Not that it’s something we haven’t talked about before, but GOOD just wrote about yet another iteration of this kind of alternative community pedagogy, this time calling it “pop-up education.”
Basically these ideas work like this: teach something you know to other people in an alternative space. Perhaps a main distinction in the pop-up education idea compared to what we’ve talked about before is that this kind of pedagogical experience should occur during regular wait-times, the brief post gives the example of teaching safety skills while waiting in the DMV.
So, how many times will we write about this before we initiate something? Well, maybe instead of making a list of skills we have and could share, maybe creating a needs-based list would work.
For example, I would love to learn how to cast metal, do basic programming for the iPhone, and get a better general sense of the narrative of the history of the city. What might you want to learn? Want to trade knowledge?
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i want to learn how to quilt, silkscreen and blow glass. i think these are pretty involved and expensive, though, so i’m not sure how well they would apply to this sort of thing.
Samantha, I think those are awesome additions to the needs list / want-to-learn list, involved or not, maybe there is someone out there willing to do a glass blowing workshop?
It’s not to say that some learning experiences don’t already existing for at least some of these skills, and I certainly think that taking a workshop at Windsor Printmakers Forum would give the best educational experience around for learning silkscreening (among other things), but I wonder if there’s a different model to consider in the way that traditional workshops happen? Do they need to happen in new spaces? Or does there need to be a dedicated space for many, many, many workshops? Or is actually the experience of a workshop that needs to change?
I wish I was in the position to buy or rent a combination living and commercial space (possibly in the centre of the city). I’ve always wanted to have a place dedicated to experimenting with art and the construction of various projects. Anyone would be welcome to present ideas and do cooperative art projects. It would just be this great productive, inspirational idea factory. I’ve wanted to do this even before I knew who Andy Warhol was, lol.
I’ve been to the Windsor Printmakers Forum a few times while I was in college for graphic design. I loved the experience and learning the process of intaglio and letterpress printmaking. Printmaking is such an expensive art, though. I definitely need to suck it up and get a job so I can finally explore the things I want to do.
You know, Mackenzie Hall is offering a series of “sampler” classes sort of similar to this. It’s ‘sponsored’ by the City of Windsor but features people from the community offering their knowledge for really low prices. you can see them: mackenziehall.ca. For example, Sergio is a lighting tech and will be showing people how to take apart, clean, re-assemble a theatrical lighting fixture, as well as show folks how to develop a simple lighting scheme.
There’s also a wood-burning demo, and how-to’s about making a simple black dress. Fun!
wow! thank you for that Em, I literally had no idea this was going on… very exciting! Here’s the link again for anyone who missed it: mackenziehall.ca
On another note, and really probably deserving of it’s own post, similar thinking about changing education, check out Mildred’s Lane down in the US… from their site, “This creative environment will allow for something not possible in a traditional academic institution or arts organization — a working-living-researching site for large-scale project-based practices.”