Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborne Foundation.

The Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

On today's show well feature two innovative nonprofits committed to creating a better future for Chattanooga.

One promotes urban design that elevates the quality of life for Chattanooga, and the other empowers students with an educational experience built around music and arts.

We're stronger together, Chattanooga.

So stay tuned to learn more.

Welcome to Chattanooga.

Stronger together.

I'm Barbara Marter.

With us today is Ginger Birnbaum, director of development and outreach at Chattanooga Design Studio, a community resource promoting excellence in urban design through education and collaboration.

Ginger, welcome.

Im so excited to have you with us today.

I want to know what is urban design and why is it so important to Chattanoogans?

Yeah, so the Chattanooga Design Studio really focuses on sparking collective action, and bringing people together around a conversation that gets us to a better place in our public realm.

So we do that through urban design.

We have, a team of four urban designers, that work on, you know, really large framework projects, but also also smaller projects.

So the public realm, you could think about it like, you know, perhaps in your home you have a space that might be a little bit more private, one where you're gathering more often.

maybe you're even envisioning your front porch.

So in Chattanooga, if you think about that, downtown, the places that are more public, maybe that's like the sidewalk outside of EPB where everyone gathers to look at the holiday lights, a favorite tradition for many.

Or maybe it's Miller Park.

or maybe it's the riverfront parks.

or even on to Montague Park.

Those are certainly public spaces and places where we really focus a lot of our attention and our work, because we believe that it builds a better quality of life when those shared public spaces are equitable, accessible for all, and that the built environment in that space is sustainable.

so when you have a project that you're going to be working on, walk me through because you actually don't just come in and go as an architect, I'm going to design this and do it and everything.

Excuse me.

You pull the public in.

The stakeholders.

Yes.

And so how would you, if I brought you a project, what would be the first thing that you would kind of set up and do.

Yeah.

So let's take, let's take, Montague Park.

I love that one.

I love the sculpture fields over there.

So tell me how from start to finish, how you kind of envision phase one phase to kind of walk me through that so I can conceptualize what you're doing.

Right?

Because it is it is complicated.

And, what we're really looking for is a way to reflect the community voice and what the community desires in that space.

So we know that Montague Park is a place that is emerging.

People want to be there.

so in that we bring together different community groups, people that surround that space with businesses, the neighborhoods that surround that space, other stakeholders and really lead a conversation about what is desired.

What do you want to see here?

How do you want to live this space out?

and how can we best utilize it?

Montague Park is 45 acres, really in the heart of our city.

And you can't find that anywhere else.

So it's it's amazing.

And as you were saying, you know, you have, the sculpture fields at Montague Park, this unbelievable outdoor art museum, and also the Chattanooga Football Club Foundation, which is well activated with sport.

So part of that conversation to really stitch those together and create this new, incredible space that will improve quality of life, it's it's bringing all those people to the table to and to see how we can really build this space out together, and best utilize it.

And I think when you do that, they're becoming partners.

They feel like they're invested in it versus just saying, all right, we're going to design this and you're going to enjoy it, right?

Like, no, we're not either.

But if you bring them to the table and go, we want to know how you are going to utilize this.

What would you like to see whether it could be a farmer's market?

it could be, I think some of the other areas, like shade spaces and path additions for walking and stuff like that.

What is the community that they're living there around it, and also visitors from other countries or other states.

We have a lot of people from, of countries, different countries that come in for sculpture, the sculpture fields, because it's so unique and it's so different in everything.

But I love how you are actually allowing the community to say, this is your space, and how do you want to do it the other one, I think that you've really invested a lot of time is the West Side Project.

Yes.

That was huge.

Yes, it is huge.

So kind of walk me through that.

So our viewers and I can kind of see, you know, a clear picture of really you're more advanced in that one than you are in the Montague Park, I believe.

Yeah, absolutely.

So that that's accurate, that Montague Park, the, the funding is, is tricky.

Right.

So we're still working there to get that plan into action, and into that space.

And the same goes to a degree for the West Side Evolves project.

Again, it's really needing to bring people together to now find a plan that's been in the works for years.

Right.

But, the, the framework that is in place for West Side Evolves truly, truly, is informed and honestly led by community members.

These spaces are only as valuable as the voices that they represent.

And, for the West Side, this is a neighborhood, one of the largest neighborhoods in Chattanooga.

that just so happens to be, right there downtown.

But while downtown, has really enjoyed, a lot of benefit from revitalization, we cannot, unfortunately, say the same for the West Side.

So when the Chattanooga Housing Authority engaged the Chattanooga Design Studio to come on board, to help with the engagement, to help with the planning, to lead that, to steer it, it was immediately, something that we wanted to do is to bring in that community voice.

And so some of the ways that we did that is actually engage some of the community members to be leaders in the planning process.

Oh.

Yeah.

So one of those people is, Erika Roberts, and she led the Imagination Team of six artists, and they creatively, engaged the people of the West Side to tell their story, to tell the story of the history of the West Side, what they love in that space, what that identity is for them.

so she led that process, and then we also had author and historian Rita Hubbard, who documented the history of the West Side.

So when a community changes that identity unfortunately is lost.

So this is a changing community and that is a good thing.

But we want to be sure to that.

The changes also anchored in the history that people they are honor and love.

so really it's their stories, that they're telling about the West Side.

And I would urge anyone that's interested in the project to also just go to our website at Chattanooga studio.com.

and that takes you through to the WestSideEvolves website, and you can look through the work of the Imagination team.

all that Rita Hubbard has documented.

And then another person that I would mention that is a part of the West Side community, and truly a community leader is Sharon Dragg.

and she really brought people together in that community, the children, the adults, to enjoy the process of planning.

because that can be a daunting task, right?

To have all of these people coming into your community, discussing change, and, and what will come.

And speaking of that change, it is very exciting to be at a place where we have this broad framework, once we, we get to a place where we're into that building, the James A Henry school through all of the work, that these women put forth with engaging the community, we found that that's a really beloved location in the West Side.

Yes.

So, the first priority really is to focus there at the James A Henry school so once that's renovated and then a portion of it built out to really represent the initial intent of that building, there will be 117 seats for Head Start.

Oh, which is amazing.

It's so needed.

It is it is so needed.

and there will also be a community center housed there, a brand new community center.

And, for them to, to engage and to be together again in that public space.

So it's it's very exciting.

what's on the horizon for the West Side.

But another main priority is, one for one housing.

So, yeah.

So the West Side does, have deeply subsidized affordable housing.

But before anything happens to renovate or rebuild, those, new housing will be built.

and there is a promise put forth that that will be one for one housing.

So, so nobody will be displaced or anything.

Yes.

we've got about a couple of minutes left, but I want to talk about your free speaker's events.

That's exciting.

I didn't even know about that.

Oh, well, I'm glad you know.

You'll have to.

Come.

I know.

Yeah, yeah.

So, so who are some of the speakers that you've had and and kind of tell me.

So what they're bringing to you is what they did in their community, what worked and what didn't work, so that you're letting now those that are engaged, the community that's engaged kind of like learn their lessons and say, well, we could probably do something like that, but let's tweak it to really fit our environment.

so some of the speakers were like Gil Penalosa.

Yes, so he is the founder of Canadian nonprofit about 8 80 cities.

and as he points out, quite often, it's not 8 to 80, it's 8 AND 80.

And the idea there is, if you build a city for an eight year old and you build a city for an 80 year old, then it's great for everyone.

If you're looking at it through those two lenses and that makes sense, right?

it's just a more accessible, equitable city.

so he really taught us that lesson and also urged us to lean into the idea of, spending that that maybe final third, that so many people refer to as aging or really as active years.

That's a huge portion of our lives.

And to be a city that welcomes that, and, and is a creative, fun, enjoyable space, for those people.

True.

Ginger, this has been so exciting.

Thank you.

I now understand more what what the design studio is about versus just like, coming in and remodeling my house.

Good job.

So we won't be come in for interior design, but we'll see you, in the shared public spaces.

And the speakers events too.

Definitely going to check that out and everything.

And I would encourage everyone to come visit your website.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Oh thank you I learned so much from there.

So thank you so much.

Appreciate that.

Up next we'll have Kessler Cuffman, executive director of Dynamo Studios.

You don't want to miss it.

So stay tuned.

you serve your community.

Send us photos or videos of you or your family volunteering, and we may feature it on a future episode.

Email stronger@wtcitv.org or use the hashtag STRONGERWTCI on social media.

Welcome back.

We're joined by Kessler Cuffman, executive director of Dynamo Studios.

The organization empower students and musicians through innovative educational experiences in music production and the arts.

It's a pleasure to have you here today.

Kessler.

So welcome.

I'm so happy to learn more about Dynamo Studios.

So yeah, I'm excited to be here.

Tell me why.

Where's your heart and your passion and why you started this?

so I started as a musician, playing in bands and touring and doing that whole thing.

And in the process, I also got my degree in education for like World history and political science.

So I taught for a few years and I was.

Like, where did that come from?

Well, I figured if music didn't work out, everybody had that history teacher.

They everybody has that one.

And it was almost always a history teacher who made that difference in their life and was impactful.

I was like, I want to be that guy.

So, I was teaching at a local high school, Center for Creative Arts.

And, that's really where the whole thing came from is I want to start a new major there.

And it used to be the City High Dynamos back in the day, so.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, I remember that.

That's a yeah, that's how Dynamo Studios came to fruition back when I was a little baby teacher back in 2014 2015.

Yeah.

So from there we we just saw that we could do more if we were removed a little bit.

So we launched as a full scale 501C3 nonprofit at the end of the year.

In 2015 it was like December 17th like literally right at the end of the year.

So our first big project was the studio at the Chattanooga Public Library.

And, you know, that was a we started the org off with a pretty serious bang.

That was a really big project, and it's done a lot of cool things.

And, from there we were just doing mostly after school programs and were like, you know, we can do more.

if we're in schools.

teachers like that was once again, going back to those teachers who meant so much to me as a kid.

you know, I saw them every day for multiple hours, every single day.

so, you know, in that type of dynamic, you're doing life with the kids, you're getting to know them.

You end up getting to know their families.

And it's just such a more, I don't know, it's just a deeper relationship where you can really be impactful and really mentor kids.

So, it's like, let's keep doing the afterschool stuff, but let's start focusing on in-school programs.

And that's when the organization really took off.

so, you know, now we've got over 4000 students between Atlanta, Nashville and Chattanooga, Chattanooga being our home base and our HQ for everything we do.

but, you know, our kids in these different schools all over, you know, the southeastern part of the country, they are going to class to learn to be producers instead of going to a traditional band class.

And the band still offered.

But for the kids that are into music, but are into a different type of music or into the creation process, not so much learning music and reciting it.

this is, you know, home for them.

And then, from there we expanded to all the different creative industries within music.

So photo video, we're about to launch a huge graphic design curriculum.

one of the best parts about our programs is, it's like they start learning to be producers and they start through the lens of wanting to be artists.

And that's pretty much how we get every single student.

But through the process of creating, they end up kind of discovering their superpower, the thing that they're passionate about.

We have so many students who start as you know, wanting to run the studio, but they end up becoming photographers, or they're like, I really like photo, and they start with that, or then they realize I'm really good at graphic design and that's the route they take.

So that's the thing is, there's so many jobs and career paths within the creative economy and music industry that this is that, you know, jumping point or launching point for them.

This gives them the means to get in the door with really whatever it is they want to do that's around, you know, where their natural talent lies.

That's so cool.

So the who would we use as teachers?

So our teachers, that's one of our competitive advantages is, it's not just a person who went to school to teach music.

It's a person who's active in the music industry or creative economy.

So, you know, we I mean, we had one guy, he got two Grammy nominations while he was teaching a class.

Like, that's how he found out while he's in the middle of teaching a group of sophomores like how to make beats.

And then, one person, she was here visiting with some students at Tyner and, or from Tyner, and she, she found out her record she did with Jason Derulo went gold while she was, like, mentoring a group of girls.

So, you know, when we bring people in, it's not just a person who makes music.

It's a person who's active in the industry.

So that really knows the industry industry and then can actually relate that back to the students and give them almost real world experiences.

Yeah.

And that's where the magic happens.

You know, the growth for adolescents in development we use Maslow's hierarchy of needs goal being self-actualization.

It's not just about getting kids jobs.

That's half of what we do.

The other half, which is almost more important self-actualization.

It's the peak of human development.

So when you put kids in the real world with the professionals and they're not looked at as a kid, they're looked at as a colleague or like a colleague.

that's when like the development just goes through the roof.

It's very rapid.

It's like you can observe it happen in real time.

It's it's really something.

so these, these teachers, they come in, from recording sessions, or they might leave the school to go to sessions, or they may go on a photoshoot, whatever it is.

a lot of the times they offer those opportunities to the students.

So, you know, when a kid learns to cut vocals for an artist, we put them in a session quickly with a real deal.

Artists.

And the kid runs the session, with them and like they did, they hit it off so much with a few other artists, artists like, here's my cell phone number, send me music whenever you got stuff for me.

Oh my word.

You know, that's the kind of stuff me as an adult professional, I would kill for that.

You know, like when you get an artist, direct contact information, that's when it happens, you know?

what is Switchfoot?

Switchfoot is this band from San Diego that has become a really cool part of our story.

I was one of my favorite bands in high school, which is sick, but they, they came through.

We've built a relationship with them.

And any time they're within a couple hours of Chattanooga, they hit us up and we send our kids out to work with them.

So, this past fall, they were on their 20th, I think was their 20th anniversary tour for their Beautiful Letdown record, which is their one where they got their huge break and, they needed content to help front load the tour with, photos and the video footage or whatever.

So they brought us out and our students help support their tour directly.

So we drove down to Atlanta for that one.

And, you know, kids got signed out of school and got to go make content instead.

It's pretty cool.

But there are others like that.

What bands?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, we've got.

Yeah, we got a lot.

There's a few pretty big ones we can't mention yet that everybody's going to see very well the.

Moon River.

Moon River.

Yeah, that was that one was so cool.

So we talked with, one of our guys at AC entertainment.

Ted, who's, you know, the big dog over there, like, hey, we got these students who are doing really well, and Jim Striker is the one who got us connected.

And from there he set us up with photo passes and he's like, yeah, go do your thing.

And the kids killed it.

And they did so well that, the bands were when they saw the kids posting content, tagging them.

They were like reaching out to the students directly, like, hey, can you, like, send us this so we can, like, post this or have, like the high res copies or like, oh yeah, sure.

And then, you know, need to breathe reached out to me directly or like, hey, like we should work more.

And they were the headliners for the festival.

But the coolest part is one of our girls.

She, that was her first, like, really big.

Like concert or not concert, but festival too.

She, she ended up using her work and got into SCAD using it, which is an incredibly competitive program.

And she started with us two years ago, was a random student who showed up for one of our camps, and she just went for it, and we're like, oh, she's like, she's like, got it.

So we, you know.

Yeah.

Took her under our wing and started connecting her with everyone.

We've got a really great female photographer.

She's done stuff all over the world.

I kind of mentors her and works with her.

And now she's in SCAD.

So.

Yeah.

So what are your future plans look like?

so many.

So, so many.

I keep telling everybody, like, I can't wait to have a year that's just like this.

Like, just, you know, slow growth.

Because right now it's like that.

The the the trajectory is that's what you want to grow in everything.

Oh yeah.

But it's like if you start leveling off you're going to get bored.

Yo that's what everybody also keeps telling me.

But I'm like, man, I tell her we're hanging on for dear life in the best way possible because it's going so fast and the opportunities are so ridiculously huge.

And it's just, you know, things that can't happen keep happening, and then it just keeps happening.

So, you know, we've got some we've got our studio over at the South Chatt Rec Center in partnership with the city of Chattanooga.

That was really great.

Mayor Kelly has been hugely supportive of us, and we've done a lot of great work over there.

You know, there's platinum records coming out of that studio.

You know, things that are going to get Grammy nominated and kids are a part of all of it.

That's super great.

But that's set the pace.

And now, the plan is to further, you know, integrate our work in more ways within the local school district.

This stuff in Atlanta and Nashville is really great.

We're going to keep that kind of as is maybe grow a little bit.

But Chattanooga is really where the heart of this thing is.

So we're focused on developing the economy here locally because that's what leads to the opportunities for our kids.

And we've got, you know, big, massive, massive film studios as big as you could possibly picture are going to be getting built here.

We've got a huge recording studios that are going to be coming.

Major labels want to, open offices here.

So and that's really great for just local creatives, but it's also great for our kids to have a local stepping stone.

That way when they graduate, if they're like, hey, I want to go into this industry, they have a place to go and that's not Nashville or Atlanta.

If they want to go to other cities, that's fine.

I consider both of them regional because I make those drives multiple times a week for work.

So it's just, you know, that's where the sessions are.

And, you know, we're trying to bring them to Chatt.

So it's great.

Well, you're talking about production and all this other stuff.

Do you do any songwriter sessions or anything like that?

Oh yeah.

So that's the whole other side of Dynamo and we're about to launch a whole new organization that's a branch or component or partner or whatever of Dynamo, and that will essentially take on the economic development part of our mission.

And that will be around, you know, bringing huge projects to Chattanooga and putting locals in the rooms so that they're able to make money off of that.

They're able to grow, build their network.

You know, we've done stuff for about every artist under the sun at this point.

I feel like and, you know, it's cool when we're able to bring students in.

It's also cool.

We're able to bring in aspiring professionals who have all the talent in the world in Chattanooga, but they don't have the opportunities or connections.

And, you know, we've been we've been doing a lot of that.

And it's, people are making money, you know, and that's really cool because it just means the model works and we're all about.

You're not just providing them with a job, you're providing them with a career.

And that's very fulfilling.

So thank you so much for coming in today.

This has been such a joy for me to learn more about it.

And I wish you the very best for the future and for Chattanooga in the music industry.

Yeah.

Appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for joining us.

We hope you've learned more about the incredible work being done by our nonprofits.

So tell us what you think.

Email us at stronger@wtcitv.org or use the hashtag strongerwtci on social media I'm Barbara Marter and from all of us here at WTCI, we'll see you next time.

Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborne Foundation.

The Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.

but they do it, you know, there.

You have one a student like that down in Atlanta doing something like that for, an artist or something.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

We had, Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Which one?

There's a lot.

Oh my gosh than one.

Oh yeah.

So we had this big producer writer canvas where you get writers and producers from, you know, all over the country or world, and we put together music for huge artists.

Right?

That's how the big hits are made.

So we had a camp down there we were invited to for an artist named Rayvon, another artist name, Jalen Jose, and then another one named Ben Riley.

So we had some students down there who were doing really well, and we had a couple from chat we took as well, actually, and I was like their senior, you know, kind of a gift from us.

They they've been doing great and they've been with us since sixth grade.

So really let's take them down to the big show.

So we had those students from Atlanta and the ones from Chattanooga working together, like in person, like from as close as you and I are sitting together with these, like, you know, major label, huge artist.

So this is like for