Thoughts on the Ground: Community Design Apprentices at the Antiracist Classroom’s Reconstructing Practice Conference
By Andra Lang Jr., Community Design Apprentice Alumnus
As Apprentices with Creative Reaction Lab, we were hired and trained in Equity-Centered Community Design to promote and inform community members about a proposed light rail system. During the Apprenticeship, we planned and conduct interactive art experiences in historically disinvested spaces and to help collect feedback in regards to how bringing in a new system could potential affect the economic, social and political standing of the Kingshighway region in North St. Louis. Based on the information and feedback that we gathered from community members, stakeholders and professionals who has experience working in these related fields, we were able to provide a more in depth perspective on why it is important to uphold and secure the previous community members’ opinions towards what could potentially happen if the light rail system was to run through their community.
Two of us from the Apprenticeship cohort — Quinton Ward and myself — recently gave a panel presentation about the Apprenticeship and the project we worked on at the Antiracist Classroom’s Reconstructing Practice Conference in Pasadena, California. We sought to share our work, and we facilitated a brief word mapping activity to learn about how conference participants had approached issues related to transit, mobility, design, and equity within their own communities. We also sought to establish a stronger connection amongst people of color in related areas of work. The discussions that emerged during our panel, and throughout the conference weekend, tied closely with the theme of antiracist alternatives towards making a difference amongst all communities of color who are deeply underrepresented and deeply impacted by inequitable systems. The panel presentation allowed us to express our way of living and have others offer suggestions and possible solutions to overcoming these difficulties within our transportation systems.
Special thanks to the Antiracist Classroom for inviting Creative Reaction Lab to present at the Reconstructing Practice Conference. Catch our full presentation from the conference here.
