It’s Sunday evening and I am writing tonight while being distracted by the Emmy Awards airing in the background. I would rather not admit this, but it got me to thinking about some parallels between this awards show and the upcoming week for Studio V (bear with me on this… it is a stretch, I know).
The week of events begins tomorrow with the students and I officially introducing ourselves to the neighborhood at the monthly Wagener Terrace Neighborhood Association meeting. As we are in the midst of designing, we will not be showing those in attendance what we will be adding to the Corrine Jones Playground renovations. We will take this opportunity to explain who we are, what we’ve learned researching the history of the park and neighborhood, and express our honor and excitement for the opportunity to create something for the park. Like being on the red carpet, you only have one chance to make a first impression, and we plan to make the most of it.
On Wednesday the students will present the individual designs they have been working on to a jury of invited architects and designers (the Academy). After all 10 students have had a chance to present their own ideas we will narrow down to 2 or 3 of the best proposals and work the following week in small groups to refine those. The students realize that the harder they work, and the further they refine their ideas for Wednesday’s review, the better the chance is of their design being chosen for further group development. The acceptance speeches will be on a timer.
The week will end Saturday with a fund-raising Picnic at the Corrine Jones Playground (see the below invitation).
Don’t expect this to be like an “After-party”. This is going to be a wholesome family event put on by individuals in the community, with the help of the Parks Conservancy, to help raise additional funds for the park renovations. The flier says it all. Where else would you rather be Saturday afternoon?