a "miniature Versailles" in Chicago, and he shares his fervent belief that culture can be a catalyst for social transformation in any city, anywhere.
For more about Theaster Gates, you can visit his profile page






Additional links to explore

Feel free to explore for more informative TED Talks here   http://www.ted.com/


For more info on the Cultural Festival check here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/02/franklin-cultural-festival-application.html


For more about #shopFranklin you can join the conversation in their Facebook group #shopFranklin - Facebook group


You can consider joining the Franklin Downtown Partnership - individual community membership is only $25  http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/

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