Front Porch pairings are diverse mix that will create new outdoor spaces downtown
Starting in January, a group of area creatives — ranging from a horticulturist to a college professor to a graphic artist — will help six downtown businesses develop outdoor expansions that will go beyond a typical patio as part of a new placemaking project called the Front Porch.
Downtown Wichita, a private nonprofit that promotes commerce and culture in the city’s core, recently announced the selection of creatives from its call for entries for the Front Porch and the six businesses the creatives will be paired with. They are:
Engy AlGarf, a painter, who will work with Wichita Cheesecake Company, 801 E. Douglas,
Kevin Harrison, an assistant teaching professor at Wichita State University, who will work with Public at the Brickyard, 129. N. Rock Island,
Chiyoko and Sarah Myose, a mother-daughter creative team, who will pair with Old Mill Tasty Shop, 604 E. Douglas,
Elisabeth Owens, a graphic designer and fine artist, who is paired with Lucinda’s, 329 N. Mead,
Drew Phillips, an architectural designer, who will work with Cana Wine & Cocktails, 223 S. Broadway, and
Belinda Smith, a horticulturist, who is paired with Jenny Dawn Cellars, 703 E. Douglas.
The Front Porch project is being funded by a $75,000 National Endowment of the Arts Our Town grant, along with a $30,000 grant from the Knight Foundation Fund at the Wichita Community Foundation. Wichita was one of 63 NEA Our Town grant recipients nationwide.
As a placemaking project, the goal of the Front Porch initiative is to create an imaginative outdoor space where people will want to hang out, much like people do on residential front porches. That’s a key reason Phillips applied to participate.
“It’s spaces like this that I looked for as a place to spend time in when I was living downtown,” said Phillips, who had lived in The Lux complex for five years until becoming an east-side homeowner a couple of months ago. He continues to work downtown at SPT Architecture.
“What caught my attention was the idea of creating safe, outdoor spaces,” said Harrison, a recording and literary artist who previously was a community engagement coordinator for WSU. Harrison has also led a social justice project called Breathe.
“Human beings need to get out and engage with others but they need to be safe.”
When Downtown Wichita made its call for entries, creatives weren’t asked to provide specific plans for a Front Porch project. Instead, they needed to indicate they understood the concepts of community-building and collaboration and have some creative experience, according to Emily Brookover, Downtown Wichita’s director of community development.
“We had some outstanding applicants,” said Brookover. “It wasn’t an easy task” to make the selections. An eight-member committee, comprising art-related community partners and other nonprofits, selected the winning applicants.
Once the applicants were selected, Downtown Wichita created the pairings with the businesses that had been approached to participate. Planning meetings will start in January, with construction likely starting in late spring. Downtown Wichita will post in-progress stories and updates on its social media accounts, Brookover said.
For Jennifer McDonald, the owner of Jenny Dawn Cellars, the timing couldn’t have been better.
McDonald was already planning an expansion of her boutique winery in Union Station to add more indoor square footage and a second patio.
“We were just going to put up a fence, table and chairs and call it a day. Now, it will have an extra vibrancy that we hadn’t intended,” McDonald said. Being paired with a horticulturist is a good fit for her winery, she said.
As a member of Leadership Wichita, McDonald had gone on a summer tour with the group to Lawrence, Kansas, where she saw similar placemaking projects and was intrigued. Leadership Wichita is a chamber of commerce program that helps introduce and train residents in community issues and leadership.
“The Front Porch project is really going to be an exciting component for people to enjoy the downtown. We want to increase the walkability of the downtown area so these cute little porches will be attractive for customers to come and enjoy. It’ll be interesting to see how the other Front Porch projects develop,” she said.
Owens, who has worked on mural projects for Avenue Art Days and did logo design work for Lucinda’s, said she’s looking forward to the challenge of creating an outdoor space for the only retail business participating. The other five are food and beverage businesses, where outdoor patios are fairly common.
But even those businesses will need to be creative with their space. At Public, it already has an adjacent outdoor live music venue. Earlier this year, the restaurant held some art events, during which it closed streets.
“That got us started looking at how we can integrate the area around us,” said co-owner Brooke Russell. “This project will show how to develop safe, outdoor spaces with activities rather than having stagnant, derelict areas.”