Engagement Project Description:
Every town has empty buildings downtown; Lewiston, Maine is no exception. Whether they are completely empty or just used for storage, they can make our community look vacant. If the building has windows, though, I see the potential and an opportunity to create visual interest and maybe even promote another business at the same time. Lewiston has a rich history, but do we ever think about how sharing these stories may affect its future? My goal in pursuing this grant is to be able to allocate the proper resources and partner with LA Arts and the City of Lewiston to bring awareness to vacant downtown storefronts. With the use of projectors and mapping software, the possibilities are almost endless.
At the beginning of the semester, sixteen (16) Intro to Digital Media students will be partnered into mini-design teams to collaborate together. Throughout the semester, these teams of students will work with partner organizations such as the Lewiston Public Library, the Androscoggin Historical Society, the Maine MILL, and the Muskie Archives to conduct research about the many rich histories of Lewiston. After researching our community’s histories and choosing a few to focus on, students will begin to contextualize specific events and turn them into a storyboard that, in turn, evolves into a digital display in the windows of vacant businesses downtown. There would be an opportunity to have up to four (4) windows to present each design team’s work, or one (1) shared window in which each team’s work rotates on display. We will collaborate with LA Arts or the Downtown Lewiston Association to host a public opening and revealing of the new displays that can be left in rotation throughout the holiday season.
CEL Budget Request for this course: