Unearthed Film Project
B-Roll of Hoosiers enjoying the outdoors in the midst of a summer storm.
Film Description
Nestled in Gary’s Marquette Park the Lagoon Outlook Garden (LOG) is a sensory experience for people of all ages and abilities. Our goal with this film is to highlight this community project to showcase how private-public partnerships that source ideas from their citizens can become places of refuge and restoration. Gary has a sorted past when it comes to its greenspaces and allowing access to them. The fact that a garden located within the Steel City has ended up being seen as an exemplary prototype for universally designed projects across Indiana is something to celebrate.
Director's Statement
As a filmmaker my work has sat at the intersection of entertainment and education. As a person with a disability, I have always advocated for creating lifelong communities, but since 2020 hit my whole view on greenspaces has amplified. I always loved hiking, swimming, and enjoying the great outdoors. Being pregnant and becoming a new mom during the pandemic led me to appreciate our greenspaces on whole new level. am the rare fifth generation Garyite.
My people came to Gary in horses and buggies back when it was boomtown and we are some of the few that stayed. My hometown has 57 parks, but less than a quarter of them are considered maintained or even safe. The Lagoon Outlook Garden (LOG) is the only universally designed space available to the public in Gary and one of the few ones in Northwest Indiana.
The success of this project is due to a continually tended relationship with the city by a group of devoted advocates. These volunteers fundraise and physically maintain the garden year-round, and the city allows them the space to do so. Several Hoosier communities have been inspired by this project and the methodology around it. Basically, the thought is that if this can work in Gary it can be replicated in most places. Our film will highlight both the Lagoon Outlook Garden (LOG) and touch upon the other projects it has inspired. There is an emerging movement within our state to create equitable greenspaces for people of all ages and abilities. Click here to read the filmmaker's bio.
