Friday 15 - a participatory neighborhood event, Fridays at 3 pm.
A sustainable development in the social sphere is dependent on the communication in the neighbourhood, on the exchange of knowledge and on the participation in the decision making processes on the local scale. In this understanding, Oikodrom has brought to life its own theses about the 'emotional co-ownership' of the urban sphere and the 'city as a scene' (see: Seven Theses on Urban Quality) by organizing the 'Wasserweltfest' (Waterworld festival) on the Meiselmarkt in Vienna's 15th borough.
This initial project was to be sustained by the event 'Friday 15': Its aim was to create a meeting point on the Meiselmarkt in the 15th borough every Friday at 15 hours by offering youths and adults a series of smaller events, inviting them for active participation. This meant a revitalisation of the public space, showing the people of the borough: "On Fridays this place rocks!" Thus the Meiselmarkt was to be identified as a meeting point for the people in the 15th borough, as an exchange place for news and opinions.
In order to keep participation thresholds low, all events were organized open air. To give just a few examples: Skatelab - a training course for skating, (sports) games, participative arts like forum theatre, neighbourhood strolls, the first time ever open air cinema on the Meiselmarkt, a big Christmas fair. The members of Regionalforum 15 together with Oikodrom organized 18 Friday events over all, cooperating with a wide variety of institutions like the Technical Museum of Vienna, the association 'Sicher leben', the libraries of Vienna. Due to the lack of financial funding this successful series of gatherings had to be stopped in December 2000 - it was clear that the organization of this weekly program was too enormous to be continued without a funded body.
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Time span:
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Every Friday afternoon, from June - December 2000
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Concept & organisation:
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Oikodrom together with Regionalforum 15 (association of social institutions in the borough)
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Financial support (among others): |
Regionalforum 15, MA 7 (city department for culture), Integration fund of Vienna, MA 13 (city department for youth), council of the 15th borough of Vienna |