Community Outreach Group for Landscape Design hosts
2006 Project Showcase:
Social
Justice and the Transforming Quality of Gardens
Landscape design volunteer organization celebrates
community garden projects at Watertown’s Arsenal Center
for the Arts
WALTHAM,
October 12, 2006 – The Community Outreach Group for
Landscape Design (COGdesign), a non-profit service
organization of landscape design professionals and
students, invites the public to its 2006 Project Showcase:
“Social Justice and the Transforming Quality of
Gardens” which will be held on Thursday, October 26 from
5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in
Watertown.
The
evening features a panel discussion among green space
advocates working in the greater Boston area and
representing local, regional, and national organizations.
The panelists eloquently express their commitment to an
equitable society through their work revitalizing
distressed, polluted, and neglected green spaces.
Their case studies are inspirational and their efforts
have resulted in transformed places.
Panelists are Nancy Kafka, Senior
Project Manager, Trust for Public Land’s Parks for
People Program; Charles Lord, Executive Director, Urban
Ecology Institute; Jorge Martinez, Executive Director,
Project Right of Roxbury/North Dorchester; and Patrice
Todisco, Executive Director, Esplanade Association.
“This is an important conversation
to be having as tension and violence are increasing within
our communities,” said COGdesign Executive Director
Lucia Droby. “Those who regularly experience leafy
canopies and beautiful, healthy parks and gardens know
that these places can bring many positive benefits to
neighborhoods and individuals. Ironically, the
communities most in need of such places are often the
communities with the fewest resources to advocate for,
create, and maintain them. So let’s put our
skills, whatever they are, to purposeful use.
That’s what this evening is about.”
In addition to the featured panel,
this annual event gives COG’s designers an opportunity
to share their passion with the public as they exhibit
recently-completed and in-progress community landscape
projects. Attendees are invited to informally tour
the Arsenal Center for the Arts, a new and dynamic art
space, formerly Building 321 of the Watertown Army
Arsenal. Light refreshments from Watertown’s
renowned ethnic markets and bakeries will be offered
during the evening. Registration details can be
found on www.cogdesign.org
The Community Outreach Group for
Landscape Design (COGdesign) is a non-profit service
organization of professional and student landscape
designers, landscape architects, architects, and
greenspace advocates dedicated to bringing quality
landscape design services to under-funded community
organizations and neighborhood groups. COG designers
work pro bono in exchange for the experience and
satisfaction of contributing to the community landscape.
COGdesign clients have included
schools, churches, neighborhood parks, friends’ groups,
municipal agencies, affordable housing developments,
historic sites, and community gardens. COGdesign
acts as a facilitator between these community
organizations and landscape designers who are looking for
professional development opportunities and community-based
field experience. The clients benefit from the
innovative and creative work of COG’s designers.
For more information about COGdesign,
please call 781-642-6662 or visit www.cogdesign.org.
|
|
