Louisville's next stage: A Creative Community Movement (Clay: how much, home)

[louroclou]

Every day I read about development, entrepeneurs, art projects, music events, food activism, new restaurants and great old ones in the city. I check out some (how could you cover all of them?) of the Louisville-based blogs: Backseat Sandbar, Consuming Louisville, Louisville Hotbytes, Broken Sidewalk, Bejeezus, I Live in Louisville... and I wonder how much communication there is among all the parts of creative life here.

Wouldn't it be great if creatives from all disciplines had a place to meet face-to-face on a regular basis to brainstorm, share ideas, form alliances? And wouldn't it be great if such meetings had an impact on decisions here - the face and architecture of downtown, the selling of art, the display of public art, the presence of the arts in all schools, the financial well-being of artists, the support and spread of independent businesses, of local food... ?

One of my dreams is to get to use Vanguard Cinema as a venue for such meetings and to facilitate discussion. Another dream (I have no organizational skills! I just have great ideas!) is to start a Buy Art Dine Out movement. Maybe those are two different things... dunno. It's just that I saw an interview with the excellent local artist Caroline Waite and was moved by something she said. She was remarking that it's great that so many folks come out for Gallery Hops, but not so great how few people buy the art. Everyone needs real art in his or her home - and we need it in the city. We need to open people up to the idea of really supporting the arts.

And restaurants. With the economy skidding many restaurants are going to hit hard times. We need a drive to get people to save a little and every once in a while go to a real, local restaurant. They are a part of what we really are, of what makes us special. Consider it charity, love, respect, self-indulgence... whatever... but Buy Art and Dine Out.

Those are just a few ideas I have - dreams I have - for moving the town forward.

Thoughts?

[louroclou]

I don't know who they are, but the Broken Sidewalk folks are running the most informed, intelligent, timely update on Louisville life I know of. I would love to see their forums begin to fill with ideas as interesting as their posts. Today's and yesterday's entries are superb.

[backseatsandbar]

Louroclou, I couldn't agree more. Back in June, Ben Sollee had a listening party which presented an oportunity for several aspects of Louisville's creative community to get together. That is where I first met Gil (NuLu) & Leslie (ILIL) & Thomas (G3, KCA). Since that time, I've spoken with others about pulling our forces together and doing a little bit of cross-branding. The community is strong & once we start working together a little better, I think things can really take off. Vanguard Cinema would be a perfect spot to do something like that. Let's get something like this together...

And Broken Sidewalk is doing some great things...I'm excited to have them & would love to meet whoever is running it...

[louroclou]

Your latest post in backseatsandbar about Clay Buffet gives an example of one kind of thing I've thought about: free space for artists. If artists have work hanging together the artists will hang together. When that happens things happen. Such contact is part of the discussion of urban and creative growth in both Ren Gen and Who's Your City? (check the thread on Current Books on Cities, Growth and Place). I would like to see Vanguard do this in the lobby or other part of the building.

I'm delighted to hear you've talked about this with the great people you mentioned. I really see something happening. Are you going to IdeaKentucky? I'm pretty sure Michelle from CL is. (This is Ken Wilson btw)

[backseatsandbar]

Hey Ken...I had spoke with some people about working together on Idea Festival, but they've not gotten back in touch. I'd really like to go and be a part of it. Who is in charge of IdeaKentucky? I'd like to get involved, but as nothing I do is exactly a business venture, I've not put down any money to attend.

I think in the last year, a lot of the infrastructure for what could create for a very energetic and quick artistic growth has been put into place. Everyone has started their own projects it seems, and now people are realizing what can happen if we work together. I think you're right...Damon who runs the Clay Buffet knows exactly what is happening, and is harnessing it in a cool way. I think that is similar to what the Anti-St. James art fair does at the Mag Bar also. A lot is happening...

[louroclou]

Here are the sponsors - Geek Squad the main one - along with universities, research firms, and some coroporations. What appeals to me is that the discussion will not be speaker- or panel-driven, but audience-driven, which means the more cool folks present, the better the ideas.

[louroclou]

Checking out CoolTown Studios, I found out about crowdsourced placemaking and beta communities. I want to see this kind of thing get going. (There was a beta community in Louisville for South Fourth Street last year.)

[Peter1948]

This stuff ise all great. I all love it all. I really belive Louisville is ALREADY a creative city, and it is growing this class fast. For some reason, it doesn't have a hip image nationally, but that will change soon with all the projects on board.

[30_year_nap]

I myself am into filmmaking (fiction, not documentaries or activism films) and have yet to really come into contact with any like minded artists in the city, but then I've only lived here for about 2 years and honestly been out much. I think its a great idea to get people together and get them talking.

[louroclou]

I have complained a bit about the lack of venues in Louisville showing alternative, experimental, independent, and foriegn films, but there have been several hopeful signs lately. Vanguard Cinema is just one of them. The showings by the Louisville Film Society have been excellent and more frequent. The Village 8 is taking many more chances, especially with things like the Asian Film Festival and their Louisville Exclusive Films project. (btw the current film showing in the Asian fesitival, Up the Yangtze, is a marvel, a gem of a historical document. I was pleased to see, at a Saturday afternoon showing, a good-sized audience - and it is showing for a week, five times a day.)

As for filmmaking itself, there is a lot of activity (it was all this activity that made me wonder so much why theatres had not kept up). 30-year-nap... here are some things to check out: Kentucky Cinematography Club, The Louisville Film Society, KinoLouisville, 48-Hour Film Festival, and the
The Louisville Movie Fans Meetup Group - Indie Edition, which I just joined.

Keep in mind, too, there are important filmmakers and producers here - Gil Holland, Stu Pollard, and Mark Poole, creator of Dead Moon Rising... not to mention Jerry Bruckheimer lives not far away in Bloomington, Kentucky!