Thursday, February 19, 2009 by Dave Blum
I was interested to see today an article in the Tucson Citizen, titled “Scavenger Hunt to Help on Ideas for Vacant Buildings.”
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/110285.php
According to the piece, “Three artists are putting on a Downtown Scavenger Hunt to generate ideas from participants on what can be done with 10 vacant buildings … Small activities will take place at each scavenger hunt building, especially jotting down thoughts of what could happen with each building. Organizers plan to compile participants’ ideas and present them to the building’s owners, said graphic designer and writer Julie Ray.”
As far as scavenger hunt ideas go, this is a pretty great one! Scavenger hunts are a great way to nudge people off the couch and out the door, visiting the specific locations of your choice. I love that these artists in Tucson are using the hunt model for such an interesting purpose — to get the community involved in finding creative uses for public real estate. Just for the fun of it, I called Ms. Ray just now and left a vm, offering to help with their clue writing. I’ll certainly let you know if they take me up on my offer. After 14 years in this business, I’m betting I have at least a few treasure hunt ideas to share with them.
Let me know if you have a scavenger hunt list you need help with. If it’s a worthy and interesting cause, I’d probably be willing to help.