Jacksonville design professionals to draw battle lines at 10th Annual Jacksonville Canstruction® competition
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Creativity through the use of cans and non perishable foods will be on display at the Jacksonville Landing April 29-May 13 as part of the 10th Annual Jacksonville Canstruction® competition benefiting Second Harvest North Florida.
The event brings together professionals from the design, construction and engineering communities who put their talents to use to help make a difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate. Teams design and build one-of-a-kind structures from nonperishable food items, mainly canned goods, before members of the general public vote for their favorite structure. At the conclusion of the competition, all of the food items are donated to Second Harvest.
Canstruction® is a foundation of the Society for Design Administration (SDA). Similar competitions will be held in cities throughout North America. The Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects is co-sponsoring this year’s event.
“Canstruction” of the colorful, supersized masterpieces will take place on Friday, April 29, and structures will stay on display through Friday, May 13, with voting by the general public taking place during First Wednesday Art Walk on May 4. An awards reception will be held on May 5 at 5:30 p.m. at the Haskell Building. The team with the highest number of votes will receive the People’s Choice Award. Local jurors also judge the creations in a variety of other categories – including Structural Integrity, Best Use of Labels, Jurors’ Favorite and Best Meal.
This year’s judges are Karen Rieley, interim executive director of Second Harvest North Florida; Holly King, president of Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects; Blakeley Ainsworth, public relations and marketing coordinator for The Jacksonville Landing.
The three teams competing in the 10th Annual Canstruction® are: Bergmann Associates, Haskell and HDR Engineering, Inc.
The 2010 Canstruction® event generated 5,083 pounds of food for Second Harvest North Florida – which equates to nearly 4,000 meals for needy families. Second Harvest North Florida redistributes donated food to more than 400 nonprofit organizations helping tens of thousands of people in need in 18 north Florida counties. Nearly two-thirds of the organizations supported by Second Harvest operate in Duval County. In its nine previous years, Canstruction® has helped raise more than 100,000 pounds of food for those in need in our area.
About Canstruction
Canstruction, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that holds annual design and build competitions to construct fantastic, giant sized, structures made entirely out of canned food. In each city after the structures are built and the winners declared the creations go on view to the general public as giant art exhibits. At the close of the competitions all of the food used in the structures is donated to the local food banks for distribution to community emergency feeding programs. For more information, visit www.canstruction.org.
About Second Harvest North Florida
Second Harvest North Florida is the oldest and largest program of Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida. LSS was founded in 1979 by area Lutherans and business leaders to fill gaps in services offered in the community for people in need. Second Harvest gathers food from local and national sources, shares these resources with more than 500 nonprofit organizations in 18 north Florida counties and helps thousands of people each year who are hungry or at risk of not having being able to provide food for themselves and their families. In addition to collecting and distributing food, Second Harvest serves children in after-school programs through its Kids Cafe and BackPack programs and in summer camps through its Summer Lunch program. It also takes Mobile Pantries filled with Family Boxes of food to people living in neighborhoods with the greatest needs. Call 904.730.8234 for more information about any of these programs and services.
