Blog Post 6/10/2008
Ok, so I’ve been batting around an idea for a while now and I think it is finally time to take action, move the idea into the realm of reality. Columbus Ohio is rated 8th in the US for the number of people blogging. We’re also the home of the Thurber House, several amazing educational institutions like the little known The Ohio State University, and many publishing companies and media outlets. We are also now proudly introducing ourselves as the Indie Art Capital of the World. With all of that under your cap take a listen to what I’m proposing and see if you want to get on board. This is going to take a lot more than one person can do alone.
A core value that I hold is that information should be free and open to everyone. Since the first printing press went into operation we have seen a boom in the dissemination of knowledge and in most cases this has resulted in a relatively freer and more open society. To this end we see discussions about transparency in government and greater transparency in private business matters, and, like it or not, less emphasis on individual privacy. Knowledge exchange, open communication and individual interactions are what create community, both on a local scale and globally.
Columbus Ohio currently interacts with the world in several important ways. We host business functions such as research conferences and industry forums, we facilitate innumerable forums for art and academic discourse, we play host to a wide variety of festivals and fairs, and we support several major sport teams. With all of these come a cost and a benefit to Columbus and Central Ohio. The cost is often in a real dollar amount which is fed by taxes and activity fees charged. The secondary cost is when these events are poorly marketed, poorly attended and a loss of respect for the event, organization and region results.
The benefits we hope to achieve with all of these forms of outreach however is worth the risk. By bringing greater community involvement to our region as well as involvement from outside of our region in the form of tourists, potential new residents, and industry participants we can grow our economy, population and respect. This greater involvement and interaction will have the important benefit of building a physical diversity in our public discourse as well as a diversity of ideas that aren’t offered in a more closed community.
In an effort to bring these realities I suggest that Columbus cultivate a literary festival. I would like to see a festival that extends far beyond classic literary festivals though. I have a vision of a literary festival that embraces new literature technology as much, if not more, than standard printing press produced literature. I also believe that Columbus would benefit from desegregation of some of its festivals. In this case particularly I would suggest that this new literary festival take place during the week leading up to ComFest each summer. ComFest is one of the largest music, art and political festivals in the region and already brings out thousands of people from around the region with a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives – all focused on building community through music and art and discourse.
In years past smaller literary focused events such as the Columbus Book Festival and a smattering of Comic book oriented festivals have occurred and will continue to occur in the future. I think it would be appropriate to involve these organizations and attempt to find some level of collaboration. Through coordination these events could provide Columbus with an extended week of events which would draw national and international scholars, artists, thinkers and doers. Why reinvent the work they have already done. Instead of disregarding their efforts lets pull them into this larger event. A focused time frame with a diversity of event options will bring Columbus into the spotlight in a way it previously hasn’t enjoyed.
The key to the success of combining the various events within the time-frame is to find a common theme and set of values. This theme will permeate through all of the events and will work because of the agreed upon set of values. Individual events will still have a level of individual signage and related responsibility but a web will interconnect each event. A working title for this web will be Convergence Columbus. This suggests an intersection of ideas, mediums, communications and technologies. Where these come together in both a physical and ideological sense we’ll have a convergence which grows community, understanding and unity. These are values that we should all hold high.
Imagine with me for a moment what could come to life during this imaginary week.
Monday Afternoon – the Mayor of Columbus and Governor speak at the opening ceremony for Convergence Columbus. This ceremony will take place on the State House lawn as a show of support for this type of discourse, for the unity necessary between our State government and local Government, and the support our leaders show for building community through meaningful participation. Just as important is that the State House lawn provides a large venue inviting participation from the people of the community. There is no question that the event is open to everyone, not just those with special tickets or connections. That evening will be devoted to discussions hosted around the downtown and short north which focus on welcoming discussions from a diversity of participants. This is the time to cement in participants’ minds that we are building community here.
Tuesday through Thursday – artists and book seller’s setup booths and stalls along Front Street headed south from Goodale Park including the intersecting alley’s and a short stretch of High Street – Connecting the Arena District, the Convention Center, the North Market and Goodale Park. The Convention Center will become the primary meeting, presentation and lecture hall for the event. Additional meeting rooms such as those at the hotels, North Market, Barley’s Underground, Nationwide and similar should also be utilized as a way to boost revenue for the immediate businesses and provide inclusion to their voices as well. Weekday afternoon events should focus primarily on industry, business and core government policy discussions as a way to excuse participants from their normal workday at downtown offices and instead participate in these events which have both a personal impact and a career development impact. Late afternoon and evening events should focus more on creative literature, community building, and the arts as these are the types of discussions most residents will be interested in. Later evening events at area restaurants and bars should be encouraged including some more formal events when possible. For example, Barley’s might host a literary event in their basement bar which ties in with the history of brewing or something to that effect.
Friday – Sunday – booths and stall will remain but will be added to as the ComFest event joins the convergence. Saturday is also the Columbus Pride Festival which could be repositioned to combine the North Bank Park area and the Battelle River Front Park. By expanding event locations south through the Arena District there would be a continuous flow of activity stretching from the Short North to the downtown river front. This would allow for the city to add some family specific events on the river front and the COSI campus, as well as activities utilizing both the City Hall lawn and the State House lawn.
Throughout the week of the event farmers should be provided stalls in a couple of concentrations such as near the North Market and south near the riverfront as a way to highlight the agriculture community based in and around Columbus and to provide event participants with other food options. Participating farmers will be briefed on the event so that they are prepared to sell goods appropriate for such an event.
As a major component to driving convergence between traditional forms of communication and new media free Wi-Fi will be setup throughout this corridor and, if possible, should remain after the completion of the event as a take away for the city. Another technology use could be to place RSS feeds that include text, photo and video on jumbo screens in the Arena District, downtown and some mobile projector screens on flat building walls. Business owners would be given access to the feed source and encouraged to run the feeds on one or more of their establishment’s video screens.
So there you have it. This is my idea for Convergence Columbus. We’re so well positioned between Toronto, Chicago and the East Coast that there is no reason we can’t build this set of events into a major cultural force in North America. The key is community, using what we’ve got to build a better one for the future. If you’re in then stand up and speak out.