Living St. Louis Television Piece - Hyde Park

This video gives a brief history and idea of the redevelopment happening now in Hyde Park. The first rehab house featured in the video at 2012 Mallinckrodt is next door to the St. Louis headquarters for the ReBuild Foundation.

Uncovering Somethingness

The first day of CityStudioSTL was incredibly inspiring and I'd like to reflect on the purpose of this class. This class is led by prominent artist and founder of the ReBuild foundation, Theaster Gates Jr. Theaster has so poetically sub-titled the class “Somethingness: Ways of Seeing and Building”. In St. Louis it is hard to ignore the pockets of desolate areas filled with abandoned and deteriorating buildings. There is a perceived sense of “nothingness” in these areas not only to visitors of the city but to those who live in St. Louis as well. This perceived sense has relieved those in power in St. Louis to accept any real responsibility to reshape and rebuild these areas. Thesaster made the point that his work as an artist and this class would be about showing society, despite the perceived sense of nothingness, there is somethingness in these areas.

CityStudioSTL is set in Hyde Park located in North St. Louis, one of the poorest areas in St. Louis. The local school, Holy Trinity has a significant presence in the community and has teamed with Theaster and other artists to conduct an art program called Urban Expressions for the students. The program has been such a success that Holy Trinity and the ReBuild Foundation with the help of the CityStudioSTL class will be repurposing an abandoned building owned by Holy Trinity to turn into an "art house" for the kids. After a week of being in the community I have been able to witness somthingness in Hyde Park. There are people who make up a strong and vibrant group who are fighting for their community. There are powerful moments of beauty and hardship that are evidence of life in this community. I now realize that three weeks is an unrealistic time frame to make any real change. The real purpose of my participation in this class will be to help uncover the somethingness in Hyde Park and to create a spark. My hope is that when more people are made aware of these areas, compassion for humanity will take over instead of political and economic motives and we can start to heal this neighborhood.

I'm Here!

After a month of fund-raising for Help Send Alicia to CityStudioSTL, I have made it to St. Louis to attend the CityStudioSTL program! Despite the humidity, I consider myself truly blessed to be here. When I think of everyone's generosity to support my dream, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. In an effort to show you how truly thankful I am (as well as practice and develop my critical writing skills), I have decided to create this blog in order to show how your support is being used. I will strictly write about my experiences and observations over the next three weeks at the CityStudioSTL program. I am hoping that this blog will not only be an outlet for my thoughts but will also be a resource to engage in thoughtful dialogue about architecture, art and social change.