RiverCubesMerry-Go-Round
We will merry go round about serious issues! Earth Force, ATM & RiverCubes, and Pittsburgh Youth will make social sculpture aimed at inciting a cultural contagion of interest in watershed and commonwealth concerns -- taking literally the idea that everyone is an artist!
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Pittsburgh
Project Province/State
PA
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
United States
Your idea
Name Your Project
RiverCubesMerry-Go-Round
Describe Your Idea
We will merry go round about serious issues! Earth Force, ATM & RiverCubes, and Pittsburgh Youth will make social sculpture aimed at inciting a cultural contagion of interest in watershed and commonwealth concerns -- taking literally the idea that everyone is an artist!
Innovation
What is your idea? What makes your project innovative? Why is it important?
ATM & RiverCubes will partner with Earth Force “engaging young people as active citizens who improve their environment and their communities now and in the future.” Bob Johnson will present the Artful Trash Management philosophy in Greater Pittsburgh Area schools during the inventory phase of Earth Force’s six-step environmental education curriculum. Students will self-select to contribute to a new public art & education initiative called RiverCubesMerry-Go-Round -- encouraging youth of all ages to become active watershed & commonwealth stewards! We will design and build a portable merry-go-round that will literally allow youth to pick up trash along riverbanks -- from bottle cap to hubcap size -- and produce their own calling cards – paperweight sized rivercubes – conversation pieces -- about water quality, solid waste, and consumer culture issues. The merry-go-round will make rounds at events -- Venture Outdoors, Dragon Boat Festival, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Regatta/Blessing of the Fleet, 4th of July Fireworks, Friends of the Riverfront Triathalon, Head of the Ohio -- producing actors, mementos, & messengers of sustainability and civic engagement.
This project puts faith and trust in the heads and hands of youth encouraging “lifelong learners” and “dreamers who do!”
Youth just keep happening and are their future!
Impact
What will be the impact of your idea?
Earth Force and ATM & RiverCubes will more fully manifest their respective missions through collective efforts. Earth Force’s Educational Philosophy begins by stating “Earth Force believes that engaging students in authentic civic action is the most effective way to give them the knowledge, skills, and predispositions they need to participate in public life.” RiverCubes “aim to change the way we relate to and understand waste streams of our own production.” ATM – Artful Trash Management – “conspires sea change in the ways we produce and consume.” We assume that fostering the civic engagement of youth in a structured and thoughtfully developed educational philosophy will result in ideas and impacts only they can imagine. Our immersion of youth in civic engagement will empower them with skills, experience, and dispositions they will need to ameliorate serious environmental impacts already underway… An experiment in social sculpture – we put the impact in the hands of youth!
What will it take to launch your idea? How will you secure community support and youth participation?
In short – competition success! ATM & RiverCubes continues to function locally, nationally, and internationally largely through self-funding as well as the generosity and hospitality of individuals. Earth Force and ATM & RiverCubes will partner for one year with a shared budget of $25,000. Earth Force will schedule presentations for Bob to introduce Artful Trash Management philosophy and the RiverCubesMerry-Go-Round public art and education initiative. Bob will involve interested students and work with long-standing colleague John Walter of Iron Eden to produce the merry-go-round /paperweight cube press. Youth participation is the backbone of Earth Force, and ATM & RiverCubes has worked with youth through the Tireless Project, City High, Student Conservation Association, and the Sarah Heinz House. They will combine and expand upon these constituencies as well as engage youth of all ages from the general public during river-related events to participate in the merriment of social sculpture!
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
We are looking for ideas from people who can make them happen. Tell us about yourself or your team.
Earth Force is a national organization with a local office in Pittsburgh. Students learn about environmental and community issues and work for policy and practice change. Kostoula Vallianos is Southwest PA Program Manager working with more than 1000 students last academic year. Kostoula holds environmental degrees from Berkeley & Duke, and is a member of the Green Education Movement -- a consortium of environmental educators in the Pittsburgh region.
ATM & RiverCubes evolved from the Tireless Project in Pittsburgh. The Green Museum profiles ATM & RiverCubes and publishes the ATM Manifesto. Bob Johnson holds a philosophy PhD from Duquesne and was invited to international symposia concerning Rivers, Art, & Sustainability in Germany & Australia. He has helped manifest visions of artists & administrators in Pittsburgh cultural institutions as well as Times Square, Rome, and Sculpture Magazine! You can see and hear more @ WQED, Post-Gazette, and NY Public Radio.
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