Hi Kari<div>I have been thinking about your post for awhile and believe I am working with a very similar situation. My situation is a sculpture park. This park is nsted in the middle of several high-rise low income apartments. It is the most densely populated part of the city and the most densely populated part of the neighborhood is these apartment buildings that have this sculpture park as their backyard. The sculptures are kid friendly in that they are able to climb on them and interact with them in the physical way kids do. The sculptures are cared for by a non-profit whose mission is the care of public art. the issues in the neighborhood are dense population, transitory population and mostly new immigrant population so there are language issues as well as getting established in new cultural norms etc. We have tried working with the community in the past in the more typical open space come in, bring your passion and lets discover what we want to do here. They never worked in this area. Now what we do is open space in action less talk kind of way. </div>
<div><br></div><div>We bring a large tent and set it up in the park. We bring materials and artists and we wait for the community to show and show up they do. They make art and make community and we get to know them as part of their community. This year we have stepped it up a notch and turned the typical tent into a giant spider tent and are able to show once or twice a week during the summer with artists from different media and the tools and supplies they need. we have identified trash as one of the major issues in the park. So this year the cost of admission is a piece of clean trash ( foil chip bag, candy wrappers, bottle caps, soda can) and we are turning trash into art. We will be teaching the kids and their families how to make small items for themselves or that can be sold as art items. Our hope is that trash is seen as valuable. Over the last three years we have gained much in this neighborhood. We started small and tried many models before we hit on the one that seems to work. Some of the groups that have grown out of this endeavor are a youth sculpture group. The kids meet weekly design and build large outdoor sculptures. They are now meeting with city planners to advise the city of what they would like to see in the neighborhood. We are now working closely with immigrant culture groups to serve the very diverse needs of the neighborhood. We are working with local day care and after school providers teaching the providers through modelling art programs how to develop citizenship skills and a sense of ownership and connection to place. We are finding the artist who live in the area and they are running the programs</div>
<div><br></div><div>It is a great program that I feel lucky to be involved in. I guess the point I am making here is that there are many ways to do open space and sometimes a more action based less problem talk kind of approach to open space. For us the talking just didn't work has we had people sharing space but they were not a community and did not share language or perspective. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Good luck with your project. </div><div>Pat Black</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, May 10, 2009 at 12:49 AM, Peggy Holman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:peggy@opencirclecompany.com">peggy@opencirclecompany.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Hi Kári,<br>
<br>
I'm catching up on my reading and didn't see any responses to your question about people coming in and out of an open space. I have faced this situation a few times. Registering is useful for creating a psychological commitment to attending. That said, in community situations, even with registration, people come in and out. While not ideal, this is workable. Those who are there for the opening create the agenda. When others arrive, I simply point them to the agenda wall. People seem to know what to do from there. And whoever is around for the end of the day, reflect on behalf of everyone.<br>
<br>
I suppose it is taking whoever comes is the right people seriously.<br>
<br>
It sounds like you have a topic that will result in cultivating community.<br>
<br>
Have fun with it!<br>
<br>
appreciatively,<br>
Peggy<br>
<br>
<br>
______________________________<br>
Peggy Holman<br>
The Open Circle Company<br>
15347 SE 49th Place<br>
Bellevue, WA 98006<br>
425-746-6274<br>
<a href="http://www.opencirclecompany.com" target="_blank">www.opencirclecompany.com</a><br>
<br>
For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to:<br>
<a href="http://www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook" target="_blank">www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook</a><br>
<br>
"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, is to become<br>
the fire".<br>
-- Drew Dellinger<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Apr 28, 2009, at 6:15 PM, Kári Gunnarsson wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hello OSLIST<br>
<br>
I would like to do an OS in my local playground. I have been taking<br>
care of a 3 year old boy for four days and nights each month for the<br>
past half year, and the local playground is always empty and it is<br>
also in bad shape. I have been taking him to this playground, and I<br>
dislike its condition and like to do something with the community to<br>
make it better. I know there is a home for elderly next to the<br>
playground, and I also know there are a lot of people with children in<br>
living around the playground. I like to organize an OS about<br>
maintaining the playground by the local people. I have thought to<br>
invite all the local people to participate with there children and<br>
including the old people and the teenagers.<br>
<br>
I don't know if I should ask people to register for the OS or allow<br>
people to come and go as they like. The last OS I did was a bit<br>
confusing when new people were constantly showing up and asking about<br>
what was happening, I think it could be better to ask people to<br>
register. What are your experiences with using an OS where a lot of<br>
new people walk in from the street and participate, and miss the<br>
formal introduction and the marketplace event.<br>
<br>
Also if there are any experiences or comments about using OS for<br>
community building, and how to get out of the way of the process to<br>
work.<br>
<br>
Best Regards, Kári Gunnarsson<br>
<a href="mailto:kari.gunnarsson@simnet.is" target="_blank">kari.gunnarsson@simnet.is</a> / +354 8645189 / +354 5515189<br>
<br>
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