A young mind in the School of Communication has big plans to creatively engage Akron’s neighborhoods.
Senior David Swirsky, a business and organizational communication major, is in the running to receive major funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to help carry out his vision for the city.
One of Swirsky’s ideas is now in the final round of the foundation’s first Knight Cities Challenge, which seeks innovative ideas on how to make the 26 Knight communities better places to live and work. Akron, the birthplace of Knight Newspapers and the Knight Foundation, is one of those communities.
In addition to pursuing courses at the university, Swirsky heads the city’s chapter of the League of Creative Interventionists, an organization that works to creatively build a connection between people and their communities. Swirsky’s Knight Cities Challenge proposal seeks to establish a headquarters for Akron’s chapter. The proposal was chosen as one of the top 126 finalists out of a pool of more than 7,000 applications.
“This is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this,” Swirsky said. “I’m not trying to pump up my head too much because we still have a round to go, but it’s still very exciting.”
Through funding provided by the Knight Foundation, the league would hold meetings, workshops and programs at its headquarters. Members would also work with other community organizations to brainstorm ideas to break down the barriers among the diverse populations in Akron, something Swirsky believes to be an issue among the city’s communities.
“There’s this whole ‘caveman theory’ where you’re only meeting a certain amount of people and you don’t ever meet new people again. We want to intervene and do these fun, spontaneous things that get people talking to each other. “
While the league has continued to provide fun “interventions” to help pop the “bubble” that surrounds each community, Swirsky plans to do even more if he receives funding through the Knight Foundation.
“I really want to focus on doing a flesh-and-bones project that could go in a neighborhood, like a public sculpture that represents the neighborhood somehow,” he said.
“We’d work with neighborhood groups and have these big brainstorming sessions that could facilitate ideas that could bring pride to the neighborhood. So the community is actually generating the idea, and our professional network of artists can build it for them.”
Proposals that are submitted to the Knight Cities Challenge require a focus on at least one of three “drivers” to success in the applicant’s city: talent, opportunity or engagement. Swirsky says his proposal contains all three elements, with engagement at its core.
“There are communities of people in Akron who don’t like where they live and feel like they’re stuck there. They have no pride compared to other residents in other communities in Akron.”
Swirsky hopes to fix this by engaging them in their own communities, and therefore making it a better place to live.
“If we give them some kind of empowerment and they feel like they’re actually creating a piece of work from their minds, and then we take it and make it, then they can look out and walk around their neighborhood and be like ‘wow I was a part of that. I really love this city now.’”
While Swirsky and the league wait to hear from the Knight Cities Challenge, they continue to host events that creatively engage the residents around Akron. One of these events is the Big Love Fest, for which the league is co-organizers with Akron Peace Project, Free Akron Yoga and other local organizations. The free event will be held in the Musica complex on East Market Street February 28, and will feature live local music, art installations and workshops.
Swirsky hopes to continue to work on projects like Big Love Fest with other organizations, perhaps even some of the other Akron finalists in the Knight Cities Challenge.
“I think we all kind of complement each other in a way. We’re all focusing on different areas, but I do think we could create some synergy. If a few of us get accepted as actual winners and we all receive money, then we could even do projects together. That’s what I’m really excited about,” he said.
The Knight Foundation will announce the winners of the Knight Cities Challenge in late March or early April.