Designing for Climate with Laura Flusche and Veronica Klucik

Design is a powerful tool in addressing climate change, but what IS design? And what is a design museum? The Museum Of Design Atlanta - or MODA -  defines design as "A creative process that inspires change, transforms lives, and makes the world a better place."

Today we talk with MODA Executive Director Laura Flusche and Exhibitions Manager Veronica Klucik about the role of museums in the 21st century. What if museums looked forward instead of backward? What if they prioritized active engagement instead of passive observation? These are the questions MODA sets out to answer by curating exhibits that show how design can solve real world problems.

MODA had big plans in 2020 for their Year of Climate & Change. In this episode, we discuss how they successfully implemented virtual programming, including education more than 3,000 kids worldwide. They are looking forward to 2021 and continuing to offer virtual access to exhibits focused on regenerative design and alternative transportation.

Transcript

Hey guys, it's Monica here. I wanted to tell you about a new podcast that I've started with my very good friend, Jennifer Walsh called Biophilic Solutions. Our last season of Serenbe Stories, building a biophilic movement was so popular that we decided to dedicate an entire podcast to it every other week. Jennifer and I will sit down with leaders in the growing field of biophilia. We'll talk about local and global solutions to help nurture the living social and economic systems that we all need to sustain future generations more often than not. Nature has the answers. You can find biophilic solutions on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe and follow us today. So you don't miss an episode. Alright, now let's get back to Serenbe Stories. 

Monica  (14s):
Serenbe is a place where the innate connections humans have with nature and all living things is celebrated through work and play. And we're here to tell the stories of those who have been inspired by this biophilic way of life in our community and across the country. This is Serenbe Stories. 

Monica (38s):
Design is a powerful tool in addressing climate change, but what is design? And what is a design museum? The Museum Of Design Atlanta, otherwise known as MODA defines design as “A creative process that inspires change, transforms lives, and makes the world a better place.” Today we talked with MODA Executive Director Laura Flusche and Exhibitions Manager, Veronica Klucik about the role of museums in the 21st century. What if museums looked forward instead of backwards? What if they prioritized active engagement instead of passive observation? These are the questions that motive sets out to answer by curating exhibitions that show how design can solve real world problems.

Monica (1m 18s):
They had big plans in 2020 for the year of Climate & Change. In this episode, we discuss how they successfully implemented virtual programming, including education for more than 3000 kids worldwide. They are looking forward to 2021 and continuing to offer virtual access to their exhibitions. Including two new ones will be focused on regenerative design and alternative transportation. 

Monica: 
But first Serenbe Stories is brought to you by the Inn at Serenbe. The Inn is nestled in the rolling countryside, a bucolic Serenbe where guests can walk on the 15 miles of trails through preserved forest land, the wildflower meadow, and the animal village. You can relax by the pool, hot tub, or in rocking chairs on the wraparound porch, play on the croquet lawn swings, and in-ground trampolines. Connect with nature and each other all while staying in luxurious rooms on the Inn Grounds or within the community of Serenbe. Book your stay today at serenbeinn.com.

Monica (2m 12s):
I want to welcome everybody back to Serenbe Stories today. Today we have special guests from an Atlanta Stalwart MODA, The Museum Of Design Atlanta, which is in the heart of the city. And we have their Executive Director here, Laura Flusche and we also have Veronica Klucik. So welcome you guys. I've also have Steve Nygren here with us as usual.

Steve: 
Hello everyone. 

Monica: 
And so we are in the middle of our season called Building a Biophilic Movement, and we thought having a conversation with you guys would be perfect since MODA, not only are you the only museum in the Southeast dedicated to the study of all things design, the current show is called Learning From Nature: The Future Of Design, and it really is demonstrating how designers can find sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature's patterns and strategies.

Monia (3m 12s):
Big idea. So tell me all about how you guys got here? How the show started? And how, how is it working with COVID?

Laura: 
Okay, so, so we, at MODA we kicked off 2020 with some really big plans, including a partnership with the Kendeda fund, by which we were going to turn 2020 into the year of Climate & Change. We were to put up three exhibitions that position design as one of the most powerful tools we have for addressing Climate & Change and mitigating the effects that we're already feeling, as well as we were planning to put on a lot of programming, both for children and adults about Climate & Change and the power of design to address what is, of course, one of the largest issues, or probably the largest issue that we face.

Laura (4m 16s):
We, we're excited, found a lot of support from individuals and companies and foundations who wanted to be part of this. And on March the 3rd, we opened the first of the three exhibitions that were to be part of the year of Climate & Change. The one that we're here to talk about, which is Learning From Nature: The Future of Design, which looks at biomimicry as a design strategy. And then 10 days later, we close the doors because of COVID-19. So it's been a journey for us. I can say a couple of things.

Laura (4m 55s):
One, we have pivoted a lot as an institution. So we were fortunate to have a team of educators who said to us on the last day we were open, look, we can get our education programs for kids online. They're going to need them because schools are going to be closed. So we focused a lot of attention when we closed on doing that and have taught over 3000 kids to use design to solve real world problems since we closed in March and it's still going strong. 

Monica: 
That's amazing. 

Laura: 
We then, and Veronica can talk more about this. We digitized the learning from nature exhibition because it's sitting in our galleries and no one can see it.

Monica: 
Yep.  

Laura (5m 40s):
So we used a Matterport camera to make a high resolution 3D scan of it and put it on the website. And one of the fascinating things about that is that more people have visited it virtually then probably would have visited it in person. So we're really encouraged by that.

Monica: 
Yeah, it's big. I mean, and I ran into you. I feel like I ran into Ethicon data building, but that

Laura: 
Last December, maybe.

Monica (6m 05s): 
Yeah, last December, and, you know, we were thrilled to be a partner in this along with, you know, good friends interface and obviously candida. And it is a wild world. And, I think MODA historically has done a ton of kids programming and adult programming. But that is interesting how you say that you've reached more people than you think, and I believe you had told me that you were even reaching like international because you know, people couldn't come. So talk a little bit about that for even some of the, you know, webinars and workshops and learns that you've been doing. 

Laura: 
So we, we started when we closed because of the public health crisis, we first put our kids programs online and had huge reception and then began to phase it in some adult programming, including a series called Drinkin Design, where we hand the mic to local designers and creatives to hear how they're making change in the world now.

Laura  (7m 10s):
And an exhibition based series called I Dissent that takes place in the context of another virtual exhibition, we have called Design of Descent, which is an exhibition of posters that take on human rights and social justice issues. So we have some talks there in the, in the design of Duset exhibition. And recently we started a series called Architecture & Urbanism for Justice that are a response to the social justice movement, an acknowledgement that over history, we have designed a lot of injustice into our world and that it's in our power to undesign that, or redesign that. And we need to be talking and thinking about that. And one of the fascinating things that's happened is that we've begun to attract a global audience. So over the course of the past, say eight months, we've had people from almost every state participate in our, in our programming, whether it's for kids or for adults. And we've had people from 42 countries tune in, and it's very common for us to have an event and have people from across the globe. And so that's been really fascinating to us and a reminder that our idea, the idea that we hold very dear at MODA, that design can make the world a better place is something that's shared by a lot of people. And that it maybe gives us a little bit of hope in the face of the many crises that 2020 has brought.

Monica (8m 47s):
Definitely tell us a little bit about the history of MODA cause you really came on pretty much from the inception. 

Laura: 
Well, actually I didn't. So at MODA we often say that we're 28 going on eight and both of them are alive now because we're actually more like 30 going on 10. But the reason we differentiate with these two ages is that we were founded about 30 years ago as a totally different institution called the Atlanta International Museum Of Art And Design.

Laura (9m 22s):
And we were located downtown for two decades in the Marriott Marquee complex. The people that founded the museum were fortunate to get some space, including one of John Portman's old model shops in the Marriott Marquis complex. And they put on exhibitions there.

Monica: 
Amazing.

Laura: 
They did that a couple of decades. I joined MODA 10 years ago.

Monica: 
Okay. 

Laura: 
Well really almost 11, just at the moment that it was ready to move. So our board of directors decided a little over a decade ago that if MODA was to grow and to serve more people and better serve its community, it needed to be in a different place.

Laura (10m 2s):
And they were fortunate to be able to make a deal with Perkins Willow, the architecture firm. They purchased a building here in Midtown Atlanta, and didn't quite know what they were going to do with the bottom floor, the street-level floor of it and invited MODA to take its place there. So we moved here in early 2011 and have been on a, really, a really steep growth pattern ever since, as people are, you know, exploring us. And, and as we're learning more about, about what we want to do and what we want to contribute to the Atlanta Arts & Culture Scene. 

Monica (10m 41s): 
And I guess that's my folly is that that is when MODA sort of came into my world, It’s that time. And so that is where I sort of think of the sort of inception of it, but I do recall at being downtown, but again, I never went until I was in a much more accessible place in the Perkins & Willow building, which is across from the high. So tell me, you know, I've, I've watched you guys grown and, and Serenbe has been lucky to have been a couple, participated in a couple exhibitions, and Garney Steve's daughter was able to do a panel, met some wonderful artists. I remember that night and it’s such a jewel for the market, but tell me, you know, where, where have you been? Where are you going? Obviously you've learned a lot this year, but, but in general, you know, what do you guys want to be when you grow up?

Laura (11m 36s):
That's a great question. Well, let me say this. One of the things that happened after we moved to our current location is that people began to come in the museum and ask a question, which seemed very simple and turned out to be very complicated. And that question was what is a design museum? And we discovered that everyone who tried to answer that question, whether they were a board member or a staff member, or a volunteer, or someone who just came in the door had a different answer and that the root of that was in the fact that we all define design differently. So we did a lot of work about eight years ago to create a definition of design that governs everything we do now.

Laura (12m 25s):
So we define design as “A creative process that inspires change, that transforms lives, and that makes the world a better place.” And I would say that in the past, you know, over the past years, our job has been to grow into that definition and to explore it, to figure out what it means for exhibitions, what it means for programming, for education, for kids. And we're always investigating that. And we investigate that in a few ways. We have some kind of stock research questions that the board and I think about a lot, one of them is what is the museum of the 21st century. So what role do museums and can museums play in a world that's changing quickly, particularly a small museum like ours.

Laura (13m 14s):
We also ask what if a museum looked forward instead of backwards. So if you think of what designers do in our world, designers are the people, some of the people we charged with helping us navigate the now and the future. And so we, as a design museum, stand with designers. So instead of looking back and admiring what designers have done in the past, we do that sometimes, but mostly we look at what they're doing now and in doing so, we also often take a stand acknowledging that there are real challenges in the world like Climate & Change. And that design is a powerful tool for, for taking those on, but we have to acknowledge they exist.

Laura (13m 58s):
So we can't, we can't be neutral. We can't ignore them. We’ve talked about real issues. So that's something else that we do. And then another question that we ask, what if a museum prioritizes active engagement over passive observation? What if we invited everyone who came in to engage with the design process in some way or another? Whether it's a little bit of a change in the way they think, or maybe doing a design activity while they're here, what if we could help activate that piece, that creative piece of people's brain not turning everyone into a designer, but helping them think just a little bit differently and understand the power of design to address challenges.

Laura (14m 41s):
So we spend a lot of time working on that with the hope that we're advocates for design, we're advocates for designers, and that maybe not everyone becomes a designer, but they think to call one or ask for one when they're up against a tough issue. 

Monica: 
Yeah. No, I think that that is so imperative. And I think about, you know, where we live, right. You know, and Steve at Serenbe, you know, without the designers, without the architects, without the land planners, Steve, right. To pull these ideas out of your head, you know, where would we be? 

Steve (15m 18s): 
Exactly. You know, I mean that is exactly what designers make the world go around and pull out together. 

Monica:
It's really quite amazing. So tell me to bring Veronica into the conversation, Veronica, you were instrumental in putting together and curating this exhibition of learning from nature. I know you worked with the Biomimicry Institute, which I want to hear a little bit about that. You also worked with, was it Georgia tech? For the biologically inspired center for design? Tell me, tell me a little bit about the collaborations and where you started and how you sort of put it together. 

Veronica: 
Yes. So the exhibition kind of started with a lot of research and just like a lot of digging and reaching out to people which was partly done by me and my co-curator Malaysia Marshall, but a big part of it and a big help to the curation was this collaboration with the Biomimicry Institute.

Veronica (16m 514s):
And the professor you're speaking of, her name is Jeanette Yen, and she is just like this phenomenal source of information of all things, bio inspired design, and just all these great things that nature can do that normally we wouldn't even notice, or would be able to conceive of. So just kind of talking to them about all these things that are out there and all these projects that are out there. And especially with the Biomimicry Institute, they do a design challenge each year. And so they played a huge role in helping us kind of, I guess, narrow our definition of biomimicry as a design process, as well as set up a lot of introductions to the student teams, especially that are doing a lot of forward thinking projects around and just that are kind of on their way to getting these products or these ideas and projects to become products that we are using day-to-day lives.

Monica (17m 17s):
So, let me ask, and I'll have you for the listener defined biomimicry. It's a word that we're comfortable with, but it's not a word that people hear very often. So tell me how you're defining it, and I'd also be curious how people are reacting to it.

Veronica: 
Yes, so I guess in the simplest terms, biomimicry could be defined as a design process that asks designers, engineers, and innovators to solve human solutions by turning to nature and evaluating how nature solves some similar problems in the natural world.

Veronica (17m 57s):
And it's a very, like interesting when you start diving into it, it's a very, like, interesting process and the way that it takes on the typical design process. But I think when most people hear it, as you're mentioning, like we're very familiar with it, but to a lot of people, it's a very new design, a new concept. And so a lot of people are really interested and just kind of surprised that this exists and that people are doing it. And just also like blown away by all of these amazing things that nature does

Steve (18m 31s):
Wanna hear the stories because, of course, I think of Jeanine Yen, who's one of the original folks. And I had the privilege, of course, Ray Anderson would have his dream team, and Janine was part of that here at Serenbe. And I remember the day that she had sent everyone into the woods to look at the floor of the forest, as they were thinking about designing the carpet. And I remember at lunch, everyone was like, huh, we've just, you know, we've done these wild things, we're out looking around and da, da, da, but that was actually the beginning of the carpet squares that had no pattern that they could be put together in any way, and so there was a design challenge that Janine led everyone into to see how nature doesn't fit together perfectly. And so that was fun to be at the right, at the front seat to watch that happen.

Veronica (19m 26s):
I was going to say, I think that's kind of like a big theme as well is to just look closely and just take a time to pause and actually pay attention to nature and how it works and the things that it does and how it's been able to survive for billions of years. 

Monica: 
What are a couple examples in the show that you are particularly taken with or are perhaps the visitors really particularly are drawn to. 

Veronica: 
That's a great question. There's so many. 

Monica:
Or some of your favorites perhaps. 

Veronica: 
I think one of my favorites is this company called Bio Mason in North Carolina has found a way to grow concrete essentially by looking at how coral is able to grow passively and without any extra energy. And so they essentially have created this entire process that involves bacteria and some passive chemical reactions that is a bit too scientific for me to be able to repeat correctly, but, but it's able to essentially make these concrete structures without the need of a ton of energy or CO2 emissions, which the concrete industry is notoriously bad for.

Monica (20m 49s): 
Interesting. And so they're in the process, have they implemented any residential or commercial projects?

Veronica:
I think that they are still in kind of an early process. I know that they've probably done a few test structures, but from what I understand, it's very difficult to have new building materials be approved.

Veronica (21m 10s):
So they're still kind of in that process of being able to actually use it as a building material and residential and commercial projects, but I know they're definitely on their way.

Monica: 
Oh, that's so cool. I have fantasies of, I mean, we have our artists in residency programs here. I have fantasies that we would, you know, find people like that who were doing really, using innovative building materials, or really innovative sustainable building concepts and building new artists' cottages with each of those tools would be just amazing, right? And have it be a demonstration. So more builders would be comfortable with those products and those practices.

Monica (21m 52s):
So if anybody's listening and wants to fund it, we'll make it a Serenbe MODA Project. That's a really cool example. What else, other ones do you have a favorite? Laura? From the show?

Laura: 
I do have a favorite and it's maybe an unlikely favorite. You know, there, there are some examples in the exhibition that are pretty well-known like the design of the bullet train in, in Japan being patterned on the king fishers and the other, other bird traits or the Velcro, the story of Velcro being invented by a guy who was hiking the Swiss Alps and discovered how burrs cockleburs stick stuck in his dog's hair and was inspired to create a new fastener.

Laura (22m 45s):
The one that kind of blows my mind, and I think about a lot comes out of Georgia Tech, where some professors, are professors and a graduate student at the time were really interested in bees. And the problem that they chose to take on was how servers like the servers, that power, the information that comes to our computers, how they allocate space? So not every website is busy at the same time. Server might host a lot of websites. And so how does the server figure out how much space to allocate it and be given time for different websites?

Laura (23m 26s):
Can it, can it do more if it's not, you know, always giving the same amount to, to a website. And so they began to think about what are, what are parallels for that and think about bees. And these have to do a similar thing in that bees have a kind of intelligence that allows them to figure out how many bees to send to a given flower patch on a given day so that they don't exhaust it immediately and, or they don't get all the bees there, and there's, you know, there's not enough work for the bees to do and so on. So they began to study the way the bees allocate their work and use that to build an algorithm that allows the servers to allocate space for websites.

Laura (24m 10s):
And I don't know why that example really just makes me happy in my head, but, but it does. And I think one of the things that I find really inspiring with that example and the exhibition in general, it's something that sounds so obvious when you say it, but it's not, you know, designers often when they're, when they're charged with the problem, look back to see what other humans have done with similar problems in the past. But the idea of looking to nature, instead, it sounds so simple, but we don't, we don't do it all the time. So it's, it really can change the paradigm. 

Monica: 
Definitely. It is something that we, I think a lot of us don't take the time to pause, like you were saying, Veronica, and sort of spend time in nature. And I think, you know, I guess for better, and although an unfortunate reason, you know, with, with the pandemic is people have taken the time to slow down or have been forced to slow down, are really seeking out nature? In the outdoors and really understanding the benefits of, you know, not only in our lives from a health perspective, but how they can be examples to us. And I think, you know, this is sort of tying back a little bit to the year of Climate & Change. You know, I too thought that 2020 would really be the year after all the fires last year.

Monica (25m 38s):
And I say, we have more this year, but everything that was going on that this would really be the time that we would really start buckling down and looking to the next 20 years of how we can actually affect the change. Tell me a little bit about, you know, what you've learned from this and sort of how you're going to take this into 2021, you know, cause obviously you weren't able to do everything you wanted to do. How, how, how does 2021 look? 

Laura: 
Yeah, one of the things that we've learned is that there's huge interest. So even, even though the museum is closed right now, you know, we're seeing people go to the virtual exhibition, we're getting emails about it.

Laura (26m 21s):
And we also built a biomimicry challenge that teachers can take into classrooms. And we're seeing a lot of interest in schools who are already taking on the topic and saying, wow, I can't believe people do this because we're studying this, this is so great. So that's been really rewarding. In terms of our year of Climate & Change, we've done a little magic with words, and we have turned it into the Climate & Change Project. And so it's going to stretch right through 2021 and I can't imagine that MODA talked about climate before this, and we will keep talking about it afterwards. This is just a particularly intense series of conversations we're going to have.

Laura (27m 02s):
So we have two more exhibitions that will go up and this will depend a little on when we reopen. So things are a bit in flux, so stay tuned, but the next exhibition will be called Bike-, that's part of our Climate & Change Project, will be called Bike To The Future. And yeah, we're excited. It looks like a contemporary bike design. 

Monica: 
Nice. 

Laura: 
But it also looks at bike infrastructure and how it's growing and being designed around the globe. 

Monica: 
Amazing. 

Laura: 
And so we'd like to have some conversations, there's lots of great people doing this work in Atlanta already. We know that, but we've, we'd like to, you know, help motor constituents access that information through this exhibition so that we can talk about alternative transportation forms in, in Atlanta, at least that one.

Laura (27m 57s):
And then there's a third exhibition that is called Full Circle Design Without End. That will be about regenerative design and so tentatively that's slated for next fall. It was curated by Jenelle Miniter who used to be our exhibitions manager. Now she's gone to school with grit back to grad school, which is a great thing to do in a pandemic. Right. But it, so, you know, I suppose one jumping off point for that exhibition is of course the candida living building on the Georgia Tech campus. So, you know, I live in building a regenerative building and exploring, exploring how that works, but there are other projects happening in the Southeast and then around the globe.

Laura (28m 41s):
So we'll be thinking about how do we design architecture and systems and objects that don't just preserve the status quo and don't deplete the environment, but actually do good by their existence? So some very real things, and then some that are more conceptual and exploratory. 

Monica: 
No, I love that. You know, we've talked in the past about, you know, sort of a circular economy, which I think is a really interesting concept. And I know a partner, both of ours and friend is an interface that really leans towards that and does amazing work. But I do think this sort of regenerative word is sort of fascinating to me. We've talked about our friends at Rodale are really pushing rejected regenerative agriculture, and we're actually having a- 

Laura: 
So important.

Monica: 
Having a conversation with them, you know, cause it takes into account the soil health and the human health of the people involved in farming. We know about regenerative design. You know, I had a conversation with somebody earlier about regenerative travel right in the hospitality industry and how they can be more regenerative. Do you see the sort of regenerative design and sort of the full circle, like the, you know, really the circular economy?

Monica (30m 11s):
Do you, do you see them hand in hand? Or are they a little different? like tell me a little bit about, cause regenerative is, is a little bit of a different take on it. You know, it's not a hundred percent putting it back into the system. 

Laura: 
Yeah. Gosh, Monica <inaudible>

Monica: 
You don’t have to answer. 

 Laura: 
Veronica, you wanna take that one? 

Monica: 
I just think it’s an interesting concept to say, you know, we, you know, people throw words around and I don't mean that in any derogatory way, like we all do. Right. And I think to better understand as a listener or a visitor, you know, what's the difference?

Monica (30m 51s):
How can I find companies that do those things and understanding where they all fit together? I guess that's really my question that I'm asking and maybe this show will help me learn next fall. 

Laura: 
Well, I will say, and then I would love it if Veronica ways in. I will say that the show is still in development. So the initial curation was done by Janell Miniter, but we have now assembled. And for the first time, just last week an advisory committee. Experts who are helping us finesse things like definitions and the projects that are in it to make sure because this is not, you know, we run a museum for a living.

Laura (31m 35s):
So we need that expertise. And I would say that something that is still being hashed out and in that we just, we just convened that group. But Veronica, what are your thoughts on that? Veronica is very heavily involved in the show now to kind of pass the mantle to her with, on it. So-

Veronica: 
Yeah. So I think, I guess my best way to answer that is that I, for me, regenerative design and just regenerative in general kind of requires a very holistic approach to everything. So I think it's really hard to separate like the regenerative economy, or the circular economy from like regenerative design, from like closed systems and other things like that.

Veronica (32m 17s):
So I think as far as like the exhibition and for people that are looking for regenerative design, it is just a very like holistic thing to look at. So kind of looking at all these different topics and considering like how we can, how our food, like how we grow it can be regenerative, but also how it's delivered to us and how, and the waste products after that and everything, I think just like something that considers all of these aspects and how we like through them and do these processes were impacting the environment, is all just kind of, kind of what we're going to try to do with the exhibition.

Veronica (32m 59s):
And also looking at things like, I guess, justice and equitable systems as well, and regenerative social systems, as well as things like indigenous knowledge and the role that that has and how we define regenerative knowledge and regenerative, regenerative design and everything like that. 

Monica: 
That’s good. I liked the word consideration, you know, that we're thoughtful when we do these things. Cause I, I, when, when, cause I feel like regenerative really came into my vocabulary and Steve, you, you may have been there a lot earlier than I was just cause you're always a visionary, but Rodale really brought it to my attention probably three or four years ago, as they were talking about, you know, regenerative agriculture as a solution for carbon sequestration and beyond, you know, just healthy food that they really brought it home to me that if the soil is not healthy, forget it 

Laura:
Nobody is. 

Monica:
Yeah, so that, you know, cause you would hear organic and you're in, of course you want to try and buy organic or natural or local or, you know, what are the, whatever the, the sort of you think it's going to be closer to sort of real foods, but to think about, well, you could have organic food, but if it's not grown in healthy soil.

Laura: 
Right. 

Monica (34m 22s): 
You know, it's just not going to have the vitamins and the efficacy and really do your body good. And so that was a real mind shift for me that I hadn't thought about. So I think that the show will be, it sounds really interesting to think about how that concept of inputs, you know, affect a product. So do you know, I wanna jump back to Bike For The Future for a minute cause I'm really intrigued by that, is that, you're thinking spring or summer for that show? 

Laura: 
We're thinking spring. 

Monica: 
Okay. And I know obviously the BeltLine is in Atlanta, the big thing and, and everything, but I know Steve, you know, you're working on a project with the river.

Steve (35m 8s):
That's right. The River Lands Project, which I'm sure you, you know, all this, all this interconnects.

Monica:
And, and that I'm assuming that that is going to be connected via bike paths as well, Steve, correct?

Steve: 
Absolutely. It'll connect into the BeltLine eventually. And the Silver Comment and come down along the river. 

Monica (35m 27s):
Be a fun one to know about. And I know Ryan was consulting a little bit of gravel on that project. Initially. 

Laura: 
We're actually in conversation with scape the landscape firm that is working there, and I'm including that project in Full Circle. So, but, but a good point that it could be invite the future as well. So thank you!

Monica: 
Escape is amazing, what an incredible-

Steve (35m 52s):
But, so for the listeners, escape was hired to do the master River Lands Project and that's a hundred miles of the river corridor. That's a mile on each side of the Riverside and just the river, which the Riverkeepers have done a great job of cleaning the water so that we can all worry about it. But this is the valley a mile on each side of it running for a hundred miles. So just imagine as 200 square miles coming through the center of Atlanta and a lot of the Northern part has already been developed. So it's connecting through the paths, but the Southern part, we can really do some innovative things for the future.

Monica (36m 31s):
Tell me what virtual programming you have going on? Obviously we can come to the website and we can see via Matterport the exhibition, but you guys have some amazing talks. I'm sure you have a couple more planned throughout the year. Tell us someone, some highlights that we should be listening to or looking for and signing up for. 

Laura: 
I'm looking forward to one of our Drinkin Design episodes that is happening on Tuesday, December 1st. So with Drinkin Design, we invite designers and creatives to take the mic and tell us about their work. And we're talking to someone I have admired for such a long time and so much on December 1st. His name is Maurice Cherry and Maurice is a graphic designer. Well, yes he is. And a UX designer and a coder and a lot of other amazing things. But Maurice has made a giant contribution to the world over the past years in the creation of a podcast called Revision Path in which he has interviewed, I'm going to say hundreds. I do think it's hundreds of black designers about their work and their experience, and really amplifying their voices in a way that is very much needed because design is a field that needs to work on diversity and representation and opening career pathways up to everyone. And Maurice was really out there giving people a chance to tell their story and talk about their work. He's here in Atlanta and just an amazing human being. So I can't wait to see him on the MODA virtual stage. 

Monica (38m 17s):
Okay, good. I'm going to put that on my calendar and how do we sign up? Do we need to be a member or is it paid? Tell me about how we engage. 

Laura: 
Drinkin Design is free. And so you just head over to the MODA website and sign up. We use a virtual platform, you'll get a link for, and you'll just be able to log in, ask questions and listen. 

Monica: 
Wonderful. Okay. I'm very excited about that. Now, will you go guys, go a little quiet around the holidays in December? Or do you continue on, do you have kids camps? Like what, what else happens in December that we can share. 

Laura: 
We'll go a little quieter with adult programs. We do have holiday camps over the Thanksgiving holidays in the winter holidays for kids, and those are going up really right now. While the Thanksgiving ones are up, so they're day long camps, they're virtual, but kids learn a lot of design skills. And most often they learn them in conjunction with stem skills. So taking on some new tools are getting better at some they already know while doing really fun stuff and tapping into their creative problem solving capacity.

Monica (39m 29s):
Yeah. I know my boys took a Minecraft camp. 

Laura: 
Yeah, well, Minecraft is very interesting and, and Veronica should talk about this too in just a second, but we use Minecraft as a design tool at MODA. It really is a CAD tool and it's one of the best ways we have for teaching young designers how to think about sustainable environments, whether they're cities or we have the, we have a camp in which kids learn to build living buildings with, with Minecraft. So they're really out there being the next architects and urbanists and urban planners and everything else. I'm trying out all their skills in Minecraft and, and Veronica is in fact, working on a really interesting project in Minecraft with one of our educators. 

Monica: 
Oh, tell us. 

Veronica (40m 20s): 
So it's a project where we're kind of trying to see if we can bring exhibitions to Minecraft. And so essentially like working with a build team of kids who the educator that teaches Minecraft is very familiar with, and she is an excellent and great teacher and like great at working with them in Minecraft. And so working with them to kind of find a way that they want to tell the story of things like regenerate-regenerative design, or living buildings, or I think at one point we've been talking about doing like bike infrastructure to support the bike exhibition. And so essentially what the world would look like is they become these little saves that people who have Minecraft can download and just kind of run around and explore and learn about these, all these different concepts and ideas as if they're in this like 3D Minecraft world.

Monica: 
That's so cool, and so does MODA have their own Minecraft server?

Veronica: 
We do. 

Laura: 
Of course we do. 

Monica: 
I've learned more than I need to know about Minecraft.

Laura: 
We did- we did another really interesting project that your audience might be-might like, which is last spring, like late last spring, I think? We partnered with Midtown Alliance because they were working on- they were working on figuring out what to green spaces in Midtown might become. One was small and one is much bigger, but we brought together a team of about 20 young designers by which I mean between about eight and 16 years old. And they built those spaces in Minecraft and then adapted them to be really friendly green, urban green spaces, and got the opportunity to share all of their ideas with the people at Midtown Alliance who, who loved them. And so we were talking to metabolize about doing some more projects like that too, because they love hearing what young people have to offer in terms of, of how a city can, can meet the needs of the people who live there.

Monica (42m 29s):
Definitely. I absolutely love that. Well, the last thing I want to ask is I want to make sure that everybody knows how to get involved, like how to become a member? What are the benefits? So if you can share that with our audience, that would be great. 

Laura: 
Sure. So the MODA family is made up of people who believe in the power of change to make a difference. We call them ‘Changemakers.’ And so we invite everybody to become a MODA Changemaker by becoming a MODA member. Donors are great as well, but members are also donors and you can become a member on the MODA websites when we are open, you come in for free when you're a member and you get a discount in our store. But even now there are lots of perks to being members. There are classes that are free for members that we charge other people for. So you get some discounts and you get a lot of special communications from us, just letting you know what's happening in the museum and around the museum. So that you're, you're in the know and have the first opportunity to get involved.

Steve (43m 36s):
You know, you have a lot of great programming. Now on your webpage, now what do you charge for? And what do you is free access?

Laura:
Almost everything is free now, Steve. So with the exception of longer camps for children, but almost everything at this point is free. And one of the reasons for that is, as we know that this is a difficult time for a lot of people. So we're doing everything we can to open the doors and invite people to get involved, be part of the community and participate.

Steve:
And so without that revenue stream coming in, how are you holding on?

Laura (44m 23s):
It's, you know, 2020 has been pretty rough for arts and culture institutions in general. We were fortunate to have a very successful summer camp program. So summer camps were paid for us, and we managed to pivot our camps to be virtual camps, and we sold twice as many camps this year as we have any other year with people from across the United States participating in them. So big kudos to our educators who did an amazing job on that. That helped us a lot. It's also through the generosity of lots of foundations and corporations and individuals who see the value in what motive does and want to make sure that we can keep doing it and, or are enthusiastic about design and want it to be out there front end centers. So we are always grateful to anyone who's able to make a contribution to help us keep doing this work.

Steve (45m 23s):
That's great. I think it's interesting to the people that you're reaching that would never have set foot through the front doors, both locally and, and nationally and internationally. And I think this is happening with other museums. Do you think this is going to change a trend on how a museum share their exhibits and the programming and what they believe in?

Laura (45m 46s):
I think it will for us. I think, I think one distinction that we have to be clear about is that MODA is not a traditional museum, and one thing that makes us very different is that we don't have a permanent collection. So that gives us an agility that maybe some museums might struggle a little bit with, but I do think so. I think everyone will change. I think the degree to which everyone changes is up for grabs, but I think everyone will change. And I think that, you know, I said earlier, one of the questions we ask about MODA is what is the museum of the 21st century? And what's become really clear to us is that the museum of the 21st century is able to deliver content electronically as well as in person and, and do so in a way that attracts a global audience. So it's been exciting and it's given us really a lot to think about,

Steve (46m 46s):
You know, it's similar, but I go to Denver, I travel around and it's amazing the Braves fans that are all over the nation. And why is this? Because Ted Turner was sharing the Braves games and everyone could watch the game, even in their small towns or wherever they were, if they didn't have it. And so we have Braves fans just scattered all over the country that never lived in Atlanta. 

Laura: 
Interesting. 

Steve: 
And I think that's a great model. We think of it as we-as we expose who we are at the various museums.

Laura (47m 19s):
Yeah, absolutely. 

Monica: 
Well, I think Atlanta is very, very lucky to have you guys. It really is something that everybody should check out and when they can go back in-person, it is a jewel of a museum and you guys do incredible world-class exhibition. So congratulations on making it through a great year. The show is amazing. So I encourage everybody to go check it out and then become a member, become a member because you guys are doing, I love it. You're looking to the future. 

Laura: 
Thanks so much, and thanks for everything you guys do at Serenbe. You're, you're also an amazing, amazing entity. 

Steve (47m 58s):
If we all shine our light, it's going to light, light the future.

Veronica (48m 1s):
Yeah, absolutely. 

Steve (48m 3s):
Well, great exhibit. I'm glad that I got there for that.

Monica (48m 11s):
Thank you so much you guys. 

Laura: 
Thank you guys. 

Veronica: 
Thank you. 

Laura: 
Bye. 

Monica: 
Thank you for listening to Serenbe Stories, new episodes are available on Mondays. Please rate and review the podcast and visit our website to learn more about upcoming guests, episodes and everything biophilia at serenbestories.com