COMPANY PROFILE 2013
ABOUT VIBRANT PLACES
PLACEMAKING
Vibrant Places creates dynamic pop-up activations in public spaces. For 5 years we have been a pioneer in activating public spaces; and for the last 8 years we have worked in the Built-Environment sectors. Our Placemaking background provides you with place-based solutions, which are custom and specific to your space. We have created activations in prominent and challenging public spaces including King George Square, Burnett Lane, Southbank, Albert Street, Northshore and even in Berlin.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Our boundless creativity allows us to develop award winning and
highly successful Activation and Event Concepts. We can assist you from day one in developing a Concept, including site selection, developing aims and goals, consultation with the community, written, visual, photographic and video reporting.
PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMNT We produce and manage Vibrant events and activations; large
or small, short-term, long-term and regular. We have developed networks in many complementary industries such as food and beverage, hospitality, event hire services, transportation, theatre, music, audio, PR and Industrial Design.
ACTIVATION OF SPACE Activations are a Placemaking tool used to attract people to a space and encourage a connection between the community and that space. Our Activations are temporary projects, which differ from “events” because they are directly connected with the place they are held. Some of the Activations occur regularly, monthly or yearly, and some are one-off pop-ups to inspire the community. Why activate public space? 1. Renew parks, streets and other areas currently not attracting the community in a way that is “Lighter, Faster, Cheaper” than redeveloping the space 2. Improve the local economy by attracting people to your town or city 3. Make spaces safer through longer hours of activity 4. Attracts tourists 5. Encourage people to be more active outdoors and improve their health 6. To make people happy! 7. Bring the community together 8. Use it as a community consutation tool 9. Influence future development
GAMES NIGHT 2009-2013
Games Night is an award winning activation based at King George Square, Brisbane, and is produced by Vibrant Places for the by Brisbane City Council. The giant games attract a range of people to King George Square creating an inviting spectacle on Thursday nights, once a month. Games Night brings a lively atmosphere to the Brisbane square, keeping it safe late at night. The aims of Games Night are to encourage interactions between people of different generations, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds with giant and normal sized board games. Everyone month these aims are achieved. For the creation of Games Night, Vibrant Places received a Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Award in 2012. Games Night has been featured on the Great South East (video below), Toasted TV, Courier Mail, mX and various blogs including This Big City.
GIANT GAMES 2011-2013
The Giant Games have been used for other events successfully to activate public space, but to also be used at private events to encourage positive social interactions. The Giant Games have been used for: • School theme days • University open days or special events • Vocational care • Birthdays and celebrations • Special events • Theme days • Venue openings • Corporate team building • Community open days • Team Building Days • Social Club events Some of these events are Brisbane City Council’s Youth Week, Griffith University Multicultural Day, Premiers Queensland Day Out, Gaming Days at the Edge, Green Heart Fair, Valley Fiesta and much more.
DINER EN BLANC 2012-2013
Brisbane Diner en Blanc is a large scale activation of public spaces, to promote Brisbane to the world. The first event in 2012 invited 1,000 guests to participate. With over 7,000 people on the waiting list, the spectacle event sold out within 20 minutes. In 2013 the event returned with another successful event. The event nearly doubled in size with 2,300 guests attending and over 10,000 people on the waiting list. In 2012 it was the first event of its kind in Australia and so attracted a lot of attention nationally and internationally. This event activates public spaces through a magical, dramatic spectacle, where everyday people, and the effort they have put into their attire, is the attraction. Diner en Blanc is an international phenomenon which started in Paris as an outdoor picnic between friends over 20 years ago. Everyone dressed in white so that they could recognise one another and brought food and wine to share. They kept the location of secret, until the last minute, to evade authorities. The event has evolved into a large scale dinner, but has still kept the traditions of white attire, shared food and wine and keeping the location a secret until the last minute. This event was co-produced by Vibrant Places and Brooke Williams.
CONTAINERVAL 2013 (FUTURE EVENT)
Containerval, a pop-up festival in Hamilton, will activate a former industrial port area for the first 3 weeks of November. Amy Grey (Vibrant Places) has been engaged by Economic Development Queensland to be the Creative Producer of the Festival. The site will not be developed into a commercial and residential area for the next 5 years, so currently it is a large unused, fenced off, concrete site. Historically the site was used as a port for imports and exports and as such shipping containers as a big part of its history. Thus shipping containers are the focus of the festival and will feature in this temporary urban activation. The festival will have a Brisbane focus – the retailers featured and the programming will all be Brisbane locals, some who have been appreciated all over the world and have returned to Brisbane for the festival. The space will focus on 5 retailers and their designed shipping containers. These containers and currently being designed by QUT Bachelor of Design students.
U.R{BNE} FESTIVAL + IDEAS FIESTA 2013
The U.R{BNE} Collective, which Vibrant Places is a Chair, is a festival celebrating Brisbane’s urban spaces with pop-up event. In 2013 we worked with Brisbane City Council to collaborate on their Ideas Fiesta to create pop-up events such as: Burnett City Chic Pop-up Fashion event in Burnett Lane in Brisbane;s CBD, which attracted 5000 people in the one night. Albert St Picnic Albert St was closed down to create a pop-up park for a very popular 3 day activation. This activation has inspired more events in Brisbane, and this space has been changed forever. Spencer Lane The laneway was activated with music and food to create a vibrant, atmosphere.
U.R{BNE} FESTIVAL 2012
The U.R{BNE} Collective, which Vibrant Places is a Chair, is a festival celebrating Brisbane’s urban spaces with pop-up event. The public is invited to create these events in their city. The local festival in was in May 2012 and focused on dreaming ideas for a better Brisbane, creating greater public involvement and understanding of how urban places are designed, building pride and interest in Brisbane’s places and generally livening up our city. Ideas Cafe We ran a pro-action cafe to assist the people of Brisbane develop their ideas for events, to inform interested volunteers and to show potential sponsors what we can do.
LAZY SUNDAY CYCLE 2011-2013
Lazy Sunday Cycle was founded by Vibrant Places and Rachel Smith. Lazy Sunday Cycle is aimed at anyone and everyone who wants to ride a bicycle for fun; enthused and confident cyclists, people who are ‘interested but a little bit concerned’ about cycling, people who just want to get out there and have a go at cycling and people who want to cycle with other people. It’s aimed at young people, old people, families with children with stabilizers, people with fancy bikes and people with cargo bikes and people with bikes with baskets!
BMW GUGGENHEIM LAB 2012
Vibrant Places was invited by Rachel Smith to be part of the BMW Guggenheim Lab in Berlin, 2012. The BMW Guggenheim Lab is, “A mobile laboratory traveling around the world to inspire innovative ideas for urban design and new ways of thinking about urban life” We did a range of workshops and presentations in Berlin including: “Powered by Pecha Kucha” presentations about Lazy Sunday Cycle at “Cycling Fast Facts” • a workshop about creating a PARK with the Giant Games as part of the “Transforming Parking Spaces” • presentation about Games Night for “How would you Transformation your city?” event, • a workshop and a ride for Lazy Sunday Cycle
PARK(ING) DAY 2008-2010
PARK(ing) Day was started in 2005 by Rebar to raise awareness about the lack of green spaces in San Francisco’s downtown. It transformed an on-street car park into a ‘people park’ by temporarily providing turf, seating and shade. It is based on the idea that paying for a parking meter is like ‘renting’ a public space. Since then it has been creatively adapted and sparked imaginations around the world and in 2008 there were over 200 PARKs in 50 major cities, including New York, London and Los Angeles. In 2008 Brisbane participated and featured 40 parks on the day, attracted many people and the media. The PARKs are surprising, fun additions to the everyday street environments, and powerful symbols of placemaking and communities wanting to improve urban quality. Vibrant Places promoted Brisbane PARK(ing) Day and encouraged participation in the event which grew each year. In Brisbane there were 38 PARKs in 2008, 53 in 2009 and 62 in 2010.
AMY SAUNDERS GREY VIBRANT PLACES DIRECTOR
Amy Saunders Grey’s aim in life is to make a positive impact on her community and the world. She founded Vibrant Places in 2010 to fulfil this aim. In 2012 Amy was awarded the Queensland Emerging Designer of the Year and Lord Mayors Australia Day Award for her commitment to positive, social events in Brisbane. Amy is passionate about Participatory design and Placemaking. The place’s she designs focus on the social sustainability of the community and the inclusion of all members of the community. Amy is a Landscape Architect and has been involved with and has Project Managed public space space and urban design projects in private practice for 9 years. In early 2013, Amy was listed as one of the Courier Mail: U on Sunday’s “Top 50 Queensland Happy List: kind and compassionate people who bring a world of joy to others”. Amy shares her time between Vibrant Places, Meter Design and casually teaching at Queensland University of Technology.
CONTACT Website Email
www.vibrantplaces.org amy@vibrantplaces.org
Phone
+614 22 524 214
76/6 Babarra St Stafford 4053