Got “First World” problems? Why not look to other countries for
solutions?
Founded by in 2006 by artists with extensive backgrounds in
cross-cultural community organizing and international development
(Christopher Robbins, John Ewing, and Matey Odonkor, with Maria
del Carmen Montoya joining the team in 2009), the
Ghana ThinkTank collects
local problems and sends these problems to various locations in
their global network of think tanks. (Ghana, Cuba, Serbia, and
Iran are just a few.) They have also collected “digital problems,”
and worked with incarcerated youth in the United States.
In 2011, BRAF awarded the Ghana ThinkTank a grant to help them
focus on the problems of Corona, Queens. (This project was also
funded by Creative Time and the Queens Museum of Art.)
After cruising the neighborhood in a custom-built teardrop trailer
to collect community and personal problems, the Ghana ThinkTank
ventured back into Corona as a workstation to enact solutions
suggested by their international consultants. (They also parked
outside the Queens Museum of Art, where visitors could submit
their problems and witness the resolution process. The vehicle
continued to collect problems from visitors as a 3-month exhibit
within the galleries.)
Photo courtesy of the artists
Solutions received from the global network of think tanks included
the following:
- Establishing legal waiting zones
- Pro-immigrant guerilla bus advertisements
-
Asking police to “highlight the differences between the
cop’s world and the real world”
- Baking lessons in Queens
Since the Corona project, the Ghana ThinkTank has been involved
with these projects:
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