EverybodyAllTheTime performance installation; photo by Kacy Anne Shelton

Updates
On November 1st, Missouri State University senior dance major Sarah Greenbaum produced an original performance installation collaborating with Alec Brown, Jaime Daniels, Carmen Hartmann, Gavin Juckette, Drew Mittman, Kahrya Vaughn, and Dara Vint.

  Performers move between private and shared space; photo by Kacy Anne Shelton

The performance explored the experience of living simultaneously online and in the real world, juxtaposing the performers’ flesh-and-bone, real-life selves with the polished personas they create for themselves on the Internet. The performance featured five performers moving among the audience, animated laptop screens, projected film work, and a live DJ.

Digital images contrast choreographed performances; photo by Pam RuBert

Recent Wins
-- ideaXfactory lead artist Russ RuBert and committee member Pam RuBert attended the Art of Placemaking Conference, which took place November 7-8  in Providence, RI hosted by WaterFire Providence. Participating in two days of presentations by leading practitioners and experts in the field of creative placemaking allowed for networking and dialogue with representatives from ArtPlace America, National Endowment for the Arts, Springboard for the Arts, and a wide range of city and state economic arts development leaders from around the county.

Veterans marching to light the bonfires of WaterFire; photo by Pam RuBert

-- We stayed in Providence for a third day to experience the remarkable WaterFire Salute to Veterans, to participate in a mobile/web-based research experiment into the measurement of event placemaking experiences conducted by WaterFire Providence and Brown University, and to enjoy a late night boat ride through the bonfire-lit Providence canals.

yarnbombSAM became a gathering place for regional school tours

-- The ideaXfactory yarn bombers created an installation on a 65’ x 20’ sculpture called Sun Target by John Henry at the corner of National Ave. and Bennett Street near the Springfield Art Museum. The three-week installation incorporated contributions from California, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Sweden, and dozens of people in our local community. It became a destination for school and tour groups and garnered a photo gallery in the Springfield News-Leader.

-- The ideaXfactory moved a sculpture by artist Cathy Russell from October’s installation show into the City of Springfield’s downtown Jubilee Park to be part of a new Sculpture Walk program.

-- The City of Springfield is working on stamping poetry into downtown public sidewalks. The poems were written by students of Missouri State University and juried by board members of the Writers Hall of Fame of the Ozarks, and is summarized with other art installation projects in the Springfield News-Leader Reporter's Notebook: City of Springfield embraces its artistic side by Amos Bridges.

Insight/Provocation
We can see from the frequent and favorable media attention to recent art installations that the variety, visibility, and community involvement of these projects is making a big impact. We know it from the stream of comments through social media and personal encounters.

But as often discussed during the Art of Placemaking Conference, to gather data and evaluate it in some form that can be used to communicate with corporate, private, and government sponsors and investors is a true challenge.

Anne Gadwa Nicodemus, co-author of the 2010 National Endowment for the Arts whitepaper on Creative Placemaking, spoke of using community and group interviews, county and city data, census data, crime reports, sales and property tax data.

Laura Zabel said Springboard for the Arts is tracking earned media coverage as compared to paid media coverage. WaterFire Providence is working with Marshal Sponder of WebMetricsGuru Inc. to experiment with free and subscription software to map Twitter, Facebook, and real-time geographical mobile phone data. The challenge for us is to find methods of data collection, evaluation and publication we can use here in Springfield, MO.