PLACE A Program of Free Swim

Creating Art in Unexpected Spaces

PROSPECTUS

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© 2014 Free Swim

Free Swim is a community engagement project where ideas that focus on culture and quality of life can germinate in the citzens of Southwest Louisiana. Free Swim is a laboratory for creative risk-taking, using public meetings, workshops, and placemaking residencies to empower everyone in the community to become co-creators. Free Swim fosters the innovation that comes with combining the minds of scientists or technologists with those of artists or designers.

Free Swim is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Contributions for the purposes of Free Swim are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Fractured Atlas’s fiscal sponsorship program helps artists and arts organizations raise money from charitable sources.

You can make a donation to support Free Swim via• Credit Card: Donors should visit the support page on our website: http://freeswim.org/support-free-swim/. Follow the link there to Fractured Atlas’ donation page.• Check: Donors should make their checks out to “Fractured Atlas,” memo: Free Swim, and mail them to Free Swim at 4431 W Prien Lake Rd, Lake Charles, LA 70605.• Non-cash Donations*: Donors should complete a noncash donation letter (available on our website: http://freeswim.org/support-free- swim/). Without it, Fractured Atlas cannot offer a receipt and the gift may not be tax-deductible. Donors should complete and sign the letter and send it to Free Swim by email (info@freeswim.org) or mail (4431 W Prien Lake Rd, Lake Charles, LA 70605).

*Unfortunately, due to the complicated IRS rules associated with vehicle donations, Fractured Atlas is not able to accept vehicles donated for the purposes of our sponsored projects. We also can’t accept donations of airline miles or airline tickets. Donations of services (like pro-bono accounting/legal help or free rent of any kind) are considered in-kind donations by Fractured Atlas. These donations are undoubtedly valuable, but they are not tax deductible under the law, so we cannot issue receipts for them.

PLACE/an overviewPLACE is a site-specific, placemaking artist’s residency program seeking to transform vacant and under-utilized real estate of the I-10 corridor into temporary, cross-disciplinary cultural venues.

Program Director: Victoria Eleanor Bradford, Free SwimFiscal Sponsor: Fractured Atlas (a 501(c)(3) non profit corporation)

Proposed Timeline:• November 1-30, 2014 / Residency #1

• February 1-28, 2015 / Residency #2

• May 1-31, 2015 / Residency #3

• August 1-31, 2015 / Residency #4

Proposed Budget:• $7,000.00 per Residency

PLACE will operate as an arts exchange and residency, inviting emerging and established artists from outside the region to collaborate with local artists, community members, and school children to revision and recreate the selected site.  The site will be transformed into a non-traditional art venue, and it will play host to a variety of public events and engagements.  The period of transformation and residency at the site will be documented and materials made available online as well as for exhibit at galleries and museums of national repute.  Partnering organizations, property owners, and other stakeholders will be sought out as sponsors for each site.

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PLACE is a project based in contemporary art practices that focus on

site and situation as a basis for creation. As Claire Doherty remarks,

“situations describe the conditions under which many contemporary

artworks now come into being. By ‘situated’, we refer to those artistic

practices for which the ‘situation’ or ‘context’ is often the starting

point… ‘context’ as an impetus, hindrance, inspiration and research

subject for the process of making art….” (The New Situationists)

The situation at hand? Southwest Louisiana is preparing to burst at

the seams from economic shift. How will our community embrace the

change and opportunity that is coming? How can current residents and

potential newcomers participate in creating a shared culture that has

roots in a traditional ethos but welcomes new connections and ways of

seeing the world around us.

Everyone is talking about culture and quality of life as the key

components to attracting and retaining the knowledge workers required

by our community’s growth. Free Swim’s PLACE will get people doing

and making, as well as talking. PLACE will be a playground and

laboratory for creative and collaborative initiatives in the arts and public

life of Southwest Louisiana.

In each PLACE we will unpack the idea of art-making. Art supplies

will include people, potlucks, problems, pie-in-the-sky ideas, and

public speaking. We’ll make with what we have, we’ll think through

what we make, we’ll conjure experiences, and we’ll activate space.

We will create a PLACE in which to wonder at questions that impact

our lives and our community. We will invite everyone to participate and

contribute. We will use local experiences to redefine PLACE.

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KS PLACE will—

Find and secure appropriate locations at no charge to the visiting and local artistsProvide artists with a research packet detailing the chosen site—including but not limited to:• an architectural diagram of the building site,• a brief history of its past uses as well as the area in which it is situated,• a report on the current and potential future use of the site and/or surrounding area,• a demographics breakdown of the area in relation to the city and country,• a listing of other nearby residences or places of business, contact information for city services and resource personnel, • a time frame in which the project is to be executed.Provide a team of volunteers (other artists, community members, school children/teachers) to execute the instructions provided by the visiting/local artist team. Do publicity for spaces (media alerts, web presence, links to artist sites, press release, signage, etc.)

Artists’ will—Devise a creative response to the research packet, which will take the form of a set of instructions or a “score” for activating the host site.  This score may involve design, installation, and maintainence of the space, but should also involve instructions on how to involve the community in both the installation phase and the engagement period.  The engagement period is the series of public events, workshops, and performances that will be held in the space after installation, scheduled over the remaining timeframe of the project.  The resulting projects will be unique, site-specific creations, some quite focused on the narrative of the community, and others perhaps more abstracted and interested in pure formal elements of the space and time constraints.  Each artist will use the research provided in a take-it or leave-it fashion, so they may use what they find useful and leave out what they do not.

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? IMPACTStarting with one space in Southwest Louisiana in November 2014, PLACE will create energy, excitement and additional foot traffic through its efforts and activities in the community.  The goal of the initiative is to engage a new space each quarter, continuing to expand the reach and recognition of the project and the community.  Unlike traditional galleries and art spaces, PLACE does not own or rent gallery space. Instead, we secure temporary exhibition sites inside vacant storefronts and public spaces. The locations range from windows that may be viewed 24/7 to storefront and interior spaces. There is no entry fee or rental fee to the artist. Each space will be available thanks to the generosity of Southwest Louisiana property owners and Free Swim.

How can you measure quality of life? — this question

has been preoccupying the leaders of our community for

some time now. Some feel it is the key to the prosperity

and rise of the region. That is, if we can increase the

quality of life in Southwest Louisiana, we can maximize

the economic growth that is under way.

Enter on the scene, Next Generation Consulting. They

have been tracking the migration patterns of educated

people under forty years old since 2001. Their research

yields that this demographic tends to congregate in

places that have the assets and amenities they want.

“Yes, they want jobs, but they want more: they want to

live in communities with other educated people. They

want to live near parks and recreation trails. When

eating out, they often prefer local dives to national

chains.”

In order to evaluate the success of PLACE, Free Swim

will measure quality of life and community engagement

both in number of people participating and diversity of

population involved.

We will also utilize qualitative analysis to evaluate

the project, using interviews and questionnaires of

participants and observers. PLACE will expand our

notion of what a quality life in Southwest Louisiana

can look like as we join together in creating new hubs

of cultural activity and imagination. PLACE will enable

us to learn from each other in the spirit of radical

generosity.

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Benefits

of Using Temporarily Donated Space:

• Provides an exciting new way to market vacant property to potential tenants;• Increases pedestrian traffic to surrounding businesses;• Showcases vacant retail spaces as attractive art sites;• Each property/donation will be prominently featured on both the Free Swim website and social media sites;• Helps create good will that the public and media will embrace;• Each temporary gallery will be part of an ongoing PR campaign;• If the property is leased before the agreed upon timeframe, Free Swim will move out with 10 days notice;• Free Swim will work with property owners to set the guidelines for their space and find an appropriate match with an exciting artist;• All Southwest Louisiana businesses are eligible to participate.• Generosity is the cornerstone of this program and our first priority is to safeguard property owners’ interests by returning their property in the same or better condition than received.

Target AudiencePLACE is particularly targeted at expanding accessibility to the arts by reconsidering art as experiences not just objects. This project seeks to involve the public at every stage of the process—from research to installation to performance or viewership. We will work with all members of the community, professionals of all fields as well as students of all disciplines. Each visiting artist will bring with them a different skill set and perspective on our community that will result in a new interpretation of this PLACE, including involvement of different demographics. We will work to partner visiting artists with a diverse set of local artists from divergent disciplines and backgrounds as well as local regions.

We will use traditional and social media to promote each residency, including but not limited to the Free Swim website, Facebook, KPLCtv, FOX29, American Press, Louisiana Life, Lagniappe, Jambalaya, Voice, LakeCharles.com, and any community newsletters that will share our information. We will extend personal invitations for involvement in the research and installation process. We will create signage for the building/site that we occupy as the residency. We will also list the program on national artists residency listings and develop an application process for the second year of the program.

SUPPORT

Free Swim is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) public charity. Details for making a donation are on the inside cover of this prospectus.

Sponsor a PLACE residency and receive:• mention in all of the Free Swim PLACE print and television advertisements, as well as website promotions• mention during a portion of radio announcements for Free Swim PLACE• logo on all PLACE event posters• logo on all PLACE location signage• logo on freeswim.org with link to your website• special seating and access at PLACE events and programming...

• and don’t forget that warm fuzzy feeling inside

Donations to the project will be used to fund (4) visiting artist stipends and (4) local artist stipends, supplies and materials, travel expenses, insurance, administration, marketing, printing and promotional efforts including signage, advertisements, video and documentation, print brochures, programs, etc.

All events and programming are projected to be free and open to the public. Any additional proceeds will go directly to benefit the artist(s) involved.

Sponsor a PLACE residency at $7,000 and receive:*• naming rights • mention in all of the Free Swim PLACE print and television advertisements, as well as website promotions• mention during a portion of radio announcements for Free Swim PLACE• logo on all PLACE event posters• logo on all PLACE location signage• logo on freeswim.org with link to your website• special seating and access at PLACE events and programming...

*these features last for the duration of one residency, approximately three months, to be chosen by the sponsor and Free Swim at the time of the donation.

*sponsorships can be shared amongst multiple entities and individuals. Benefits will be apportioned based on contribution levels. All contributors will receive logo placement.

Donations to the project will be used to fund (1) visiting artist stipend and (1) local artist stipend, supplies and materials, travel expenses, insurance, administration, marketing, printing and promotional efforts including signage, advertisements, video and documentation, print brochures, programs, etc.

All events and programming are projected to be free and open to the public. Any additional proceeds will go directly to benefit the artist(s) involved.

ArtistsNovember, May, and August artists are confirmed; February still pending. LOCAL artists confirmed for: November, Tracy LeMieux; May, Mindy Schwarzauer; and August, Robbie Austin.

VISITING ARTIST: Jessica CornishBorn and raised in Pakistan, Jessica Cornish attended the University

of Illinois to refine her research in improvisational performance and

interdisciplinary collaborations. With Kirstie Simson as mentor, Cornish

was given the tools to initiate and collaborate on projects with local

musicians, visual artists, landscape artists, sound and audio artists,

entymologists, writers, and engineers. As a way of exploring space in

relation to performance, Cornish performed in libraries, lecture halls,

art galleries, and the streets. She has performed and shown work in

China, India, Hong Kong, Berlin, Italy, Amsterdam, New York, Chile,

and Chicago. Her current focus is on performing and developing

both her own movement methods to share with other dancers as

well as systems that allow her to work one on one with people of any

background to create a space of improvising and making.

N O V E M B E R

VISITING ARTIST: Marissa Lee BenedictA native of Southern California, Marissa Lee Benedict is a sculptor,

researcher, writer, explorer, teacher, student and avid amateur of

many fields and disciplines. Motivated by a sense of critical wonder,

Benedict’s artistic practice is an ongoing investigation into the

F E B R U A R Y

F E B R U A R Y

complex, and ever evolving, relationship between humans and the

material world.

Rooted in research and experimentation, she is drawn to systems

that allow equal space for planned action and uncontrollable reaction.

Working with biological, chemical and physical processes, her

projects range from growing algae under florescent lights to digging

up mud samples and assembling large-scale microbial fuel cells.

Most recently, she built a ten-foot wooden rowboat in order to search

for lightning strikes and radio signals on the open waters of Lake

Michigan.

She has shown most recently in Chicago at threewalls

(threewallSOLO), the DePaul Art Museum, Chicago Artists Coalition,

Mana Contemporary, the Evanston Art Center, Heaven Gallery,

Columbia College, the Sullivan Galleries,, and in NYC at the Cue

Arts Foundation. She received a fellowship to attend Ox-Bow’s Fall

2013 Residency program, and was a recipient of the Joan Mitchell

Foundation MFA Fellowship in 2011.

Benedict received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design

(RISD) in 2007 and an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the

Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where she currently teaches in the

sculpture department.

VISITING ARTIST: Hellen AscoliHellen Ascoli is a Guatemalan-based artist and educator interested

in the intersection between art and life specifically through education

and participation. Her creative process initiates with the experience

of an empathetic connection. This is further investigated through

sculptural objects and environments that stem from both an emotional

and analytic relationship to the body and space. Narratives in Hellen’s

work are in constant flux as they complicate, question and expand or

simplify, reflect and focus. For the past two years she has worked on

opening up the space of art and investigating the similarities between

classroom and art space, public relationships and interior questioning,

pushing the levels of participation and interaction of the viewer

and student. Hellen graduated with a BFA from Southern Methodist

University in 2006, and continued on with her MFA from the School

of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012. Her recent projects include

redesigning a sensory room for Monarch School Guatemala, a school

for children with autism; a series of games titled “New Connections”

in collaboration with Inés Verdugo, which was for an open public

but focused on the inclusion of people with learning differences

and autism, shown in Puro Arte Art Center 2013, and in the Bienal

de Artes Visuales Centroamericanos 2014; and a participatory

installation at the 2014 Bienal de Paiz, Guatemala.

M A Y

VISITING ARTIST: Amber GinsbergAmber Ginsburg is an artist, editor, writer and lecturer at the

University of Chicago. Together with collaborators, Amber creates

site-generated projects and social sculpture that insert historical

scenarios into present day situations. Her background in craft orients

her projects towards the continuities and ruptures in material, social

and utopic histories. Her work engages objects as collaborators,

agent-provocateurs and narrative instigators. Her research-based

multimedia installations have been shown in museums and galleries,

including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Soap

Factory, Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Society for Contemporary

Craft, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; World Ceramic Biennale, Korea;

KunstTREFFpunkt, Darmstadt, Germany; Artsonje, Seoul, Korea; Raid

Projects, Los Angles and the Bristol Biennial, England.

A U G U S T

M A Y

Victoria Bradford will be responsible for

the implementation of this project. Victoria

is an artist, activist, and arts administrator

working between Louisiana and Chicago.

Her current work involves spearheading

Free Swim, a community engagement

center in Southwest Lousiana, directing

programs for Chicago Dancemakers Forum,

contributing editorials to Chicago Artists

Resource, and pursuing a rigorous studio

practice. Victoria previously managed

special projects for the Department of

Culture, Recreation & Tourism, co-founded

and directed Poor Pony and Pony Fest,

and coordinated the planned giving

program for the McNeese Foundation. She

received an MFA in Performance from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago and

a BFA in Sculpture from the University of

Notre Dame. Her recent creative projects

have been exhibited at the Museum of

Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago Artists

Month, Open House Chicago, Chicago

Artists Coalition, and Design Cloud Gallery.AD

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As project director, Victoria will work with property owners

to secure locations and necessary insurance for each

residency, secure both visiting and local artists for each

residency, coordinate research and installation efforts

for each location, including recruitment of additional

volunteers from the community—artists, general public,

school children, etc., work with volunteers to coordinate

publicity and programming for each location, coordinate

lodging for visiting artists, manage expenses, and perform

other necessary tasks related to the project.

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