As a society, we are so intentional about “play” for young children. Whether we think about play as getting energy out, learning or exploring, it takes a backseat when our “future” becomes more important. Recess is halted in place of more classroom learning at a very young age and homework has students sitting until it is time to go to bed. Teenagers are pressured to think about their future and maximizing time, which means that they are often yearning for a car to get around rather than walking, biking, or taking transit. Play and movement stops being built into daily life, so adults become out of practice to expect it for themselves.  

Play can be synonymous with joy, health, spirit, color, knowledge, and so much more. How do we design for play across more diverse age groups, abilities, and perspectives? 

In PechaKucha Nashville: Volume 46, Nashville Youth Design Team member, Addison Harper, will be our MC, while our presenters share their perspectives on Universal Play in under 7 minutes each. Attend the event to witness several lightning presentations that attempt to bring play into more aspects of your life.  

Presenters:

Jody Lentz, Think with Your Hands 

Johari Matthews, ONE Community & Titans Foundation 

Calah Gipson, Walk Bike Nashville 

Holley Maher, Wink Wink Creative 

Nathan Guice, Superior Recreational Products 

Liz Tenny, The Frist Art Museum 

Uma Peters, Nashville Youth Design Team 

Matthew Sharer, Shurrrr Designs 

Parvathi Santhosh-Kumar, America’s Promise Alliance 

About PechaKucha 

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace. 

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It grew into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. The Civic Design Center is the Nashville host. 

Architecture students often are given the book, Form, Space and Order for a required reading. This short theory textbook that highlights the most basic elements shaping our built environment. However, its takeaways can also be applied artistically to so many different mediums. What is the inspiration for a line? How do artists and designers take elements of their smallest parts to shape unique, creative expressions? Does order come from symmetry or repetition? How does a designer relate built forms to open space? Does something unspoken shape the final product?

In PechaKucha Nashville: Volume 45, our presenters will interpret Form, Space, and Order in under 7 minutes. Attend the event to witness several lightning presentations to spark inspiration and delight in your everyday surroundings.

Presenters

• Dale Brackeen, Dryden Studio

• Taylor Esche, Haustile

• Tracey Ford, EOA Architects

• Hunter Gee, Smith Gee Studio

• David Greaves, Kimley-Horn

• Lindsey Laseter, Lasso Studio

• Danielle Myers, Designer and Illustrator

• Gianna Noel, Moody Nolan

Hosted with the Frist Art Museum

Inspired by the current exhibitions at the Frist Art Museum from Beatrix Potter to Ron Jude, this PechaKucha will focus on presentations centered around conservation of our natural environment. With inspiration in mind, we will also explore human’s innate biophilia and how that drives design to incorporate and celebrate elements from nature. 

Free admission to the exhibitions will be included in your ticket, however, you will be encouraged to come early in order to spend time in the galleries before the event. 

Beer, wine and snacks will be included in your ticket.

About PechaKucha

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

Presenters

MC: Nia Smith, Civic Design Center, Community Design Coordinator

• Caroline Allison, Nature Photographer

• Lorraine Ensley, EOA Architects, Senior Interior Designer

• Gary Gaston, Civic Design Center, CEO

• Jim Gregory, Nashville Tree Conservation Corps, Chair

• Tonya Lewis, NuSachi, Co-Founder

• Megan Lightell, Nature Painter

• Bob Parrish, Friends of Warner Parks, Historian

• Catherine Price, Cumberland River Compact, Senior Program Manager

• Ivan Vanchev, Anecdote Architectural Experiences, Architect

• Erica Weeks, HASTINGS, Director of Sustainability

The Civic Design Center and the AIA Middle Tennessee Government Relations and RUDAC Committees present Nashville’s 43rd Volume of PechaKucha Night where speakers will talk about Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in Nashville. From successful design precedents to advocating for consensus within communities, we will hear from architects and engineers, community and civic leaders, and more! With this lightning talk presentation style, you will get a crash course on all of the challenges and opportunities related to TOD.

AIA Members will receive 1 Learning Unit with attendance.

About PechaKucha

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It grew into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. The Civic Design Center is the Nashville host.

Meet the Presenters

• Amy Crownover, Greenways for Nashville

• Jessica Dauphin, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee

• Elle McKenna, Moody Nolan

• Kristen Gruhn and Omar Bakeer, Smith Gee Studio

• Samantha Bowie, KCI

• Jubal Parris, Gresham Smith

• Jeff Strand, TN Disability Coalition

• Mary Vavra, Barge Design Solutions

About Zeitgeist’s Current Exhibition

Artist: Vesna Pavlović

Dates: March 4 - April 8, 2023

Vesna Pavlovic’s 4th solo show at Zeitgeist, Perfect Memory, showcases a body of photographs which represent a return to still image and documentary themes which gained her attention as a young artist. While Pavlović’s work after her time as a student at Columbia University and her arrival to Nashville in 2009 emphasized image reproduction, projection, and installation, Perfect Memory echoes her visual exploration of aesthetic, social and historical phenomena found in her legacy series, such as the iconic “Hotels.”

Perfect Memory integrates three bodies of photographs shot recently in former Yugoslavia, Cuba, and the US. These works—“Sites of Memory,” “Jardines de Hershey,” and “Searching for the Perfect Sunset”, are connected by questions of memory and the politics of place, with a focus on photographic representation of political and cultural histories of Cold War era.

Tickets

This PechaKucha Night will bring together diverse groups and perspectives on the theme, "Participatory Design"! Each lightning talk (6 minutes and 40 seconds) will highlight the importance of bringing together many voices to the table for creating quality projects and impactful urban design initiatives.

About PechaKucha

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace. 

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It grew into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. 

Presenters

Nathan Oliver - Lockeland Springs neighborhood + Landscape Architect

Fabian Bedne - Participatory Budgeting

Katie Rudowsky - S.N.A.P. Neighborhood Organization

Trey Walker - WeGo

Julia Southerland - Village at Glencliff

Anna Grider - Metro Planning

Kelly Bonadies - Buchanan Arts District

Pete Westerholm - GNRC

Meghan Wood - I SAW THE SIGN Murals

Melody Gibson - Design Your Neighborhood

Renata Soto - Mosaic Changemakers

Get a Ticket

What is PechaKucha?

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds (6 minutes and 40 seconds each). It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

More About the Theme

Housing design is important, but it isn’t a basic need. So many people are left wondering whether or not they will be able to pay rent or find a bed to sleep in that night. Design, beauty, and comfort are NOT necessary elements to get through the next day, week, or month. We have often seen public housing or affordable housing developments that cut corners on design to save money. Perhaps those corners are cut with the knowledge that people who need housing right now don’t have the luxury to be selective about its design. However, we know that homes are emotional—they can not only feel more functional, but also livable when they are well designed.

Doesn’t everyone deserve a safe space and a house to call their own?

Schedule

5:30 pm-Mingling, drinks, and snacks

6:00 pm-Presentations Begin

6:30 pm-Beer Break!

6:45 pm-Presentations Continue

Presenters

Brian Tibbs, Moody Nolan

Kelsey Oesmann, Urban Housing Solutions

Amanda Loper, David Baker Architects

Nicole Rowan, Rebuilding Together

Judith Seaman, Auburn Rural Studio

Veronica Foster, Civic Design Center

Lori Bell, EOA

Mona Hodge, Smith Gee Studio

Andrew Wolthers, Catalyst Design Group

Laura Hollier, HASTINGS

Tickets to Attend

Event Partner

Hear from Nashville's Black Artists and Designers

For Nashville’s first PechaKucha Night of 2021, the Civic Design Center will partner with the Nashville chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMAnash) to amplify the perspectives of Black designers, creatives, artists, and architects in the community. With a focus on how art and design can be more inclusive, presenters will share their unique experiences.

PechaKucha Presenters

• Asia Allen, AIA | NOMAnash, Gresham, Smith and Partners Project Architect / Project Coordinator

• Joseph Cole, AIA | NOMAnash President, Culture Architecture & Design CEO

• Valarie Franklin, AIA | NOMAnash Past President, Moody Nolan Senior Associate / Client Relationship Manager

• Jamal Jenkins, artistically known as Woke3 | Writer, Muralist, Director

• Brittany Cole, Career Thrivers

• Whitney Johnson, Assoc. AIA, EOA Architects, NOMAnash

• Brynn Plummer, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Dissocialite Design Co.

• Mustapha Williams, AIA, Gensler Chicago, I-NOMA

About PechaKucha

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise and keeps things moving at a rapid pace. Each presentation is 6 minutes and 40 seconds long, with a brief introduction.

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It grew into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide.