Urban Re-Think (625 E
Central Blvd. in Thornton Park) used to be the cultural epicenter of downtown Orlando. It was a collaborative workspace, event space and offered all around
great community programing. Innovative and experimental programs were tested there each week. In this case, theater produce and director Jeremy Seghers interviewed people in front of a studio audience. The set up was simple, a floor lamp a microphone on a foot stool and two bar stools.
In this sketch, Jeremhy is talking to Darren McDaniel, the founding Director of Urban Re-Think. It was an informal chance to share stories. At the time Darren was having a mural added to the interior of Urban Re-Think based on a drawing done by a very young niece GraciAnn. It was a quirky drawing of a character done in yellow crayon with big eyes. Darren planned to get large mechanical googly eyes which would move. Called the Audacity of Play, the yellow character had a hexagonal head with a mad know of yellow hair, and spiraling yellow hands. The mural was created by Orlando artist, Carolyn Schultz. The functional googly eyes were concocted by Urban Re-Think resident
creative, Kathryn Neel, and empowered by Zach from Hicks Electric.
Urban Re-Think closed down in 2013 and sadly GraciAnne’s mural is no longer gracing it’s walls. Many co-working spaces, studios and creative/tech networking events have cropped up since Urban Rethink was closed but I can attest that the magic created there has not been replicated in any one venue. Though the city continues to grow, I see its cultural heart shrinking.