I posted a comment to Sander Roscoe Wolf's blog on www.LBpost.com Sander is from www.LongBeachCulture.org a site that has been around just as long as ThePrimeSpot.com
I mentioned writing a blog on the subject - here
it is! (I also tried to add it to LBpost but it didn't go through - maybe it's too.. long!
Re:
www.CreateLongBeach.com
The WHAT can be those ideas submitted by ARTISTS, DOers, Financial backer$, nonProfit orgs,
to a simple website like the one BILconference used to get the most popular speakers on a REALtime schedule!
WHO:
Have the PEOPLE of Long Beach decide what resources are needed, where funding should be allocated... by voting!
(Obama
used this system to answer questions submitted from the public and it seemed to work well).
Also, I don't
have kids but I'll second that we keep them occupied & constructive, fill them with knowledge, culture, and
art!
Dr. Carlos Silveira from CSULB mentioned ARK: Artists Reaching Kids, one of LB's greatest resources
run BY ARTISTS.
And Shibori, that is what I hear the most from artists -get rid of the middlemen - many artists
don't want paid administrators to spend creative and cultural dollars.
Some successful artists don't even
belong to an organization - maybe their idea would float to the top of the list for all to see - and brainstorm about making
it bigger and better!
Which brings up another point that was made over and over... The city needs a CENTRALIZED
"place"for Arts and Culture.
I suggested a website to list ALL of the creative & cultural organizations.
It did NOT go over so well with the attendees although someone DID mentioned the Convention Ctr website (which would
be great for showcasing LB's creativity to the world, individually and by organization and location! I used to list art
receptions in my "View From the Hill" column by zip code).
Evan Kelly suggested a main "inventory
listing" be available. (Look at LongBeachCulture.org as a start).
Now let's add a physical location,
a building - the same one that houses LBCTelevision managed by "community connector" Judy Baker of Long Beach Cable
Access TV could work! (Judy is the one whose comment "Peace" at the WHY table scored Big Points).
Meetings
can be held at the local Public Library branches, making sure that North Long Beach, etc. connects to touristy(?) downtown.
I'd love to see LBtransit provide quarterly cultural tours in all neighborhoods!
YES THERE IS MORE
A few "usual" people showed but left before the event began. Local media people came by but didn't
stay.
The word rhetoric was in the air...
Some of us have been here before. I remember
meeting John Malveau (check Juneteenth on ThePrimeSpot.com) at the LB Museum of Art a few years ago where people where encouraged
to exchange business cards at the round tables.
I held "Creative Gatherings" myself in 2002 inside the
Courtyard by Marriott in LB's EastVillageArtsDistrict.org
I attended Re-imagining Long Beach in 2007.
What is NEW? I ask the people who get paid to promote Arts and Culture...
