Are you interested in increasing awareness, appreciation, advocacy and action in your community? A large group of participants at the 2009 AAO conference answered "yes" to this question. They attended a break-out session led by Erin Cullerton, Assistant Director, AIA San Francisco and Curator and Founder of the Architecture and the City Festival, and Scott Lauer, Founder of Open House New York.
As the founders of two of the country's largest and most successful programs, they led the session as a conversation about the importance of increasing architectural dialogue in cities everywhere, and contributing to a more enlightened and engaged public. Participants learned about the history of Erin and Scott's programs, how funding and programming support is provided, how curatorial visions are determined, as well as first-hand knowledge on how best to coordinate with dozens of local partners, including government agencies, cultural institutions, community groups, architects and designers, and of course, volunteers.
Scott Lauer's Presentation - please note: there are two slides that include video. If your system does not support the programs needed to run the video, you can find them at the following links - Page 6, and Page 22
Erin Cullerton, Assistant Director, AIA San Francisco; Curator/Founder, Architecture and the City Festival
Erin Cullerton is the Assistant Director of the fourth largest chapter of the American Institute of Architects. During her tenure, she has developed everything from award-winning communications to new public education models that bring awareness of the architecture and design profession to an increasingly savvy public audience. She has produced nearly 40 exhibitions on a range of topics from public art in architecture to investigations on the urban environment. In 2003, she founded the Architecture and the City festival, which takes place every September in San Francisco. Under her leadership, the festival has grown into an award-winning, city-wide event that reaches more than 20,000 participants and draws support from hundreds of cultural institutions and community partners. In 2005, Erin was instrumental in founding the Center for Architecture + Design, a new nonprofit organization seeking to educate the public about the importance of architecture and design in the Bay Area. Her writing on architecture and design has appeared in a variety of publications, including Metropolis, ReadyMade, Surface and Wired magazines, among others. Erin currently sits on the advisory board of The Architect's Newspaper, California edition and is the editor of Young Architects Americas (Daab) and Contemporary Prefab Houses (Daab). She is currently editing a third book on sustainable residential design (Mondadori Publishers) due out this fall.
Scott Lauer, Founder, Open House New York
Architect, Scott Lauer, is the founder of Open House New York, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of New York City’s architecture and design. Open House New York runs year-round talks, tours, events, and in-school workshops, including America's largest architecture and design event, Open House New York Weekend. From an all-volunteer, grass roots organization, Scott has overseen every aspect of the organization's growth into a major New York City cultural institution. In 2008, 175,000 participants attended 350 sites and programs, all free-of-charge. More than 600 volunteers assisted.
Prior to founding Open House New York, Scott worked in London and New York designing and managing a series of award-winning projects. For the past three years he has run The Library Initiative for the Robin Hood Foundation, managing the design and construction of 25 elementary school libraries in New York City's poorest neighborhoods. Scott continues to consult on architecture and design projects and serves on Open House New York’s Board. He is a graduate of Cornell University.
