Presenting the Concepts, Picking a Winner

Photos, top to bottom:

1. The Winning Team:

Concept: Burn the Wall

Mentor

David Schiedt : Creative Director, Buster York Creative

Students

Loni Huston : Metro State College of Denver, Senior

Mia Huang : Colorado State University, Senior

Kyle Olsen : Colorado State University, Senior

2. Part of the Burn the Wall concept included tagging pizza boxes so the art travels

3. The three presenting teams were very organized with their rationale.

Honorable Mention

Concept: Rail Car

Mentor:

Jay Roth : Senior Writer, Integer Group AND ADCD President!

Students:

Brooke Schott : Metro State College of Denver, Senior

Adrian Newman : Metro State College of Denver, Senior

Kate Dzintars : University of Denver, Senior

Lynette Losasso : Arapahoe Community College, Sophmore

4. They were also excited about their concepts.

Honorable Mention

Concept: The Scrawl

Mentor:

Steve Koloskus: Principal, Extra Strength Marketing

Students:

Lauren Shviraga : Metro State College of Denver, Senior

Katie Matteo : Colorado State University, Senior AND ADCD Student Advocate!

Daniel Ahrens : Metro State College of Denver, Junior

Kendall and Peter discuss the problem and the many solutions proposed

5. Kendall and Jamie talk to the teams about their concepts and pick three of the ten to present.

At about 9pm, Kendall Peterson from UAF and Jamie Webb, the brief writer, circulated room, talking to the teams about their concepts. It was impressive to watch their involvement, their sincerity at treating this like a real opportunity for these students. That's part of what makes The Brief so great: it is a real opportunity. The work will get used by the client.

They chose 3 teams to present their ideas, and in the end, one team, one concept to follow through with. Remember the basic problem at hand:

How can we create and launch a newsworthy art program that enables true self-expression?

The idea centered around getting street artists to express themselves in ways that are both satisfying and profitable for them and whose format or venue is acceptable and appealing to the city and community (read: legal and non-vandalising). The concepts tonight ranged from movable train car installations to pizza boxes in actual use, and included ways for the artists to exhibit and auction or otherwise sell their work.

In the end, the team with the pizza box concept won the project. That's just the kernel of the idea, really. The concept, titled Burn the Wall after the colloquial language of showing up another artist, included auctions, subversive formats, and a "rebellious" aesthetic, and is easily executable on a variety of budgets and scalable to fit the needs and growth of the client's program. (I'd personally love to see some of the Cherry Creek style boutiques and chains sign-up to have their bags tagged beautifully; Ann Taylor, Betsey Johnson, etc, with traveling art that reaches across age, style and economic gaps would be interesting.)

Congratulations to the winning team and the client. And thanks to all who participated in this year's Student Brief. Another great ADCD event.