The Low-Down of The US Department of Arts and Culture
Submitted by Special Correspondent Lonesome Dove
The USDAC (US DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE) has had a very engaged presence in Lawrence over the past year. Many folks became aware of the group through an event called the Imagining. This people powered event took place at Haskell Indian Nations University in June. Over 150 people gathered for the four-hour event. Upon arriving, participants took a big, bold step through the high-tech, cardboard, time portal arriving safely into the year 2034. Participants were asked to remember and recount all of the changes, big and small, that had happened since 2014. Standing firmly on the imagined ground of their own hopeful futures the time travelers shared and talked through the changes that we are soon to make.
Following suit, there was also an imagining held in November for the East Lawrence Neighborhood.
This first ever neighborhood imagining came about in response to expressed questions and concerns surrounding the new 9th street corridor project. Through the event participants were able to collectively set aside time to imagine the future of East 9th street. What resulted was a highly informative grass-roots collective dialogue that generated enough diverse ideas for decades worth of neighborhood cultural planning.
In the very near future the USDAC will be facilitating a set of local Story Circles in preparation for the first ever Peoples State of the Union Address. The Lawrence USDAC field office will be facilitating two Story Circles, one at the Percolator, (Jan 24th) and one at Lawrence Creates Makerspace (Jan. 25th). In total there will be 168 story circles taking place throughout the US. The ideas, hopes, concerns, remembrances etc. generated from these 168 Story Circles will inform the collective creation of a Peoples State of the Union.
For more info about the USDAC or the Peoples State of the Union visit:
PSOTU website - http://usdac.us/
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