Urban Jacksonville

In this year’s election, three of the seven seats on the Duval County School Board will be up for election. None of the current board members are running for re-election, so the election can be a sea change for public education in Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund is hosting three public forums for school board candidates to help the community learn more about the candidates. WJXT Channel 4 Reporter Ayesha Faines will moderate the event, asking a handful of questions selected by JPEF and then opening the floor to questions from those attending the event.

The forums will all be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the following dates:

• District 2 — July 27 — Twin Lakes Academy, 8050 Point Meadows Dr, Jacksonville 32256
• District 4 — August 9 — Ribault High School, 3701 Winton Dr., Jacksonville 32208
• District 6 — July 29 — Ed White High School, 1700 Old Middleburg Rd. Jacksonville 32210

Invitation by Jeff Harrington, Kelly Young, David Brent Lee and MOCA Jacksonville. Photo by Ingrid Damiani

I received my Off the Grid Launch Party invite in the mail Thursday. It looks tight. Jacksonville, downtown specifically, is getting a little swagger. Off the Grid is:

a partnership between artists, property owners, Downtown Vision, Inc. and the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville. Off the Grid facilitates introductions between Jacksonville artists and Downtown property owners in an effort to activate vacant spaces in the urban core with artistic energy and provide artists with much needed work and exhibition space.

This movement started here and was formerly called Creative Communities. I like the new name, a big improvement. Listen to Terry Lorince, DVI Pres talk about the program, and other things.

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I Hope This Makes You Happy

I Hope This Makes You Happy is a new project from Nick at Art Behind the Fridge. It has the potential to keep me walking up and down the streets of 5 Points on Fridays.

The idea involves me creating a 5×5 drawing that I will take and put up somewhere in Jacksonville for whoever to find it. The idea behind it is this, I believe that art makes people “happy”, or at least thats the case for me. I know that when I look at an illustration, a painting, a sculpture, street art, or even a film that I think is “cool”, it makes me “happy”.

At least I’m hoping he leaves one or two in 5 Points for us to find. Keep an eye out for free art today!

Mesh Magazine Looking for ArtWalk Photos and Events

If anyone has ArtWalk photos, send your links to Mesh Magazine so they can post them up on the site with credit for you. You can also send them events you have coming up in the next month.

I Saved the Best for Last

Each year the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville presents their Annual Arts Awards at a luncheon. The event is held on stage at the Times-Union Performing Arts Center. This year’s awards ceremony will be held on April 20th.

A new part of this celebration of the arts in Jacksonville will be using technology to feature the regions artists on a huge screen running across the back of the stage.

The Cultural Council is looking for artists to submit images for this event. If you want to be included please send or deliver up to 10 of your digital images to the address below. Digital Images must be:

• Professionally photographed.
• Full images, as well as, detail shots are welcomed.
• We would like both 2D and 3D work to showcase.
• Images must be at least 300 dpi and SGA 1024 x 768.
• We will need the images no later than March 17th.
• Indicate how you would like your name credited.

Send or drop off your disk of digital images
Martha McManus
(904) 358.3600
Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville
300 W Water St., Jacksonville, FL 32202

Or if you have a Flickr account, place the images in a group called “Cultural Council 2010” and send a link to martha@culturalcouncil.org

The goal is to highlight as many artists as possible. The Cultural Council cannot guarantee that your work will be included and by submitting your images you are agreeing to allow Cultural Council to use your images in the future to help promote the arts in Jacksonville.

Tom McManus and Kelly DeGance

Thanks to Tom McManus and Kelly DeGance for talking with us about Walk a Mile in Their Shoes, an event we’ll be supporting all month long at Urban Jacksonville Weekly.

4th annual Walk a Mile in Their Shoes 5K
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Register Online

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Tony Allegracious, co-host

Recommendations

Tony 2010 RAM re-opening
Jonathan 13 Gypsies
Tom We’ll Always Be Pals
Kelly Pulp Juice and Yogurt in San Marco
Joey Spring Fashion Show at TSI (I’ll be DJ’n)

Comping Up On Urban Jacksonville Weekly

On March 15th we’ll have Josh Jubinsky in the studio to talk about the Zine program at the Jacksonville Public Library. Josh, or Mr. Josh, works in the children’s at the downtown branch and was instrumental in creation one of the largest public zine collections in the United States.

Zine: A zine (an abbreviation of the word fanzine, or magazine; pronounced /?zi?n/ “zeen”) is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier on a variety of colored paper stock.

Josh Talks About The Jacksonville Library's Zine Collection

video interview With Josh Jubinski (of inertia records) on jaxscene.blogspot.com for ‘zine’ program

Sara Dougherty, Sulzbacher Center PR

We’re welcoming Tom McManus and Kelly DeGance to talk about Walk a Mile in Their Shoes, an event we’ll be supporting all month long at Urban Jacksonville Weekly.

This is the 4th annual Walk a Mile in Their Shoes Event to benefit the Sulzbacher Center. Walk a Mile in Their Shoes will be held on Saturday, March 27, 2010 and will feature a 5K run and one-mile walk starting and ending at the Sulzbacher Center’s campus in downtown Jacksonville.

Here are some more notes about the race

• Over 1,000 members of the Jacksonville Community are expected to take part in Walk a Mile in Their Shoes 2010
• Walk a Mile in Their Shoes 2010 is a great way to support the Sulzbacher Center and have fun at the same time.
• Registration: Includes t-shirt and ChampionChip timer
• 5K Run early registration $25 until March 20th , $30 March 21st – 27th
  1-Mile Walk $20
• The event will also feature a Health Fair with participation by Baptist Health, UNF Nursing, St Vincent’s Healthcare, the First Coast YMCA and other community health partners.

You can register online or at any 1st Place Sports location. Following the race, The Home Team, the center’s young professionals group, is hosting a social mixer at City Hall Pub with live music, food, and drink specials after the Walk a Mile in Their Shoes event.

Become a fan of The Sulzbacher Center or follow them on Twitter. You can also join The Home Team group on LinkedIn.

Sunday the 24th, Ezra Marcos Ayala will be setting up in front of Anomaly 5 Points at 10am. He’s offering 15 minute photo shoots by “donation” meaning the donor has to write a check of any amount to Yele Foundation or UNICEF.

He’ll have envelopes stamped, addressed and will give the envelopes to the donor. It will be their responsibility to mail the check. Contact info will be collected so images can be delivered in digital format, not prints.

No appointment is needed, just show-up. Pets, family, couples, husband/wife, kids are welcome.

Thanks to special guests Beverly Toney from Fresh Ministries and Abel Harding, Urban Jacksonville Weekly political correspondent and Times Union business columnist.

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Fresh Ministries

• building hope, changing lives
• holistic approach
• get people to do things for themselves
• Jax v Chicago
• step by step
• thriving, safe community
• beautification
• how do we market this area?
• partner with COJ
• Crime-walks with JSO
• East Jacksonville boundaries
• other associations have formed as a result
• freshministries.org
• Twitter
• Tony – Eastside is looking better
• Beaver Street Enterprise Center
• community garden
• Tony – no permit required to sell produce from a community garden
• Abel – what is Beaver Street?
• Beaver Street – incubation center for small businesses, classes, resources
• anyone able to use it
• 6 Point Community Initiative
1. economic development
2. education
3. affordable housing
4. safety
5. health
6. strengthening families
• Tony – school system is a mess
• Eastside Resource Center – 1104 E 1st Street
• Joey – relationship between Stadium District and East Jacksonville
• stadium to Springfield should be a showcase
• Tony – old buildings, no money being lent
• proud that the community has come as far as it has
• volunteer

Recommendations

Abel – Annual Tour of Historic Churches downtown (tix at the library)
Tony – Black Saturday at RAM
Joey – Designers in Toyland December Art Walk (229 Hogan)
Jonathan – Burro Bags Art Show December 12th
Beverly – Fresh Ministries Annual Christmas Party – 1104 E 1st Street

Music

Tuesday, November 24
Cafe Eleven
Mountain Goats
Final Fantasy

Wednesday, November 25
Shantytown Pub
Americans in France (Chapel Hill, NC)
Business Casualties (Duval)

Friday, November 27
TSI
Gil Mantera’s Party Dream
Sunbears

NEXT WEEK

Chad Landenberger to talk about his role at AIGA Jacksonville, Designers in Toyland art show and I’m Board IV, Jacksonville’s 4th Annual Skateboard Art Show.

art via arimoore on flickr

A few locals designers are using their talents to help others and a beard blogger is growing a stache to bring attention to men’s health issues – specifically prostate and testicular cancer. These are just a few notable items in an emerging local trend: creative people finding ways to help others. They’re illustrating that there is more than one way to give back to the community.

Brand Sprout From Greenhouse Studio

You may have noticed the Brand Sprout ad on the blog last week. Brand Sprout was a contest to award one new company a complete branding package:

We will create your identity, messaging, vision, website and overall brand framework. We’ll even host your site and support your branding initiatives for one year.

While not completely without motives (new business and PR) the idea of giving away weeks and maybe months of work is very generous. Although the contest is over, you can see who the winner is when it’s announced later today.

AIGA Jacksonville’s Designers in Toyland

AIGA is hosting its first custom toy show, Designers in Toyland, at the December Art Walk, December 2 from 5-9 pm downtown. Both AIGA members and non-members are invited to build a toy from scratch, choose an existing toy and take it to another level, or paint a blank vinyl toy — anything that makes the toy a creation unique to you. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to The Big Fun Box.

The Big Fun Box donates thousands of goodie boxes, each year, to children who are experiencing frequent and extended stays—for any illness or injury—in pediatric hospitals across the country.

Movember With JaxBeard

Movember Jax encourages people to raise money to fight prostate cancer and improve survival rates and quality of life for young adults with cancer between the ages of 15 and 40 via the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Here’s how it works. A “Mo Bro” starts Movember (the month formerly known as November) clean shaven and naked-face. He grows a moustache all month long, and as he’s doing this, he’s gathering support from friends and family in the form of donations. This helps us get the subject of men’s health out in the open and gives us the opportunity to talk about the cancers affecting men. The moustache becomes a symbol, much like the pink ribbon is for breast cancer.

Sean Collins who organizes JaxBeard is a solid dude and you can help out by joining up. Contact Sean if it’s something you’re interested in.

We Inspire Grant Program

Similar to Brand Sprout, the We Inspire Grant Program is donating creative services too, but this time it’s going exclusively to a non-profit somewhere in the US. It’s a collaborative effort between Studio Orange Design, Subtle Technology and Tiffany Manning Photography.

Providing a yearlong partnership will enable us to develop a strategic and integrated approach to your marketing. Once a recipient is announced, a kick-off meeting will be scheduled to establish the goals and objectives of your organization. At this point, we can collectively determine what creative services will have the greatest impact on your cause.

The We Inspire team and each of the other organizations in this post are friends of the Urban Jacksonville blog. It’s quite an honor to be affiliated with people who are doing such good things in the local community. This is a trend I expect to see continue throughout the end of the year and into 2010.

If you have any other examples please share them along with links to the organization on the Urban Jacksonville Facebook page.