Peyton Bradish’s Post

The Fox Theater in Oakland was the subject of a $75 million dollar renovation in 2009 that restored the architecture and decorative detailing to its original splendor, and installed audio, lighting and stage equipment appropriate for a 2,800-seat venue that could host nationally and internationally known musicians. Like all of the Fox theaters that were built across the US in the first part of the 20th century, the Fox Oakland has a wild mix of medieval and moorish architectural decoration that is executed with a such a high level of craft, attention and sincere fondness, that it escapes being pastiche. As part of this renovation, the Fox building also added facilities to house the Oakland School for the Arts, a charter performing, visual and literary arts magnet middle and high school whose student population is as ethnically, culturally and economically diverse as Oakland is. I can think of few American cities that have such a unique building in their city centers with such a remarkably varied life and function during the course of the day and week. Downtowns across America are struggling to re-invent themselves right now and there’s likely two, three, maybe five years for many of our downtowns to find their footing again- quite likely as much more economically diversified and mixed-use than their previous selves. Downtown Oakland especially, sitting within a city with so much community vulnerability and economic disparity, is feeling the current pain. I have to be believe though, that those downtowns that are historically mixed-use, and understand the value in investing in arts, and culture, and education, and housing, and preserving and fighting for local businesses that are representative of their population, will be rewarded in this next chapter. Oakland has a scrappy and beautiful downtown that is perennially on the verge of greatness and the Fox theatre, and the Oakland School for the Arts are a special part of a future legacy that achieves that greatness. Extra special for me tonight as I watch my daughter and her friends and classmates, perform onstage for their graduation show. #Oakland #OSA #OaklandSchoolfortheArts #FoxTheater #mixeduse #downtown #urbanplanning #metamorphosis

How about reading more about Kansas City, KS? You'll find good reasons to stop whether you go " to" or "through" there! Check out this post! #thedrivebytourist #visitkansas

In today's world, visual stimuli such as traffic signs, billboards, and urban planning are ubiquitous and have a substantial impact on our surroundings. However, the impact of Street Art on culture is a topic that is often overlooked. https://lnkd.in/gbDwECyK.

How can I help customize one for your project today?

It usually takes no more than about ten minutes into any conversation for me to bring up Robert Moses (the subject of Robert Caro's seminal biography "The Power Broker"). I'm that obsessed, and it's been six years since I read it. (If you know the book, you probably get my obsession.) Moses's career is a fascinating case study in amassing, consolidating, and wielding power. Unfortunately he did much more harm than good--arguably, he dealt a blow to not just NYC but to all American cities, arresting an urbanization that might have blunted white Americans' most racist tendencies and forestalled the climate crisis. So it's really lovely to read about the work of Rosa Chang, something of an anti-Moses, and her visionary work, in yesterday's New York Times. I got to meet Rosa a few months ago through our kids' high school. She took a few of us on the most amazing walking tour of the somewhat blighted area near the school, just on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, where she envisions NYC's next great public space, Gotham Park. It's an immense and comprehensive plan, and Rosa is just one person. Yet, thanks to her vision and persistence, she really might succeed in her quest to make Gotham Park happen. It's an excellent article (link below), and I hope you read and are inspired by it. But I think the article misses an important aspect of Rosa's success: she's been able to work at a systems level; really, at an even higher "system of systems" level, seeing how to *connect* disparate NYC bureaucracies, like the Department of Transportation, the NYPD, the Parks Department, and our fractious elected officials. This is truly a Robert Moses-level superpower--only she's exercising it in for public good. Makes the New Yorker both proud and hopeful. Might be of interest if you're into #ServiceDesign, #SystemsThinking, #InformationArchitecture, #PolicyDesign, or other systems-level sorcery...

In December 2023, I was invited by Courtney Christensen from Kansas City Public Library to give a keynote to open their 150th anniversary celebrations. In January I learned that ART IN THE LOOP FOUNDATION, the public art program for #KansasCity run by Downtown Council of Kansas City, had been so inspired by the talk that they had chosen #convivencia as the theme for their public art summer with KC STREETCAR AUTHORITY. This is the impact that I hoped to see from my research. In my latest newsletter, Ann Holliday and Edwing Mendez talk about how the capability of #coexistence transformed into more than 20 performances and installations. I find this story of Kansas City so inspiring. The big takeaways from it are: 1. There is no greater tool for communicating values than #publicart. 2. Public authorities have power and should use their power on how public spaces are used as a platform for the arts. 3. The biggest investments in the arts are not done by growing the cultural budget but incorporating the arts into public infrastructure. 4. Even when working on serious subjects, like downturn revitalization, do not forget play and wonder. Read the entire article here: https://lnkd.in/e6P3Y-wc

I suggest this movie is viewed by as many people as possible. Sumner High School, Kansas City, Kansas and Lincoln High School, Kansas City, Missouri are both now academy's with high bars to enter and a culturally diverse student population.....BUT AT WHAT COST? At one-time, both schools were African-American community schools, with African American administrations and the schools produced some of the most successful lawyers, doctors, engineers, scientists, athletes! Although segregated, they produced and were led by black excellence. Now we can't have that! So, what did they do! How do we have the same scenario on both sides of the state line? What Regional Planning Council drives the design and resource access for communities? Is this an algorithm of control of power and wealth through displacement and allocation of resources or withholding resources. Our problems of high poverty, poor healthcare index, and other socio-economic ills contained within communities of high population of minorities are internal, not external. I don't blame the mythical MAN, I blame those within that do the bidding and work of the mythical MAN! https://lnkd.in/g5bnVPMR

OhioSE highlights a powerful message from Spoken's founder Michael Bond in their latest interview: "People who can’t speak still have something to say: they have their minds, emotions, and intelligence and want to be a part of everyday life. The more tools that we can give them to be a part of that, the better." #SpokenAAC #AAC #AssistiveTechnology

The fundamental questions are these: what is a city for? And to whom does it belong? If you believe that a city belongs to its people, as a place for them to live, work, eat, sleep, sing, love, argue,and ultimately die, then there’s no particular problem with graffiti. It simply expresses all of those things, which make up life itself. But if you believe that a city belongs to its property owners, then graffiti is very bad indeed. After all, it’s not that politicians and members of the economic elite object to the act of writing on walls as such. They write on walls all the time, and on a much larger scale than anyone else; they just call it “advertising.” The giant gold letters spelling out T R U M P on a skyscraper are this kind of elite graffiti, the biggest “tag” of all. But the elite believe that only those with money should be allowed to write their thoughts on the city’s surface. They take it as an article of faith that the right to do so must be bought and paid for, as they believe all things must—and in turn, that those who can’t pay have no right to leave a trace of their existence. https://lnkd.in/deqa_khb

“Pie in the sky” or “Reach for the sky!!!”? That’s the question on peoples minds in OKC. What do you think? Is Oklahoma City ready for the Tallest building in the USA? Leave your thoughts in the comments.