The Nashville Civic Design Center (NCDC) will premiere its Design Your Neighborhood documentary film at the January Urban Design Forum at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Watkins College of Art, Design & Film (2298 Rosa L Parks Blvd.).

The short film will begin at 6:15 p.m., followed by a discussion with filmmaker Carolyn McDonald and youth participants.

Design Your Neighborhood was based on an innovative four-week project organized by the NCDC earlier this year that engaged youth living in urban neighborhoods on the topics of architecture, urban design, planning, graphic design and filmmaking. Youth learned about design excellence during educational sessions, field trips and design charrettes through a partnership with Watkins College and the Oasis Center.

The goal of the documentary is to engage and promote design and civic engagement to high school students, both locally and nationally. The movie is being submitted to the Nashville Film Festival and copies will be sent to every high school in Tennessee, as well as submitted to film festivals across the country.           

The film’s trailer is available online at http://www.civicdesigncenter.org/projects/designyourneighborhood.

The project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support of this project includes funding from the James Stephen Turner Family Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, Singing for Change Foundation, Nashville Predators Foundation and the Peyback Foundation, the charitable foundation of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.