The Lawrence Imagining

On Sunday, June 29th Lawrence will be one of seventeen cities across the country that help launch the new U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC) with an interactive event we're calling an "Imagining." It will take place from 2:00 to 5:00 pm at Stidham Union on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University. The event is free and open to all, young and old, who are passionate about Lawrence.

Our Imagining will be a vibrant, arts-infused gathering in which we envision Lawrence's ideal future and identify creative tactics to get there. Part performance, part facilitated dialogue, part celebration, this first Imagining will bring together diverse groups of artists, organizers, and community members to imagine what our neighborhoods (and the world) might look like in the year 2034, when art’s transformative power has been fully integrated into all aspects of public life.

Conceptually, our Imagining will be inspired by fellow time-travelers like H.G. Wells, L. Frank Baum and Doctor Who, meaning we are in the design stage of building a time portal – really. Those who come to our Imagining will leave 2014 behind as they enter our handmade portal that transports them to the year 2034.

After finding their bearings in the future, groups of imaginers will work together to explore how Lawrence has been transformed after twenty years of being infused with the vision of the USDAC and probably a few ways in which that vision fell short and other interests prevailed. In order to report back to us, in the present, they’ll fashion time capsules that go in reverse, each of them placed inside a larger vessel (a giant seed or message in a bottle?) that will be transported back through the portal to the here and now.

You are encouraged to join us for this unique journey.

 Find out more about the USDAC and all of the Imaginings here  - http://usdac.us/imaginings/ 
And the Lawrence Journal-World article here.