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Mixplace Studio

An urban education model that responds to the crisis in community participation and political representation by circulating different ways of thinking and making

Values


Fields of Knowledge
  • Comm. Development
  • Design
  • Health / Sustainability
  • Memory
  • Pedagogy
  • Public culture
  • Social Justice

Organizing Institutions

Slought, People's Emergency Center (PEC), PennDesign

Contributing Institutions

Center for Urban Ecologies at the University of California, San Diego

Organizers

Steering committee members include Amy Hillier, Aaron Levy, Kira Strong, Teddy Cruz, Jeannine Cook, Kyshaun Parker, Dwaine Ross, and others

Funders

1675 Foundation. Initial funding from The PEW Center for Arts and Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Process initiated

07/16/2009

Opens to public

07/16/2012

Address

Mixplace Studio
Slought
4017 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19104

On the web

http://mixplace.org

Economy

50% Formal - 50% Informal

Mixplace Studio is a collaborative project that provides an urban education model in order to address the crisis in community participation and political representation. The project aspires to enable conversations between individuals and institutions within West Philadelphia to circulate different ways of thinking and making, linking the knowledge of communities with the knowledge of institutions.

People's Emergency Center (PEC), Slought, and PennDesign are the primary Philadelphia institutions who are coming together to form this urban education model. The primary collaborators are neighborhood youth and university students, who are interacting with a diverse faculty of curators, community activists, artists, architects and researchers. The initiative is developing in dialogue with Teddy Cruz at the Center for Urban Ecologies at the University of California, San Diego.

The curriculum, social contracts, and public programs of the Studio are guided by a steering committee, whose permanent and rotating members represent the constituencies that are involved.

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Principles

Six principles, representing the aspirations of the constituencies involved, guide our activities and hold us accountable:

Mixplace wants to enable a space outside of school that talks about the pressures of this world and how to overcome them.

Mixplace wants to enable a common language across ages, neighborhoods, and institutions.

Mixplace wants to enable exchanges between individuals and institutions, to negotiate the borders that define Philadelphia.

Mixplace wants to enable a process through which all individuals and institutional partners will learn from each other, contributing to a renewed sense of trust and the development of a new civic imagination.

Mixplace wants to enable neighborhood development and political representation by amplifying and archiving community voices, local histories, and everyday experiences.

Mixplace wants to enable a space and provide tools for this conversation to take place.

Urban Table

We began Mixplace Studio with the construction of the Urban Table, which redefined the front gallery of Slought as an unfolding exhibition in time.

The table is composed of fourteen mobile segments, each printed with high-resolution satellite imagery of Philadelphia, that combine to form one seamless surface. The table orients the studio in Philadelphia and frames our activities, and functions as a curricular tool that enables conversation and collaboration. It enables group activity in a variety of scales and configurations, as well as a sense of collective ownership and identity within the city.

It was designed by Estudio Teddy Cruz in San Diego and Slought, fabricated by Draftworks, and collaboratively constructed by youth researchers from West Philadelphia, PennDesign students and faculty, and People's Emergency Center (PEC) staff.

Interested in designing and constructing an urban table? Download an assembly kit

Opportunities for Young Adults

Are you interested in joining the studio? We meet on a regular basis to develop media skills and produce stories about West Philadelphia. A commitment to social issues, an ability to work in teams, and an interest in digital media is required.

Applicants should be 14-18 years old and currently living or connected to West Philadelphia. The program is free but with limited space. We accept applications on a rolling basis.

Complete an application »


Studio Protocols

Learn how our activities are structured

Related Programs

Learn about associated programs