We were engaged by the Long Beach Community Foundation to kick-start an activation plan for the new park made possible The Knight Foundation Donor Advised Fund. Along with a group of Collaborators which included Long Beach Parks, Recreation, and Marine, Billy Jean King Main Library, City Fabrick, and Long Beach Community Foundation, we launched an initiative to highlight the potential of the remodeled, $19.5 million Lincoln Park. An initial six-week phase featured wellness, educational and art workshops, mini-events, social gatherings, commencing with a week-long Art Renzei Sculpture Festival and KCRW’s Summer Nights Concert.

We were engaged by the Long Beach Community Foundation to kick-start an activation plan for the new park made possible The Knight Foundation Donor Advised Fund. Along with a group of Collaborators which included Long Beach Parks, Recreation, and Marine, Billy Jean King Main Library, City Fabrick, and Long Beach Community Foundation, we launched an initiative to highlight the potential of the remodeled, $19.5 million Lincoln Park. An initial six-week phase featured wellness, educational and art workshops, mini-events, social gatherings, commencing with a week-long Art Renzei Sculpture Festival and KCRW’s Summer Nights Concert.

We began the plan by documenting the site usage for three days to understand the existing user and behavioral patterns in the park via site visit, site mapping, and data collection. A Place Study Report highlighted the activity and user mapping via infographics, heat maps, data charts, and photographs of the park. The Studio then defined and managed the coordination, planning, and programming of the project grant funds.

In conjunction with city agencies, various artists, trainers, and instructors, we created and managed an activation calendar that facilitated classes, workshops, and mini-events. A conceptual site plan was developed that included the park’s programming conceptual layouts to provide potential locations for typical classes, workshop, one-off events, and Library programming.

This ‘Phase 0’ experimental/temporary activation calendar was based on understanding the history of the park, background research, and place study analysis. It was powerful in its ability to allow us to test ideas and partnerships that could inform the long-term viability of programming in Lincoln Park. This included partnerships not only with the community to host activities and events but also with the City and the DLBA to permit, maintain, and manage the park. In addition, it allowed various partners and funders to see the potential of the space and what is possible (even with a relatively small operating budget) if in-kind resources could be mobilized across the community. Ultimately, it generated momentum within the community, giving people more reasons to visit the park, and building a self-sustaining audience for more programming and activation to occur.

A toolkit comprised of evaluations, findings and recommendations served as documentation of immediate and future improvements needed to support future programming. Download our report here.

This project was a pilot program supported/made possible by The Knight Foundation Donor Advised Fund held at the Long Beach Community Foundation. The Lincoln Park Collaborative includes funders and stakeholders from the City of Long Beach, Downtown local business improvement district, urban designers, neighborhood associations, and civic institutions.

For more information on programming, please visit lincolnparklb.com