WOSU 08/30/2011
http://beta.wosu.org/news/category/opinion/
While Wonderland wonders where it’s going to land – I wonder if we shouldn’t instead consider
all of Columbus “wonderland.”
Last year the Wonderland organization set out to purchase the shuttered Wonder Bread
factory to provide a location that would be an all-in-one solution for keeping young artists and
entrepreneurial types productive, right here in Columbus.
Wonderland Executive Director Adam Brouillette said the Wonder Bread facility wasn’t
financially feasible. But, he said, Wonderland will find a location; in the meantime they’ll
continue hosting events where they can.
The goal of Wonderland is to act as a space where all sort of creative and entrepreneurial
collaborations happen. Something like, say, the current Junctionview Studios in Grandview
Heights (co-founded by Brouillette five years ago) except pumped up 100 times.
However, even without a defined space, Wonderland isn’t adrift.
In fact, I’d say they’re the most innovative organization in town. Just look at how they’re using
technology like QR codes – those little black and white squares you scan into your smart phone
– to sell art on the street. They hold events around town. One is called Wunderblender – a
kind of speed dating, matching artists with entrepreneurs.
I think much of this is happening specifically because they don’t have a space to rely on – or to
worry about.
Over the past couple of decades, the ease of transient movement of young people from one
city to another has been seen as a problem for Columbus.
But what if we think about how we, as a city, can embrace this transient nature as its own way
of staying competitive?
For example, the recent Food Truck Festival held at the new Columbus Commons brought
together 25 popular food trucks you would otherwise find scattered around the city, along
with live music and several artist tents. What resulted was 12,000 people descending upon
downtown – when was the last decade City Center managed to do that?
This isn’t to suggest that we should all live out of taco trucks or whatever; for those of us
too hungry to wait in the food truck lines, we ended up grabbing a bite to eat at a nearby
restaurant. Bricks and mortar are still relevant, but it makes me think – what are the real
ingredients to a successful city.
I’d say a place that brings people together for work, education, entertainment and, in the best
scenario, a place to live a healthy, happy life near those things.
That’s where I see the subtle divide between past efforts and this idea. A community does not
require a full time, single use, physical venue. For that matter, what we normally envision as a
proper purpose-built home isn’t really required by these up-and-comers either.
So what if we nurture this greater ideal of Wonderland, of providing innovation space – not
strictly physical space – for young artists and entrepreneurs to continue to be transient. Would
this flexibility itself create the vibrant, sustainable city we seem to be searching for?