MAIN STREET PROTOTYPING FESTIVAL
DREAM | DESIGN | DISCOVER
The Main Street Prototyping Festival is a project that invites the community to dream and design ideas to build connections and make downtown Mesa more vibrant.
Prototyping public space is a way of involving a range of people to come up with possible solutions to community needs in a physical space.
Prototyping public space is a way of involving a range of people to come up with possible solutions to community needs in a physical space.
Readers can find a post about this from December 16, 2016 for some more details
The City of Mesa, Mesa Arts Center (MAC), Neighborhood Economic Development Corp. (NEDCO), Local Initiatives Support Corporation Phoenix (LISC) and Downtown Mesa Association (DMA) are working together to engage creative minds and the community in testing ideas that respond to dreams, needs and desires of citizens and visitors.
“The beauty of this project is that it enables experimentation with a variety of potential enhancements that can impact both community and economic development,” said Cindy Ornstein, Director of Mesa’s Department of Arts and Culture and Executive Director of Mesa Arts Center. “This way, residents and visitors get to explore and respond to ideas in the flesh, and future investments or longer-term testing can be based on knowledge of what worked and the needed adjustments that may make it work better.”
At the culminating festival, residents will be invited to provide feedback and vote for their favorite prototypes, and those they feel will provide the most benefits to downtown and its visitors.
A total of 20-25 prototype concepts will be selected for implementation at the fall 2017 festival, with each project allocated $1,000-$3,000 for design, fabrication and project management.
The City of Mesa has begun a series of thoughtful and connected activities that seek to transform Mesa's downtown and public spaces by involving residents in discovering and designing the heart of our city.
One new aspect of this creative placemaking initiative, led by Mesa Arts Center, is Mesa’s Main Street Prototyping Festival
We are seeking proposals from all types of disciplines, perspectives and areas of passion to submit prototype ideas to make Downtown Mesa’s public spaces more interactive and connected. This opportunity is not limited to artists, architects, or designers, but to all who are interested, and anyone with a great idea is encouraged to apply. Applicants can recruit team members with various skills needed to realize their concept, and can apply as an individual or a team.
Criteria
From concept to creation, each project must align with the criteria to be considered for selection. Proposals must create a sense of community, be engaging and feasible (both to be built or performed, and to provide and withstand interactivity and engagement over a two-day event).
- Sense of Community
- Enhances the character of the surrounding communities and environment.
- Project reflects that the applicant has considered and responded to community input.
- Demonstrates innovative ways people can interact, or could interact, with one another in Downtown Mesa.
- Project activates downtown.
- Engaging
- Increases community's desire to spend time in downtown.
- Encourages a visitor to come more frequently and to stay longer.
- Draws and activates a diverse audience.
- Alters people’s interaction with downtown and each other.
- Sustainable
- Project can be maintained over the specified duration.
- Project is able to withstand an urban environment and various weather conditions.
- Concept is attractive and innovative.
- Applicant provides evidence of capacity (individually or as a team) to implement proposed concept.
Proposal applications can be downloaded here
Prototyping: (noun) to create and test an experimental model of a new idea or object.
The Main Street Prototyping Festival is part of the larger Mesa Downtown Lab Project, which seeks to enhance downtown through community-led design and experimentation. The Prototyping project asks residents, artists, and urban planners to dream, design ideas, and discover a more welcoming, diverse and connected downtown Mesa, through two primary project activities:
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