The Provocateurs of Sustainable Change
What’s New with the Planners’ Revolution!
Friday, February 10, 2012, 6:30 to 10 p.m., Hot Nights on Holman
“Cairo Time” and “Medicine for Melancholy” are the double feature movies for the February 10 “Hot Night on Holman” at the Community Artists’ Collective, 1413 Holman at LaBranch in the Midtown Art Center Tea Room.
A discussion after the movies will be facilitated by urban planners Jay Crossley and Zakcq Lockrem and Planners’ Revolution staff.
Entries from some of the more than 60 artists in the 16th Annual Citywide African American Artist Exhibition, sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, through Five-A (the African American Art Advisory Association at the MFAH) will be on display.
“Cairo Time,” released in 2009, is a romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off guard. Starring Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig, the film was named the best picture at the Directors’ Guild of Canada in 2010.
The movie is a love letter to a city where people’s lives are bound to the countryside as well as the old cities modernized with technology. The story concerns the clash of two very different cultures and how the past and present collide to form such a layered city as Cairo. Wonderful scenes within the city are shown as well as exceptional cinematography of the surrounding countryside. The White Desert and the Pyramids stand out, etched out in the land, seemingly by giants who preceded modern civilization.
“Medicine for Melancholy,” released in 2008, is a love story of bikes and one-night stands told through two African-American 20-somethings dealing with the conundrum of being a minority in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco. The film won awards at the San Francisco Film Critics’ Circle and the Sarasota Film Festival.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The first movie begins at 7:00 p.m. Cost is $5 person, which includes free cocktails. $15 gets you admission, cocktails, popcorn, a meal and wine. The Vegan Comfort Café will be open from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Bike parking is available on Holman, and free auto parking is located behind the Midtown Arts Center.
Planners’ Revolution promotes sustainable changes in largely underserved communities within a regional context. We set out to empower, educate, and promote sustainable changes in communities that are in tune with their environment, history, culture, and values. This program conducts its work based on the following principles of sustainability: inclusion, cooperative economics, world-class design, and context sensitive design through art, nature, and functionality. When these principles are followed, the results yield maximum livability for current and future residents for generations to come.
Our mission is to facilitate superior livability in underserved communities through sustainable, resident-led planning and development. We seek to assist communities in making the most appropriate decisions about their future, so that positive change occurs based on the long-term vision for future generations, in lieu of typical “ad-hoc” solutions used to address “chronic” problems.
The following are objectives that Planners’ Revolution hopes to achieve. Each objective is based upon the preceding principles:
- Grooming of the next generation of planners in the infancy of their careers
- Bridging the generation gap in the planning profession and the community at large
- Providing community outreach and education activities on sustainability
- Facilitating the planning process (with emphasis on context sensitivity and sustainability within the region and design that is harmonious with in the natural and social environment)
Planners’ Revolution focuses mostly on sustainable community development and site planning within the regional context, however the organization will also work with in the following interconnected spatial areas:
- Site
- Neighborhood
- Municipal
- Metropolitan
- State
- Mega-region
- National
- International
Action items that are carried out by Planners’ Revolution to achieve its mission include community programs such as movie nights, field trips, programs at festivals, speaking engagements, etc.; development of a body of knowledge that can be used as a reference by the community at large. (which may include a blog, library, resource lists, etc.); plans, visioning; relationship development with complimentary entities and green enterprises and representation at planning functions.
PAST ACTIVITIES
September 16, a preview of “Hot Nights on Holman” with a pop-up vegan cafe and music during Nathaniel Donnett’s “What’s the New News?” exhibition. The “Hot Nights” series begins officially in October with the first of several “sustainable cinema” shows.
February 25, 2011, field trip to Funkytown with The Third Ward Community Cloth and ECOTONE! There is a lot to learn from the Urban Village Concept.
Partner Links:
Ecotone Sustainable Community Gardens
For more information about internships and partnerships contact 713-523-1616