Skateboarding stays in the center
Not because it must stand alone, but because it naturally connects movement, design, music, art and public life.
Austin and Central Texas
Skateboarding at the center of public life
SCAMP Austin brings skateboarding, BMX, mountain biking, cycling, art, music and accessible recreation into one regional conversation about the places we share—and how we build them together.
SSkate
CCycle
AArt
MMusic
PParks
Why SCAMP, why now
Austin already knows how to make culture in public
Skateboarding has never existed by itself. It grows beside BMX, architecture, public art, music, youth culture and the everyday life of a city.
SCAMP represents active and creative residents throughout Austin and Central Texas. We identify opportunities, bring the right people together and help negotiate collaborations that can survive both political reality and a municipal budget.
Austin once understood that recreation, art and music could occupy the same ground. We are here to help it remember.
The whole public belongs
Good public space accounts for different ages, bodies, senses, abilities and ways of participating from the beginning.
More partners create more possibilities
Cities matter. So do businesses, builders, artists, nonprofits, landowners, neighbors and the people who will use the place.
More than one kind of movement
The best public places let different cultures recognize one another
What we're building
A regional practice, not one isolated amenity
A single skatepark can matter enormously. A connected regional commitment can change who gets served, what becomes possible and how long the work lasts.
Places to move
Public and private skate terrain, BMX features, paths, gathering spaces and recreation that reflects how people actually use a city.
Places to make
Room for visual art, performance, music, fabrication, teaching and the creative work that already surrounds skate culture.
A coalition that can deliver
Shared projects built through public leadership, private initiative, community knowledge and realistic long-term stewardship.
From advocacy to execution
Ideas eventually meet concrete
SCAMP brings advocates, designers, builders, public agencies, property owners and community organizations to the same table. Our team understands both sides of the work: building public support and building the thing itself.
PublicLeadership, land, planning, parks expertise and accountability to the people being served.
PrivateConstruction knowledge, investment, operating partners, sponsorship and the freedom to test new models.
CommunityLived experience, cultural legitimacy, local priorities and the people who keep a place useful.
A standard for public investment
The ribbon cutting is the beginning.
A place has not succeeded because it opened. It succeeds when people can still use it, maintain it, trust it and recognize themselves in it a generation later.
SCAMP brings lifecycle cost, stewardship, CPTED, environmental performance and cultural value into the plan before the concrete is poured.
Public means everybody
Public space should reflect the whole public
Accessibility is not a special feature added after the important decisions have been made. It is part of what makes a public place public.
SCAMP will advocate for places that welcome disabled people, blind and low-vision neighbors, older adults, families and people whose bodies or senses interact with public space differently. Inclusion affects circulation, shade, seating, sound, signage, programming and who gets invited into the design conversation.
Accessible routes
Rest and shade
Legible wayfinding
Different ways to participate
Community-led programming
Design informed by users
Why this team
A generation of experience. A new Austin assignment.
We have done this work together before. Now we are bringing it home.
Seth Johnson and Cary Jackson co-founded Ideal Skateparks, carrying Central Texas skatepark advocacy into design, construction and places people could actually skate.
Seth Johnson
Former Central Texas regional director for Skaters for Public Skateparks and co-founder of Ideal Skateparks, carrying advocacy into hands-on construction.
Cary Jackson
Former Central Texas regional director for Skaters for Public Skateparks and co-founder of Ideal Skateparks, with decades inside skateboarding and concrete.
Kent Dahlgren
Founder and former executive director of Skaters for Public Skateparks, former Tony Hawk Foundation board member and a charter member of Portland's Burnside Skatepark.
Find your way in
SCAMP needs more than skateboarders
A useful regional coalition includes the people who ride, the people who build, the people who make culture and the people who can open doors.
I skate or ride
Whether you skate, ride BMX, cycle or mountain bike, bring lived experience, local knowledge and the places or possibilities we may be missing.
I make art or music
Help shape spaces where Austin's creative life can happen in public again.
I design or build
Bring architecture, landscape, construction, fabrication or maintenance experience.
I represent an organization
Connect a neighborhood, nonprofit, school, business, public agency or civic initiative.
I care about access
Help ensure people with disabilities and different needs influence the work from the beginning.
I can fund or sponsor
Support specific projects, programming, planning and a durable regional effort.
Get involved
Bring something to the session
A place. A problem. A skill. A connection. An idea Austin has forgotten. Tell us what you see and how you would like to help.
We are assembling the people and possibilities before deciding what deserves to be built first.