Empty Space as Common Ground: Open/Closed and Deliberative Innovation
Day 2 / Apr, 13 @ 10:30 am
1st Floor : Room A
Open/Closed is the middle ground between the extremes; it is the collective efforts of St. Louis residents envisioning collaborative solutions for empowerment. As an annual summit, Open/Closed strives to facilitate thoughtful, open conversation about population flight, disinvestment, and vacancy. As a civic organization, Open/Closed engages uncommon partners to link the emergent results of community-oriented creativity, enterprise, and policy. They are helping develop infrastructure for lateral civic thinking that will unsettle the most durable presumptions about the urban fabric. Unsatisfied by proclamations of population growth and conventional economic development, Open/Closed recognizes the potential for artists, entrepreneurs, advocates, neighbors, and leaders to learn through iteration, engage on contested issues, and acknowledge the multiplicity of forms. Open/Closed is a creative enterprise because the animated civil society, ultimately, is the crafting of the possible. St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh are human places. Crafted by people, dismantled by people, and, hopefully, remade by them, we have been instructed to revile the chaos, disorder, and collapse of our past. In contrast, Open/Closed imagines this biography as our defining attribute. The organizers lionize not the possibility to rewrite these cities into creative, political or social legibility, but to enhance our literacies to the existing city and its diversity of practices. This panel will help tell this story, but it will surely be incomplete, an incompleteness that should inspire all creative practitioners to find all the possible authors.
Speaker(s):
Terrell Carter
St. Louis, Missouri
Terrell Carter is well versed in both the arts and community development. He is a visual artist and has exhibited his work nationally and internationally. He primarily works in oil sticks and oil pastel, and ink prints. He teaches various arts and interdisciplinary courses for St. Louis Community College at Wildwood. He is also the Director of a new certificate program for Central Baptist Theological Seminary in St. Louis.
He is also the Executive Director of the North Newstead Association, a nonprofit community development corporation that builds low income housing in north St. Louis City. Prior to that he served as the Executive Director of CREATE, Inc. (Community-Based Resources Ensuring Access to Everyone), a nonprofit organization that coordinates social services for seniors in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Southern Illinois. He also previously served as a police officer for the City of St. Louis.
Terrell has earned a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Biblical Studies and Organizational Leadership, a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in Arts Management and Leadership, and a Doctor of Theology. He is the author of Machiavellian Arts Management: Timeless Advice for 21st Century Arts Managers.
Charles Brown
St. Louis, Missouri
CHARLES BROWN, NOMA, Assoc. AIA – Charles Brown is an adjunct professor in the College of Architecture at Washington University St. Louis, teaching Introduction to Design Processes as well as a studio seminar comprising both graduate and undergraduate students. After earning his Master of Architecture in 1998, Charles’ professional experience has not only covered teaching but also a diverse range of architectural design projects. His skill level has afforded him the opportunity to work collaboratively at all phases of client engagement, design and construction process. Currently, Charles is also design professional working with a small company in Wellston, Missouri called Atelier3 Design. Mr. Brown is an active board member of the N.O.M.A. St. Louis Chapter and has been involved with the organization since 1995 even when he was a college student. In 2009, he had the privilege of co-chairing and planning the 37th Annual N.O.M.A. International Conference and Exhibition held in St. Louis, MO.
Nat Zorach
St. Louis, Missouri
NAT M. ZORACH – A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Nat studied German literature and urban theory at Grinnell College in Iowa and worked in business incubation and economic development before he was invited to St. Louis in the fall of 2010 to help manage projects for Rebuild Foundation, where he assisted in securing upwards of $20,000 in grant funding during his residency as Rebuild established itself as a community player in local arts and development work. Now doing business as The Handbuilt City, an investment cooperative, Nat is working on two renovation projects based on a Pan-Rust Belt vision for social enterprise, sustainable architecture, creative investment strategies, and community education. A pilot project is training an apprentice in finish carpentry and building trades, while Handbuilt works to raise awareness about civic topics of local import. Nat lives on Hyde Park in a house that he has been rehabbing.
Alex Ihnen
St. Louis, Missouri
Born and raised in North Manchester, Indiana, Alex Ihnen earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s in public affairs from Indiana University. He has also studied at the University of South Australia in Adelaide and the Universita per Stranieri in Perugia, Italy. Alex is the editor of nextSTL.com, an hub for dedicated members of the St. Louis community and those interested in getting involved. NextSTL covers a wide range of topics from historic preservation to public policy, boasting 7,000 topics and 2,700 registered users. Alex is also a key organizer of the Open/Closed vacant property conference and serves as chair of City to River, an organization dedicated to improving connections between the riverfront and downtown. Alex lives in University City with his wife, Katie, an MD/Ph.D. student at Washington University, and their two children, Lucy and Oscar.
