the cutting floor!
Joshua Poteat and I will be discussing our poet/designer collaborations this Friday afternoon at the VCU Brandcenter event, The Cutting Floor! Come see us — the Brandcenter Facebook event invite is here!
VCU OPEN NITE
This is a fantastic evening!
Open Nite — Friday, December 16, 5:30 - 8:00 pm — is a collaborative event involving VCUarts departments of Fashion, Graphic Design and Interior Design.
It’s free.
It’s open.
It’s at night. (Hence, Open Nite.)
Come tour our studios and take a look at what design students have been working on this semester.
If that’s not enough —
The new Pollak Green Roof will be open
AND there’ll be music by The Low Branches.
I’ve been looking forward to this year’s event since last year.
Fight Virginia’s Proposal to De-Regulate Interior Design
I write to you independently, not as a representative of VCU’s Interior Design Department, but as a professional and an educator concerned with the future of Interiors.
Virginia’s Governor’s Commission on Reform and Restructuring has recommended that Interior Design be deregulated.
If this moves you, please act before December 5, 2011! Otherwise, this will need to be fought in the General Assembly, where it will be much more difficult to turn the tide.
If you’re in a hurry, here’s what you’ll find in my memo here:
I. What Virginia is proposing, and why.
II. Reasons to maintain Interior Design Certification
III. Easy ways to voice your concerns in five minutes, and to where you might send your thoughts.
I. What Virginia is proposing, and why.
In Virginia, the Governor’s Commission on Reform and Restructuring has recommended that Interior Design be deregulated. Why?
Here is the official memo (http://www.reform.virginia.gov/docs/scheds/Recommendations-11-14-11.pdf). On page 12, you will find this wording:
6. Reduce Barriers to Business: De-regulate Interior Designers and Landscape Architects
The Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects issues the Certified Interior Designer and Landscape Architects Programs. There are few, if any complaints in these two sections and very few regulatory violations.
The group makes the following recommendation:
The group recommends eliminating the Certified Interior Designer program and the Landscape Architect program.
II. Reasons to maintain Interior Design Certification
What does this mean for Virginia Interior Design professionals and businesses?
- This will result in the loss of certification for Virginia Interior Design professionals.
- This will result in the loss of the ability of Virginia Interior Design professionals to submit plans for permit.
- This will result in the loss of the ability of Virginia Interior Design businesses to compete for Federal projects (which require licensed or certified designers), which will severely affect the competitiveness of Virginia-based professionals.
- This will damage the competitiveness of many women-owned Virginia independent Interior Design professionals and businesses.
- This will damage the competitiveness of many minority-owned Virginia independent Interior Design professionals and businesses.
- This will damage the ability for Virginia Interior Designers to expand into areas (e.g., stamping, signing, and submitting plans for permitting) that they were barred from previously.
- This will harm Virginia public safety and well-being by removing qualifications for Interior Designers certified to work with energy codes, indoor air quality and the American’s with Disabilities Act requirements, among other health and safety issues.
- Certification is not a barrier to business because any Virginia Interior Design professional who meets the requirements set forth by the state may become licensed.
- The fact that “there are few, if any complaints in these two sections and very few regulatory violations,” would indicate that the Certification of Virginia Interior Designers works and is not, in fact, any type of barrier to business. The lack of opposition to the Certification implies acceptance and approval by Virginia business owners.
III. Easy ways to voice your concerns in five minutes, and to where you might send your thoughts.
If moved, cut and paste any or all of the above reasons in a letter:
Re: Opposition to Work Group Recommendations to the Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring Health and Human Resources, Item 6. Reduce Barriers to Business: De-regulate Interior Designers and Landscape Architects
To: The Honorable (insert the name of your addressee here —see below for help)
I am opposed to the proposal to De-Regulate Interior Design in Virginia for the following reasons (choose as many points form the above list as is desired!)):
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your address (or at least your city)
To whom might you send this?
Send to any or all of the following:
- Your local representatives — find them here: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform
- Jeff Palmore, who represents the commission for the Governor. Jeff.Palmore@Governor.Virginia.Gov | 804-786-2211
- Use this form online: http://www.reform.virginia.gov/Comments/CommentOnAction.cfm?id=98&sec=Commerce & Trade
Cheers,
Roberto Ventura, LEED AP
Assistant Professor of Interior Design, Virginia Commonwealth University
principal, roberto ventura design studio, llc.
pushing boundaries — tonight!
Joshua Poteat and I will be @ pushing boundaries to discuss our work!
Check out the facebook link here!
radio daze
Tune into Richmond’s WRIR 97.3 (or listen online at http://www.wrir.org/) at 10:00am today for Open Source, where I’ll be a guest discussing architecture and design right here in the James River region!
THREE THINGS
3 GOOD THINGS TO DO TONIGHT IN RICHMOND:
1. Go to the First Friday Art Walk.
2. Check out the Green Spaces Exhibit at citedesign (301 N Adams Street).
3. Check out the 1708 Gallery Satellite Exhibition at the Linden Row Inn, because Joshua Poteat and I have our installation, for lucy and yard sale (erasure), on exhibit.
4. Purchase a piece of it and watch 100% of that purchase go to help the Daily Planet, a Richmond-based charity supporting area homeless people.
Ok, that was four. I kind of cheated.
for lucy and yard sale (erasure)
Bring home a piece of the installation and help support the Daily Planet as they service Richmond’s homeless population. Joshus Poteat and I want this opportunity to be accessible to everyone, so the pieces are priced from $15-$50.
100% of all sales go to the Daily Planet.
See it this week at First Friday, Linden Row Inn.
Thanks to Amie Oliver, 1708 Gallery and the Linden Row Inn!
tomorrow’s in good hands
Just spent another great morning with the people behind “From the Ground Up,” a two-week crash course in architecture offered by the MathScience Innovation Center’s Summer Regional Governor’s School.
Teacher Dawn Burriesci and her assistants have been teaching local 7th & 8th graders in this course for the last few years, and they do a fantastic job taking students from 0 to 60 mph in eight short days.
I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to share with the students a bit about the world of architecture for three summers now, and I look forward to it each July!
If you know a young person who might enjoy this next year, check out this link!
buy art + help good peeps.
for lucy and yard sale is exhibited for a few more days in lovely Ashland, Virginia. Each component of the piece is for sale - prices range from $15 to $75.
Here’s the great thing: all of the $$$ goes to the Daily Planet. The Daily Planet helps out homeless populations in the Richmond area. Get some art, help people out; it’s win-win!
Artists and Writers, Round Two, wraps up this week at the Flippo Gallery on the Randolph-Macon College campus on Friday, April 1st. Here’s the info you’ll need.
get art, feel good.
A touch more news about the collaborative piece Joshua and I developed — it will be sold off in pieces, with 100% of the proceeds to be donated to the Daily Planet (website), a local organization providing services to the homeless and at risk populations.
The goal is to sell each piece, scattering the project across the area, and in doing so, providing some support for a really great organization.
Cheers,Rob
