American neighborhoods are changing, growing and re-defining themselves. Nowhere is this more evident than in Venice, California, where one of Los Angeles' most sophisticated and affluent creative enclave sits side-by-side with a traditional, working class community of color. This contrast has become even more stark recently, as residents build sustainable architectural homes in densely populated areas of Oakwood, which was once segregated by covenant and was home to the Venice 13.
Despite all these contradictions, Venice remains a magical spot not only to the tourists that flock to its beaches year after year, but also to those - rich or poor - that call Venice their home. All this beauty and contradiction is why we've chosen Venice as the next destination for our ongoing on-line documentary series, Departures. We'll be partnering with SPARC, The Social and Public Art Resource Center, and conduct a series of dialogues with the local community to help us determine the content and direction of the new installment.
We will have also have an educational track that will involve the participation of 20 students from the New Media Academy at Venice High School and its director Phyllis Hayashibara.
We set up a meeting at SPARC with Phyllis and some of her students to talk about the project but only three students showed up!
The small group though, did give us extra time to discuss the direction of the new installment with the students and Debra Padilla, Executive Director of SPARC.
What do you think? What should we focus on in Venice? How do we tell the story of this ever changing community?
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