Interactive Street Art: Graffiti? Street art? Community Engagement?
Innovation in community engagement is always something we are interested in as place makers. This is particularly true in locations where community members are unable or unwilling to attend formal meetings, and also for those projects that need to hear from hard to access groups such as youth, especially when planning for the future.
Community engagement (and/or consultation) is often a means to an end, leading to the writing of a report or strategy about how to delivery what the community wants. It sometimes seems like there is a step too many!
The ‘Before I die…’ Project by Candy Chang is a good reminder that sometimes engaging with the community is also an act of community and cultural development, and certainly a significant contribution to place. The multitude of benefits that are realised by such a simple invitation to the community to participate can certainly be applied to more formal regulatory processes.
We will be looking for opportunities to do so – so if you are willing let us know.
There’s a great interview with Chang here: