Harvard University’s Post

So many powerful collaborations happening in the Berkshires! Read more about this effort, aimed at spurring social justice through song, in my recent story for The Berkshire Edge. https://lnkd.in/gPefQDvB

🎸 I think everyone should be a fan of Brett Dennen. 📚 I think all homeschool families should support ESAs. 🏛 I think states should work harder to craft programs that work for home-educating ESA families. Got a few minutes? Read why ⬇ #esa #educationsavingsaccounts #homeschool #homeschooling #schoolchoice #

April is National Fair Housing Month! It's always a good time to educate yourself on Fair Housing, but during this month especially, I'll be providing you some great resources to learn even more! Starting us off is a great video called, "Segregated By Design." "‘Segregated By Design’ examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy...We can compensate for this unlawful segregation through a national political consensus that leads to legislation. And this will only happen if the majority of Americans understand how we got here. As Jay-Z said in the New York Times, “you can't have a solution until you start dealing with the problem: What you reveal, you heal.” This is the major challenge at hand: to educate fellow citizens of the unconstitutional inequality that we’ve woven and, on behalf of our government, accept responsibility to fix it." Click the link below to watch the video! https://lnkd.in/gvURCtyA

Check out my latest article on Monterey County Weekly

My former industry and current one sometimes dovetail in surprising ways. Melissa Korn's exceptionally reported piece in The Wall Street Journal about the steep rise in the cost to attend public universities was one of those places. Here's where my brain went...   Similar to these universities, in the early aughts in NYC, posh theaters and theater complexes made of steel and concrete began swallow the Off and Off Off Broadway ecosystem. The theaters were comfortable for the audience, and, no doubt, made for much better working conditions for the staff and artists (hurrah for AC and TP).   But this comfort came at a cost and changed the egalitarian nature of a truly fertile scene. These structures literally and metaphorically bulldozed over the storefront theaters that weren't concerned so much with ticket sales but with creating work that was challenging and provoking, fun and weird. Not that the artists were always successful - some of the work was truly bad 😅 - but it was a place to experiment, to try, to fail, to iterate, and, potentially, to triumph.   But with this new architecture came higher costs, and the pressure to bring in a paying audience rose. Tickets went from an affordable $12 - $35 to $25 or upwards of Broadway prices. Audiences, understandably, balked at paying so much for untested work. (Weird is fun and all, but not if it's more expensive than your grocery bill.)   Media folks (like it or not, they were the main ticket sale drivers, but that’s a post for another day) once up for an adventure, grew accustomed to the amenities of the new spaces, some with fancy bars and cafes, so coverage of the smaller, but no less vital, work began to drop off. The thrill of discovery was replaced with a desire for convention and safety.   A few small spaces bucked the trend, but NYC lost more theaters than were built, and the ones that remained grew and grew and grew, swallowing up the resources, are now in financial crisis.   This is simplistic, of course, since the meteoric rise of property values in NYC also contributed to the loss of so many spaces. NYC’s arts scene relied on benevolent landlords, and those unsurprisingly cashed out in the boom.   If you made it this far, congratulations, welcome to my brain!   I am not sure what this means exactly. Cities change - they are vital, moving, breathing things, and change is imperative to their survival. And a campus is, essentially, a city, so it makes sense it will evolve. But how can we do this and ensure no one gets left behind? #theater #offbroadway #nyctheater https://lnkd.in/ed2-GKwk

No matter what city my clients invite me to in the US or abroad, they always show me the "hot districts" and tell me how high the real estate prices are and that no good deals are left to be had. "So why don't you create more 'hot districts'?" I ask, to which I get a puzzled look. The boundaries that define a hot district versus a "not-so-hot" one are often geographic—such as a major roadway, railway, or river—and somewhat arbitrary and perceptual. But these lines are not fixed. They can be moved with a little vision, guts, and patience. In every city I visit, underutilized properties lie dormant with latent potential, just waiting to be restored by enterprising investors, revitalized by local businesses seeking cool and funky distinctiveness, and rejuvenated by progressive consumers seeking a safe adventure on the edge of the city. One super hot district emerging on the LA scene for the last few years is the Sycamore District near Santa Monica Boulevard and LaBrea. For decades, the properties in this area sat underutilized and overlooked by businesses who were paying top dollar to get into the obvious hot district with little to no upside. But somebody with vision and imagination saw potential in these underutilized assets on Sycamore and turned old iron and brick into gold and butter. Congrats to CIM Group cofounders Shaul Kuba and Avi Shemesh for transforming these overlooked buildings into the place to be. #realestatedeveloper #developer #development #buildings #renovations #restorations #restaurants #urbandistrict #losangeles #LA #labrea #BID #cities #downtowns shaul kuba CIM Group

As we look at routes to revive #towncentres and #citycentres a reminder that a new focus is sometimes helpful. This might not be easy given planning constraints. A mixed economy over the 24/7 cycle presents challenges. #regeneration

Unfortunately political attacks and fear strategies arent new. Cultural strategies from communities that have been attacked and kept standing might be useful. Educators need not begin the school year in fear. Read more in my latest article. https://lnkd.in/d2qrwkPn

More new voices! Check out this new post by Adam Clark! "Arts are unique and essential for this reason – it involves so much humanity that you can’t teach it like any other subject." #newteacher Read more at https://bit.ly/3YunlwG