In an effort to expand racial and ethnic diversity in the design fields, Kent State’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative created Making Our Own Space (MOOS), a design/build program for middle and high school students. The program introduces youth to opportunities in architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture. Since 2015, MOOS has been helping educate youth on design fundamentals, construction, design, and community engagement. MOOS serves as an incubator for design thinkers and problem-solvers.
MOOS construction site: “The Junkyard” in Old Brooklyn
Building on the MOOS initiative, the CUDC received a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support a new MOOS initiative. This grant is one of 1,251 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling nearly $28.8 million that were announced by the NEA as part of its first round of Fiscal Year 2023 grants.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects in communities nationwide,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph.D. “Projects such as this one with Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative strengthen arts and cultural ecosystems, provide equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, and contribute to the health of our communities and our economy.”
The new NEA grant is being used to will support the work of middle and high school students as they design and fabricate a public space installation in Cleveland’s Brighton Park. Brighton Park is a new public space that Cleveland Metroparks, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corp. created in 2021 from a former landfill in the heart of the neighborhood.
Brighton Park (Cleveland Metroparks/Kyle Lanzar)
The broader benefits of this project include new ways of seeing and designing public spaces through the eyes of teenagers who navigate and inhabit these spaces. This project celebrates America’s creativity and cultural heritage by encouraging youth to engage in their local community, combining their embodied knowledge of this place with the conversations they have and the discoveries they make through MOOS. Their design ideas will directly benefit their friends, families and neighbors.
Data artist Jer Thorp
Grant funds will be used to engage nationally recognized data artist Jer Thorp in a collaborative project with MOOS students. Jer teaches at New York University. He was formerly the Data Artist in Residence at the New York Times and at National Geographic. Jer and the CUDC’s MOOS Coordinator Ben Herring will work with MOOS students to create a data installation in Brighton Park. Jer will be in Cleveland in September to explore some initial ideas with the students. He’ll return later this fall to work with students on the installation. There will be a public event to share the MOOS work with the community.
The project will invite an intergenerational dialogue that fosters a mutual respect for diverse beliefs and values among Cleveland youth, professional designers and community members of all ages.
For more information about MOOS, visit www.wearemoos.org or contact cudc@kent.edu.
