Hard Hat Tour, Leadership Arts, Paseo's First Friday, Better Block and What's coming up!

The past few weeks have been flying by and I don't see things slowing down until the middle of June.  I've had so many great experiences, but it's made it difficult to keep up with my blog. So I thought I'd give a little sampler post to catch up!

On Earth Day, April 22nd, we held a hard hat tour of SixTwelve and it was so fun to share our dreams with people we'd never even met. It's one thing for your family or best friends to encourage you. In fact, it might have been what kept us going over the past few years, but it's wild to see people you don't know getting excited your project and what it can mean for the community. The wonderful guys at Mockingbird Media, Matt Barnett and Stewart Perryman, came to the tour, filmed and created a wonderful video that really captures our vision and then just gave it to us for free. I'm so grateful!!! Such generosity is rare these days. Take a look!



Just a couple of days after that tour, I headed down to Beavers Bend State Park in Broken Bow, Oklahoma for our third Leadership Arts class meeting. It was so beautiful down there and I have to say it was a needed break from the fast-paced rush I'm always running through up here in OKC. I'm amazed by all of my class mates. They do so many wonderful things for the arts in our state and are simultaneously so supportive and kind. We discussed ways in which the arts improve quality of life and were lucky enough to get to tour the Museum of the Red River in Idabel as a part of our program. What a great museum!!!! The two things I like the most about the Leadership Arts program are the people I get to meet and the parts of the state we now feel connected to because of our great experiences. This state really does have so much to offer...we just have to get out and see it!

The following week, during Paseo's First Friday Art Walk, my friends Molly O'Connor and Lauren Zuniga, the band, King Mary, Feathered Rabbit and Richard Ray Whitman all performed on SixTwelve's stage!!! Boom Horn also created a mural while the event was taking place. It was the first time anyone used the stage and I was thrilled with the caliber of talent we saw there. I wasn't in charge of anything, as we just let the group hold their event there, but I was so honored to have such incredible artists, musicians and poets inaugurate the stage. The goodness keeps on flowing!

The very next morning, we got up really early to get to the OKC Farmers Public Market. It was time for the Better Block OKC event and SixTwelve had a booth! Erin Latham is an artist that I really admire, especially for her talent, approach and philosophy. She is concerned with the environment and sustainability, so she is a perfect fit for what SixTwelve is about. Sooooo, I invited her to join us for the Better Block event and to help provide the kid's art activity that we were asked to provide. She created dyes out of veggies and used fruits and vegetables as the stamps kids (and adults) could use to make cards for Mother's Day. All of the waste we created was then composted by Fertile Ground, so we could talk to the kids and parents about the cycle of those plants we used! It was perfect!

Erin Latham, holding down the fort at the SixTwelve booth - Better Block OKC

In addition to all of this, I'm preparing for an education event, a Parent/Student art workshop this Saturday at the PAA. It's for students at the elementary schools surrounding Paseo, such as Edgemere, Sequoyah, Putnam Heights, Wilson and Horrace Mann. I'm the chair of the education committee for Paseo, as well as the chair of the music committee for the Paseo Arts Festival 2013, and that festival is coming right up. Immediately after Paseo Fest, I'm a party captain for the opening night party for deadCENTER Film Festival on the rooftop of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Mainly I'm just in charge of helping to recruit volunteers and to spread the word about the greatness that is deadCENTER and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!

I have to say that afterwards, it will be so nice to return to a little normalcy...whatever that is. I know one thing...I'm going to take a big ol' nap. But it sure is fun to be a part of this community and to do whatever I can to help it grow. I love OKC.

Our First Press Release

Last week I had the good fortune to eat dinner with a friend that I really respect and while we were eating, I was telling him about SixTwelve's upcoming Hard Hat Tour. He asked me if I was going to do a press release. A PRESS RELEASE???? I was just inviting all of my Facebook friends to come see the building because so many of them had said they would like to take a peak inside. I didn't even think about a press release. I also thought it was way too late to do something like that. This was just an informal tour.

Of course, as more and more people said they would be coming, I thought, "Maybe I should create one...just for the experience of learning how to do that. I've never written one up before and that skill could come in handy in the future." Romy encouraged me to write one too, so I asked our awesome board member, Tracey Zeeck, if she thought I should and she said it could be good for posterity. So I decided to give it a go!

I totally underestimated how long it would take to write one up. I thought, "I wrote a thesis this time last year. I can handle a one page press release." Ha! It took me about an hour to muddle my way through choosing the most important information, a quote that could be used and a short explanation of what SixTwelve will be. I laughed at myself after I finally finished.

I sent it to Tracey, and she replied with a revamped (and much, much better) version, along with this kind note:

Ok I plan to rearrange a lot of it, so just a heads up. Don't want you to think you didn't do a fab job ;-)

I'm really grateful for Tracey. I want to learn how to do things well and I know we all have to start somewhere, but it really helps to have guidance, especially from someone like her. I respect that woman. She knows what she's doing and gets things done. AND SHE IS KIND. I realize more and more that the people we've chosen for board members are people that we want as teachers. We're so lucky to have them. Thanks, Tracey, for all of your help.

Hard Hat Tour of SixTwelve

One week from today, we're going to have a hard hat tour of SixTwelve! It will take place on Earth Day, from 7-9am, and will be an informal way of letting people come in and take a peek at what we're up to. It will be fun to share our ideas with whoever shows up. Can't wait!

Click here for the Facebook invitation and more info!

Traveling with Tron, pt. 2 - Austin, Texas!

Two Thursdays ago, James, Trey, Ron, Katie and I all traveled south to Austin, Texas to meet with people and organizations that Ron and Trey had told us about. These people are doing great things down there and I really wanted to meet them myself, in order to develop a relationship and connection. I thought they could be potential speakers or teachers for SixTwelve, and an Austin/OKC partnership would be ideal!

Ron, Trey, James and Katie at Curras Grill in Austin

Our first stop, after some yummy mole enchiladas at Curras Grill, was Reclaimed Space. This is an organization that takes old lumber and resources from buildings that are being torn down, and builds new houses out of it that are a little smaller and eco-friendly. These spaces are beautiful! They also keep land use and preservation in mind when helping customers plan the perfect layout. This vision is also revealed in their collaborations with others in the Austin area, promoting gardening, farming, community gathering and education. I would love to live in one of these "spaces." Everything we saw at their location was inspiring!

Reclaimed Space's outdoor community space with a new stage - 
you can see the living space in the background. Rad. 

After we left Reclaimed Spaces, we traveled to a micro-grocery store called, in.gredients. Man, oh man, this place was just as cool as RS! Their vision is "to minimize waste and promote healthy, sustainable lifestyles by selling local food with pure ingredients, package-free." Did you know that over 700,000 tons of garbage is added to American landfills DAILY?!?! in.gredients only contributes about 1 pound/month to the landfill. Word. Some products that they sell have to be packaged, like meat and milk. But the rest of the products they sell are either dry goods that come in bulk or fresh, local produce (Mostly from Austin, but some from the state of Texas) that has no packaging at all. How does it work? You can either bring your own containers, weigh them before filling them, and then pay just for what you filled them with, or you can buy a glass jar from limited selection they offer in the store. (That would be for people like me who forget things. Ha!)

The community garden and eating space in front of in.gredients

in.gredients

James is excited about in.gredients!

I'm excited too! I loved their granola!

That evening, after checking into our hotel, we went to a place called Casa de Luz. This "place that houses light" is an all-organic dining and community center. As soon as we entered this place, I could feel a change in me, and it was more than the food. I looked around at all of the plants and smiles on people's faces and instantly became inspired! I also couldn't wait for others to experience exactly that at SixTwelve. What a blessed journey I am on. I can't wait to give this to people. I heard that they also had a pre-school on location, but it was late in the evening, so we didn't get to see that. Might just have to go back to Austin soon to take a look. Twist my arm. :)

Casa de Luz is gorgeous! 

The next morning, we all loaded up and drove to Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms. This was not only a fun trip, but informative too. I loved seeing chickens, a greenhouse, gardens, dogs, and every inch of a back yard used like a farm...right in the middle of the city!!! The women who greeted us were so willing to share their knowledge of how to organize neighborhood farms and THIS IS WHAT WE NEED! We want to learn about the best models and practices in organizing neighborhood farms, so that we can be most effective here in OKC with what we do through SixTwelve.

Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms

Thanks to Paige Godfrey who gave us a tour of her back yard! 

Katie is checking out the chickens and the crops!

Chickens!!!

I want to make sure that everyone knows that I believe OKC already has great things going on too. There are people here farming in their back yards, valuing local food and supporting the creative, local community. We are experiencing great energy and progress here and you don't have to look too hard to find it! What we hope to do at SixTwelve is to give these people a central meeting spot (if they want it), a platform to amplify their voice and to bring in ideas from other places to share. We also hope that some of the leaders in our own community will share their ideas with people and groups in other areas of the country. The more people working together, the better (in our opinion.) We want SixTwelve to be a local node within a bigger, more global, community of like-minded people.

Traveling With Tron: Geothermal Systems

A few weeks ago, James and I had the privilege of "Traveling with Tron." That's what we call traveling with two of our board members, Trey Parsons and Ron Ferrell. Ha! These two are awesome road trip partners and because of the research Trey had done, we drove out to Marion, Arkansas to see a net-zero middle school in the Marion School District. Net-zero buildings are structures with zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually, and the size of this school made that fact really impressive!

This school district had worked with a company called Hydro-Temp to design a geothermal system for the middle school, which controls the temperature and humidity in the building. Because the building was so HUGE, I expected to enter a space that was quite hot, but I was really pleasantly surprised to find a very comfortable and quiet environment. We want SixTwelve to be an example of everything we will try to encourage through our education curriculum, so we have to do all that we can to build with the health of our environment in mind. This is a huge way that we can do it, as long as we can afford it.

The upfront cost can be pretty big, but heating and cooling utility bills can be dramatically reduced, by as much as 75%! James has been working on this part of our project for almost a year and he will give a much more detailed description of what we've decided upon in a future blog post. (He already promised that he would! Yay!) But for now, I'll just say that the biggest perks a geothermal system at 612 would hold for me are reduced utility bills, temperature and humidity control, which is huge for exhibiting art in our gallery as well as for comfort, and last, but not least, its health benefits.

The assistant superintendent of schools for the Marion School District said that they have been putting these systems in as many schools as they can. They have two elementary schools that are about five miles apart and built at roughly the same time period. The district only had enough money to put a system into one of the schools the first year and then the other during the second year. The first school experienced almost an 80% drop in absenteeism the first year and then the second school experienced the same the next year. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? When these systems are combined with a UV Light purifying system, the air is actually cleaned. Our buildings have the ability to make us sick or to help us lead healthier lives. People with asthma and allergies don't suffer as much in buildings with these systems. Can you imagine the impact on student health and education we would see if all of our schools could trade out their heating/cooling systems for geothermal + UV Light purification systems? I'm hooked and am even thinking about doing this at my house.

For anyone who wants to see a video description of how this works, check out this video! There will definitely be more posts over this topic in the future. This one is just the tip of the iceberg!

Some might wonder why we went all the way to Marion, Arkansas to check out a company when we have Climate Masters right here in Oklahoma City. We are definitely trying to promote "local" in all that we are doing. The answer is that the people in Arkansas are the ones who have been creating and inventing a lot of the technology we're looking for.  We think Climate Master is great, but if we use Hydro-Temp's product, we'd have more control over the different areas of our building because Hydro-Temp offers more variables in the system. Also, if we want to get LEED points for whatever we use, it needs to come from within 500 miles of our location and Marion is 449 miles away. So I think we're still doing good!

On our next SixTwelve road trip, we will be visiting Austin, Texas to see Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms and Reclaimed Space, two entities who are leading the way in sustainable living! I'm kind of geeking out over getting to meet these people and seeing what they are doing in person. Weeeeeeee!!!!!

Construction Series: Story 3, Steel Beams

Here's the third installment of our 612 construction series. When we started this round of renovations toward the beginning of the year, we were told that the idea James had for opening up the west side of the building might not happen exactly as we wanted. Without these beams, the wall supporting the upstairs hallway would have had to stay. It wouldn't have been the end of the world, but our interior definitely wouldn't have felt as spacious or appeared as architecturally appealing.

Our friend and framer, John Beedon, told us about a structural engineer, Syam Mannava, that he had worked with before, so we called and, sure enough, he was available that day to come over and take a look. He helped us so much. (Have I mentioned enough how grateful we are for John?)  Mr. Mannava was the one that led us to the solution of the steel beams. Here's a look at the arduous process of getting those incredibly heavy things into the building and up to the second floor. Wild! Thank you so much BC Summers, Colin Rosebrook, and all of the other people who volunteered and helped to get that steel beam upstairs. You are so appreciated.

Oklahoma Arts Council's Leadership Arts Program

One of the highlights of 2013 (so far) was being accepted into the Oklahoma Arts Council's Leadership Arts program. I am more than honored to be a part of this; I am grateful. During the four overnight retreat meetings we'll have all over the state this spring, the 2013 class will benefit from participating in panel discussions and experiencing methods of training that will be useful in our own businesses. We'll also be given useful tools in learning how to be better advocates for the arts in Oklahoma. I really want to do all that I can to help encourage the growth and quality of arts in this state, so I will take all of the free education I can get. I also want to make sure that I take every opportunity to learn how to be a better leader, so this couldn't have come at a better time.

At our first meeting, held at the beautiful Quartz Mountain, I met some incredible people. INCREDIBLE!!!  I'm so lucky to be a part of this group. The main thing that I took away from this initial experience was the fact that I had been so confident that I could see the big picture in relation to arts education. After our panel discussion over the topic, I realized that I only saw things from my perspective. I have been preaching and preaching about arts integration being the key, and that's because I was seeing things from a regular classroom teachers view. I discovered, after listening to everyone else, that I was forgetting something. What about time to develop mastery of skill? What about a class devoted to art for art's sake? What about experiences dedicated to music for music's sake? As a musician who was lucky enough to take voice and piano lessons after school, I just assumed that any serious artist or musician would be devoting time, outside of school, to that pursuit. That's not always the case.

I don't have all the answers yet and I doubt that I ever will. But I will say that my dream model for arts education would look something like this:

1. Arts integration in Math, Science, History, Language, etc. during the school day
2. Art, Music, Drama and Dance classes for electives in school
3. Private and group lessons in Art, Music, Drama and Dance after school

But here's the deal. A new friend that I made at this first session, Lisa Allswede from Funky Box Studios in Edmond, said something similar to this and I agree; we should allow students to cultivate their own interests. Not every child will want to be an artist, musician, dancer or actor when they grow up. Everyone is different. So why not help our students to explore what it is that they are interested in and base their curriculum on that?

I am in love with the idea of students telling their teachers about what they are interested in and want to learn more about, and then a team of educators integrating everything they need to learn into education based on those ideas. If you haven't checked out the Keystone Adventure School and Farm (also in Edmond), give it a look. I think what they do there is pretty impressive. SixTwelve will definitely be doing something similar. I'm excited to think about it!