20Ft Wide: Downtown Alley Activation Comes to Austin

I have written a of couple posts here about my love for alleys and the potential to transform these spaces into vibrant public places for families.  Last fall, the City of Austin's Downtown Commission (which I sit on) set up a workgroup to explore how to make this happen. This has led to the upcoming launch of 20Ft Wide, Austin's first downtown alley activation project (in recent times at least). Yay! What a thrill to see this project unfold, with a tremendous consortium of public and private partners.

20Ft Wide will temporarily activate a downtown alley along Congress Avenue as a public space over the course of five days in April. The project will involve an art installation in the upper levels of the alleyway, along with a series of artist programs and interactive activities for families, to draw people into the alley and to engage them with the alley space. “20ft Wide” is named after the 20 feet that serves as the standard width for many of Austin’s downtown alleys. On Saturday, April 20th, from 10am-3pm, the alley will be transformed into an artistic playground for children, with a writer's workshop, origami, musical performances, jugglers, and more.

The 20Ft Wide project is already generating lots of great buzz in the media, including these stories from YNN and KUT public radio. A detailed list of 20Ft Wide events will be posted soon on Art Alliance Austin's website.  Stay tuned for updates.