It Takes a Village (or Two)

One Spartanburg, SC neighborhood is building villages. From October 2016 through April 2017, the Highland neighborhood was the site of the “Video Village,” an installation by artist Erwin Redl, which transformed windows in the vacated Cammie Clagget housing units into projection screens for videos created in part by neighborhood residents.

In all, fifty-two windows lit up the night for six months, showcasing the proud and sometimes troubled history of this neighborhood less than a mile from a booming downtown.

Computer monitor showing an image of a road
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Behind those fifty-two windows/projection screens was a small fortune in technology, which as of June 28, 2017 is the cornerstone of the Innovation Village at the Bethlehem Center in the Highland neighborhood.

During the opening ceremonies, youth from the neighborhood, with very little adult supervision, arranged and connected and booted up the computer workstations where local residents will now have access to technology and training programs intended to provide a pathway to employment.

People near computer connecting a monitor
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