The Beginning

For the first time in the history of the Inland Empire Section of American Planning Association, urban planners reach out to the local art community to collaborate in an unprecedented public art project: Art as a Vehicle to Understand Land Use and Sustainability (Art VULUPS).

On July 1, 2010 sixteen teams of planners and artists began a journey of collaboration in the production of artwork and creative expressions that convey basic land use planning and sustainability principles and concepts. One of the major goals of this project is to establish a framework for an alternative approach for community outreach and civic dialog engagement.

The works will be exhibited in conjunction with community gatherings, workshops and presentations at different locations throughout the Inland Empire, including the Riverside Arts Council's Gallery at the Riverside Plaza. The project will culminate at the 2011 Annual Conference of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association (CCAPA), when the collection is auctioned for the benefit of the California Planning Foundation (CPF).

ART VULUPS is an independent project conducted by planners and artist volunteers and sponsored by the Inland Empire Section of the American Planning Association. Major partners include the California Planning Foundation, the Riverside Arts Council and Inlandia Institute.

Daniel Foster, Artist and Executive Director of the Community Foundation, Robert Johnson, Planner and City of Temecula's Assistant City Manager and Matthew Burris, Director, Sustainable Communities and Climate Services at Constructive Technologies Group opened up the event with a casual conversation about the importance and positive impacts of combining key ingredients for sustainable development: the arts, creativity and the land use planning practice. Afterward, local artists and planners were thrown together to embark on this collaboration in order to explore planning and sustainability themes.

Nathaniel Osollo, artist, and Carolyn Schutten, planner, were teamed up and given the topic of housing to explore. That dialog will occur here.

Source: www.artvulups.org