by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
“We try to be innovative about our events. As a contemporary art museum, we like to stay on the cutting edge.” George Kinghorn, the Director of the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, liked the idea of hosting The Great Race as a fundraiser for the museum, but the true results showed on the tired faces of the participants who were unanimous about how much fun they had at this event.
“It was like an intense board game. The most expensive board game I’ve ever played.” Ryan, one of the contestants from the team Dom and Nate, confessed to enjoying it in spite of the price.
Expense was a common complaint, but since the money goes to JMoMA, that complaint was mumbled under the breath by most teams. Most teams, that is, except the team that won. “I call us ‘Three Crazy Bitches and Bryan,’” said Bryan of the winning team. They got to take home $2,000 for being the team with the high score of 57.
“I don’t how they managed to get such a high score, these clues sent people from Mayport to Green Cove Springs. And it wasn’t just about the travel, they had to decipher clues to know where to go. 57 is impressive,” explained Troy Spurlin. Spurlin is the Director of Special Events and Marketing for the museum, and The Great Race was his brainchild.
“This is a fundraising opportunity that builds community and is exciting. I did a similar scavenger hunt in Los Angeles, but we made this one a photo scavenger hunt to change it up.”
Urban games are all the rage in larger cities. In The Great Race, contestants were given clues that lead them to various landmarks where they were to take a picture of their entire team in front of the object, then provide printed pictures to the judges at the finish line. The pictures each represent a point, so the team with 57 points went to 57 different locations around the greater Jacksonville area.
Teams were only allowed to be in groups of four people and all of the people had to be in one car. “It was a game that used humans and fuel,” commented Quantus, another member of team Dom and Nate, “And I’ve never been in Underwoods.”
Contestants were allowed to use cell phones and involve any “fifth members” that they wanted, so many teams had a network of people stationed at computers or just aficionados of Jacksonville trivia that they could call for help. Incorporation of modern communication technology is common in these sorts of events. Between the necessity for a cell phone and the $50 per person entry fee, there is something of a filter on who can participate, but everyone that did loved it. Some teams went as far as creating matching shirts. This was The Great Race’s debut year and sixty-six people participated in the event. Although only one could win, the general consensus at the finish line, Burrito Gallery, was that the event was fun and educational.
“People got to see locations they wouldn’t otherwise have known about. The clues were intended to take people all over the city,” said Kinghorn.
Indeed everyone I talked to admitted seeing something in town they had not seen before. For some it was the Spanish Pond and Fort Caroline, some discovered the Ribault Monument or the sculpture by the Adam’s Mark. Even lifelong locals discovered things about this town they never knew. The winning team confessed to discovering Arlington for the first time.
“We try to stay on this side of the river, usually,” said Kema from the winning team. From clothing stores they didn’t know about to historical landmarks, everyone learned a little and the weather could not have been more supportive.
“We were surprised at how great the photographs were. Many of them were creative, well-composed photos,” Kinghorn reported proudly. The photographs taken by the contestants, as well as the group photos and team photos taken by the museum, will be on display in the Atrium Gallery at JMoMA during the next Art Walk on November first.
Most of the participants agreed that they had done nothing like it before. “Organizing a family reunion was similar. Trying to get everyone going in the same direction,” said Ron, another exhausted racer.
Everyone I talked to agreed that the biggest challenge was planning the route and deciding which pictures to skip and how to navigate your way through town to end up with the most pictures. In fact the winning team chalked their success up to planning. “Before driving anywhere, we stopped, looked at the clues, and plotted out the different sides of town,” said Linda, another of the winners.
Another common complaint was that the clues were harder than most people expected. “President Howard Taft once spoke in this building’s third floor auditorium. Take a group shot in front of this building.” The only way to find out that this is the Morocco Shrine building downtown is to have a cohort somewhere in front of the Internet to Google it and find the information on the Jacksonville & the Beaches website.
Spurlin and cohort Jennifer Bailey did the entire race the day before to make sure the clues were accurate and the items to be photographed were accessible. They also distributed a survey to all of the contestants to gauge what they could do to improve the event next year.
Urban games were largely born out of the performance art movement, which makes it the perfect match for the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art. JMoMA has done an exceptional job in recent years of bringing new people into the art world through ideas ranging from break dancing in their lobby to introducing locals to their own town through these sorts of interactive and creativity-inspiring special events.
“It was fun, but nerve-wracking,” Kema, of the winning team feared she would throw up as she anticipated Kinghorn announcing the winners, “At one point the James Bond theme came on the stereo and that really added to the stress.”
All that stress was relieved as the winners toasted to their victory and got onto their cell phones to thank their secret helpers.
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