:: Contact Information ::
Gina Glaze Clifford, Executive Director
Mailing Address:
DesignAlabama
Post Office Box 241263
Montgomery, Alabama 36124
Physical Address:
410 North Hull Street
Montgomery, Alabama 36104
Phone: 334-549-4672
Fax: 334-265-7828
E-mail: designalabama1@bellsouth.net
:: Our History ::
In 1985, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts was given to the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA) for the development of the Council’s Design Arts Program. In conjunction with these funds, ASCA informed over 1,200 Alabama designers, in a variety of design disciplines, that program development was underway. These individuals were asked to provide input and other information concerning their work. From this group, an advisory panel was formed.
The advisory panel determined that an advocacy groups was necessary to educate the public about the importance of good design in Alabama. It was decided that a board of directors should be established and should be made up of both designers and non-designers, including community activists and business leaders. This is an important element in the organization’s goal to bridge communication between design professionals and the general public.
In March 1987, DesignAlabama became incorporated. The following July, the board decided to produce a journal and the first issue of the DesignAlabama journal was published in January 1988.
In 1990, the organization developed the initiative known as the Alabama Community Design Program. This program aimed to work with small communities throughout the state, who did not have the funds or access to design professionals, to help create strategic and master plans for community development and downtown revitalization. With the resurgence of the Your Town organization in our state and the development of the Auburn University Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, we have handed over some of the responsibility of these programs, but continue to plan a supporting but active role in these types of initiatives.
Today DesignAlabama, works from the capitol city of Alabama, Montgomery, and works as a statewide partner of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, to deliver a variety of design programming across the state. Led by one employee, the Executive Director, Gina Clifford, the organization continues to be the lead organization for design arts in Alabama.