YMCA COMMUNITY GARDEN / SXSW ECO FINALIST

We're delighted that the North Austin Community Garden has been shortlisted as a finalist for the SXSW Eco 'Place By Design' competition.  The award celebrates "breakthrough ideas in the reinvention of public space".  We were selected along with fourteen other finalists from a pool of applicants around the world. Winners will be announced on October 7th 2014 at the SXSW Eco Awards at the Austin Convention Center.

The garden was, and continues to be, a labor of love for many different people and organizations.  A big thank you and congratulations to all our project partners including Art in Public Places, YMCA of Austin, Sustainable Food Center, the City's Sustainable Urban Agriculture program, John Hart Asher of the Ladybird Wildflower Center and, of course, the Garden Leadership Group, led by the tireless Sharon Mays.  

The dedicated Thoughtbarn team, past and present, consisted of Andrei Klypin, Kate Nichols and Kyle Norman, with support from Brian Carville and Kaziah Haviland.  The project was built with the help of talented craftsmen Connor Finn, Rhys Andersen, Shane Riley, Jimmy Rittenberry, Jon Davidson (DoeFabCo) and Ann Armstrong (Ann-Made), as well as DeLara Landscaping and Native Irrigation.  We also couldn't have done it without the help of over 100 volunteers who helped weave the sculptural fence and build garden beds on the community workdays, including an energetic crew from JE Dunn and Junior Girl Scout Troop 1210.  Eastside Lumber allowed us to stretch our budget further by giving us all the cedar boards at cost.

We think the project is a compelling example of how public art can help amplify the impact of community gardens - and hope this recognition provides momentum for more projects of this kind in the city!  More images of the garden can be seen here and a short documentary about the project by Flow Non-Fiction here.