Alaska News

Photos: Kids, what makes an ideal neighborhood?

A future Mountain View community public art exhibit received input from kids at the Mountain View Boys and Girls Club Monday afternoon during the Peace Project Workshop. The session was organized by Aurora Sidney-Ando and Christina Demetro, artists who are producing a five-foot bronze sculpture called "Whale Song." The primary aim of the event is to encourage neighbors, particularly children, to envision characteristics of an ideal community, and then challenge them to create it. "With small actions they can create big change down the road," said Demetro. Demetro and Sidney-Ando have enlisted the help of several schools and organizations including Wonder Park Elementary and the Anchorage Community Land Trust to make sure the project stays on track. Whale Song is planned to eventually be displayed at the corner of Mountain View Drive and Park Street.

Monday's activities included creating artistic components for the Whale Song sculpture as well as continuing the discussion of what makes an ideal neighborhood. The painted banners will be hung in the Boys and Girls Club. "In these clubs the kids talk about what they want their neighborhoods to look like," said Demetro. "And that's really meaningful for us to see because small shifts become big shifts if they take even one little action towards a positive change."

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