seeding the city

*cross-posted from my general blog*
This idea was directly generated from Matthias Merkel Hess’ posting, “Getting Dirty at the Hammer.” In it he mentions that the panel discussion (featuring Steve Badgett/SimpArch, Amy Franceschini/Futurefarmers and Nance Klehm) discussed the role of the gallery for artists who work in communities on a project basis. Amy Franceschini stated something about (in Matthias’ words) “Franceschini said the gallery can be used as a testing ground and that failure is possible without hurting anyone.”

Last night I was trying to figure out how on earth I would store the 100+ plots for the “Seeding the City” project as they await installation. Then I realized that it would be a fabulous gallery show. I could keep all of the plots on the floor of the gallery, as they left the gallery to be planted, in their place would be inscribed the location to which they are taken (the address of the roof). Along the walls would be images of the plots in place. I can even create a little string based network of the plot spaces in the gallery. I LOVE THIS IDEA! So now I have to either find a gallery that would be up for this for the entire 3-5 month project timeline (at least it is summer!) or get a Swing Space from LMCC. If you have a gallery & are interested, be sure to contact me!

So lots of exciting news!

1. I think I have found a roof! A friend of mine who lives nearby has a roof I can use for the 6 test plots we are doing. It’s a super secret location and I need to get an architect to check it out for me, but it is all looking really good!
2. I spoke early this morning with my friend Jim, from Pride’s Corner, he is the local nursery for LiveRoof and will be planting the plugs and nurturing the modules for me. He will be starting my plots early next week. They get to live at the nursery for 3 months (ish) before coming to NYC.
3. We decided that we would do half the plots with pure native seedum, and the other half will be a mix of native & non-native. (While I prefer the pure native, I also want to ensure that the plants will survive AND thrive, so we are testing them this winter).
4. Jim is hosting some green roof installer training programs this month - I am going to attend one! (I think that is SUPER cool).

So all is going well and I am excited about the updates. I will see if I can get some pictures of the plots to post for all of us to see!

*I am doing 6 test plots because I will need to check the configuration for survivability. Usually the roofs are extensive enough that the plots will all provide a buffer for one another. I need to ensure that a single plot, or a grouping of two will do well.

I have a flat of gorgeous native woodland seedum. I will be planting them in containers and will sell them (with a small flag & project info on the side) to help raise money for the project. They are really beautiful with little white flowers. Wait, let me take a picture.

It will be a limited edition piece (less than 50), but these are great seedum to have at home. I am going to price them at $50 per. If you would like to pre-order one, let me know (eve at seedingthecity dot com).

Also, I have posted on ThePoint.com to see if I can get that tipping point to work, today they sent me a “widget” to post:

However, at this point I am most excited about a microfinancing idea: ArtPowered.com.

I like to approach projects from an “outside the box” (boy, thats an overused term) point of view. When I mentioned the “Seeding the City” to a friend who works with green roofs, he questioned the value of planting such a small plot of greenery - how is that going to have any real affect on the Urban Heat Island Effect?

May answer, “Each individual module may have a negligible affect, but what would hundreds of modules spread across the city do to both our environment, our awareness and our social fabric?”

When you consider the potential of the project, creating potentially enough greenery on rooftops to recreate a Central Park in the sky? Now it gets interesting.

I have also been considering how to raise money for the project outside of the “normal” channels (i.e. grants). A couple of things have come up recently which I am investigating:

• ThePoint.com is a tipping point model for fundraising and social action. Get enough people to commit to something, and then it can happen. I posted the project on there with enough funds to launch the project, its a pretty high price, so we will see how close I get, but it does allow many people to be involved at a small level - it is a further exploration of microfinancing.
• Another idea is to exchange money for experience or special commodities from the project, this is based on the model of artistshare.com. The funding is given up front and then the funders are invited to participate in interesting ways throughout the project.
• Finally, my own thought of allowing people to “sponsor” grm’s throughout the city. Pay $50 and you would sponsor a grm in your choice of one of the neighborhoods. This wouldn’t be on your own roof, but would include your sponsorship information on the signage and website.

So, does anyone have any thoughts on any of this? Are there ways you would want to participate financially? Would you give a small amount for nothing in return or prefer a larger amount and a unique experience or commodity (if so what would that experience or commodity be?) or would you prefer to know that your funds are directed at a specific piece of action?

I had a great conversation with a local representative of LiveRoof green roof modules yesterday. The headquarters had been very receptive to the project and put me in touch with a local nursery to answer questions about some of the more technical details. They are actually interested in testing out a native seedum that they have on hand, and are very excited about getting it down to NYC - so StC may be a great way to test that! He and I are also going to do some research on other local plants that might grow well in all of 4″ of soil.

I also got a good response from GreenPaks, but we have not had an in-depth conversation. I will be curious to test out the two different systems to see what will work best!

Additionally, I met with the amazing Marni Horwitz from Alive Structures, which is a local (based in Long Island City) green roof, green wall and garden landscape and design group. They are really creative and interested in experimenting with the products (because green structures are still a young business there is a lot of room for innovation). They are testing new technologies (keeping all the resources local) and trying to include more variety in the plant types to create diversity. Definitely will be fun to see what they get up to in the coming year!

Start thinking about interesting ways that I can build audience for this project, I will be posting on that next

I am planning to plant a test site this spring, to test out different types of modular roof systems (sacks & trays) in different configurations (does just 1 do okay or does there need to be 2 or more modules) and different plants (seedum vs. native). In order to do that I will need a roof on which to grow these. There are a couple of caveats - 1) I need access to the rooftop on a weekly basis to check on the plants 2) I would like to be able to host a small launch party and potentially to show off the site to interested parties. Therefore a public space is best, but if you think you have the ideal site, let me know!

So I have written a couple of different summary statements. Which do you like better?

“Seeding the City” is a public art project that seeks to plant “seeds” of thought in the urban environment on challenges of climate change and potential for remediation. Social networking will determine the location for installation of individual green roof sample sites. Included with the installation will be educational and community building tools, and methods to trace the growth of the network. Online resources will include mapping of the project, tools for tracking local urban heat island effect and resources to recreate the project worldwide.

“Seeding the City” is an art project that utilizes social networking to site urban interventions in the form of green roof modules. It capitalizes on community building to introduce urban environmental issues and remediation tools. The modules and their accompanying flags and street level signage will track the growth of the network throughout the neighborhood. Online resources will include mapping of the project, tools for tracking local urban heat island effect and resources to recreate the project worldwide. 

Let me know in the comments!

Well the NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship is great news! This allows me to not only go after grants that might not normally give to individuals, but it also allows me to reach out to individual donors who can then claim their donations as tax deductible. This also applies to corporate giving. On top of that I can have donors take advantage of corporate matching programs. Basically the donors are donating money to NYFA and it is earmarked as money to be spent on the specified project. They hold onto the money and make payments out from those funds to any expenses I incur.

In addition to that I have finished the rough draft of the LMCC grant application. I will wrap that up this weekend and finish the draft of the letter to Ben & Jerry’s Foundation. If you want to volunteer to read any of these for me, let me know!

After that I will work on the Jerome Foundation and a couple of others. I also want to plan an event around a planting of a sample plot this spring. If you have a rooftop on which you would like to place a few square feet of green at no cost to you, and are open to letting me access it bi-weekly, and could host a small party, well let’s talk! If you don’t have the space but want to help anyway, I will be looking for sponsors and in-kind donations. And if you just want to come to the party - make sure you are on my mailing list!

I also decided that I would like to launch the project in a few neighborhoods simultaneously - Lower Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn. If you are interested in being one of the initial recipients of a green roof module and either own your own building, have a good relationship with your landlord or are interested in working with me to get approval from your landlord (or are a landlord/developer with a public roof space), please email me and we can set something up.

I’m excited - can feel the momentum building - how about you??

Though there are still a lot of things going on with the HighWaterLine project, my mind and focus have moved on to greener pastures (quite literally). I have been working on the Seeding the City Project (or for short g’roofs). I won’t post a whole lot in here in the beginning, just wanted to get a site up and running. As soon as I get through some of the big grant application push and actually get out into the field more, I will get some images and notes up here. If you have any questions though, click on the “about” page to contact me!