Calling all artists and makers — prototyping festival now accepting proposals
Have an idea for an installation that you'd love to see come to life in downtown Rochester? The Rochester Downtown Alliance, in partnership with the DMC Economic Development Agency, is now soliciting proposals for its PlaceMakers prototyping festival.
The inaugural festival is slated for Sept. 15 - 17, the same week as Mayo Clinic's Transform Conference. This year's theme is "Health and the Built Environment."
Selected applicants will receive up to $2,000 to bring their concepts to life along Third Street between Broadway and Third Ave. SW in downtown Rochester.
About a dozen projects will be chosen, and applications are due by June 17.
“Who knows what people will come up with,” Patrick Seeb, DMC's director of economic development and placemaking, said in an interview with the Med City Beat last month. “But if we say to our community, ‘let’s think about health as we’re building our city,’ maybe we’ll think differently about sidewalks and streets and the basic infrastructure of our city.”
This won't be Rochester's first foray in prototyping: RDA, DMC and the Rochester Art Center held a community conversation on the subject last month. The seven areas of focus chosen by participants were nature, connection, accessibility, inclusivity, art, food and diversity.
To continue that conversation, an Idea Jam is scheduled for June 1.
"We are thrilled to have Ray Boyle and Jake Levitas, OurCity, back with us for a second time as they bring their passion, energy and unique approaches to idea generation," says a joint news release from DMC and RDA. "We believe round two will be even more productive in coming up with prototyping ideas."
Additional information is available here.
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(Cover photo: The Med City Beat)
