Explore these images of citizens of Providence participating in programming for Capital Ideas: Planning Providence – What does your potential Providence look like?
Overall, I was impressed by the focus, creativity and engagement of the students. All I had to do was give them a prompt, some paper, and drawing materials and off they went, developing water taxi systems, ferris wheels, zoos with skyline monorails, and hot springs. They were uninhibited in their inventiveness. What I learned? Never underestimate the imagination of a child!
James Franco + Cookies + Sunshine = Great Programming
Friday afternoon Yanely, Kasi, and I headed out to the Brown University Main Green to ask students to fill out the poster template. We had no idea what to expect. Would people have the time or desire to stop and draw on a Friday afternoon? At least the weather was finally cooperating and we had sun on our side. Imagine our surprise when we walked onto the Main Green and saw hundreds of students lined up along the ENTIRE length of the courtyard!
Apparently James Franco was conducting an interview, and practically the entire Brown campus came out to see him. Since the doors had not opened yet, we had a captivated audience. And we had cookies, which was our initial bait; we had no idea we had James Franco on our side. Yanely and Kasi walked through the throng of students and invited them to spend their free time drawing. We may have pulled the “it’s for class” card a couple of times. But regardless, it worked. We had a couple blank stares and “no thanks,” but overall people were happy to spend some time drawing, especially with a free cookie at the end. Some students quietly and mindfully took their time; others assigned the “artist” and fed ideas; while another group decided to each grab a marker and collaborate. The responses ranged from parks to discotheques to ferris wheels.
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