Volunteer Opportunities & Grassroots Projects
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Professional Landscape Architects and landscape designers provide valuable expertise and services for a wide variety of clients and projects. As a local chapter of the ASLA our membership is often asked to provide assistance with volunteer and grassroots efforts. If you or your organization are interested in collaborating with the ASLA Alaska Chapter and it's members please get in touch with us and describe your project by submitting this simple Google Form. Interested individuals and organizations are also welcome to reach us with questions via the 'contact' icon at the top right of our webpage.
SCHOOLS ON TRAILS
Members of ASLA Alaska are currently working with Anchorage Park Foundation and Anchorage Parks and Recreation to promote Schools on Trails through Design Workshops and design build assistance. The vision of the program is to engage Anchorage schools in nearby trails, parks, streams, and natural habitats to educate students and staff about community assets and enrich neighborhoods through increased local awareness. It also aims to establish connections with students and create opportunities to share in civic engagement, participate in the project planning process, foster stewardship of our lands, and instill the value of safe public spaces as a key component in the quality of life. Follow the link below to learn more.
CLARK MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT OUTREACH
A significant education and outreach effort by ASLA Alaska Chapter members Chad Taylor and Kevin Doniere has recently been completed and deserves special attention. Chad and Kevin have developed and executed a year long Landscape Architecture based curriculum for 7th grade students at Clark Middle School in Mountain View. The tandem worked in conjunction with Holly Spoth-Torres and Suzanne Little at Anchorage Parks & Recreation Dept., and Cessilye Willams (principal) and Heather McIntyre (teacher) at Clark Middle School to develop a strategy and engage the students in what amounted to a 'shovel ready' redesign of William B. Lyons Park in Anchorage. The student efforts have been recognized with ~$400,000 in approved funds to realize the vision put to paper by the students with direction provided by Chad, Kevin, Holly and Suzanne.
Photo from http://mcgalaska.com/p/clark-ms/
COMMON SPACE PROFESSIONAL DESIGN AWARD
Chad Taylor of Intrinsic Landscapes submitted a winning entry in the International Gallery of Contemporary Art's Common Space Project. The professional category proposal entitled "Roadside Attractions" can be seen as a two-dimensional submittal as well as a motion picture release. The proposed installation patiently awaits funding. Congratulations on the award-winning submittal.
GDW ON KSKA'S "HOMETOWN, ALASKA"
Thanks to Kathleen McCoy of "Hometown, Alaska" for facilitating a discussion about Landscape Architecture on May 25, 2011 on KSKA with Dwayne Adams, FASLA and Elise Huggins, FASLA. Kathleen participated in April's Garden Design Workshop (GDW) hosted by the Alaska Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects.
The Garden Design Workshop is an event put on by ASLA member volunteers each April as part of National Landscape Architecture Month (NLAM) as an outreach effort and scholarship fundraiser. The workshop provides participants with a personalized design plan for their outdoor space and is the product of one-on-one work sessions with a professional landscape architect.
The response from listeners of "Hometown, Alaska" has been well received and people interested in signing up for next year's Garden Design Workshop are asked to submit their basic information (name, email &/or phone) using the 'contact' icon in the upper right corner of the webpage, if you already have not done so. Your information will be added to a list of interested parties to be contacted for next April's GDW. Details of the next workshop will be made available early in 2012, giving folks plenty of time to consider their setting and get motivated for next spring. Thank you for your interest and for listening to KSK