March 22, 2011
weworkhere: Solutions Volume 4: Recap Last Friday night over 275 people came out for Solutions Volume 4 at the Capri Theater in North Minneapolis. By all measures it was a fantastic event! Our presenters shared stories, images, and music on topics as diverse as science education, artist-led planning, the achievement gap, water quality, food entrepreneurship, furniture design, and the importance of mothering mothers. It was great to see so many different people and ideas sharing one stage, all of them talking about creativity and innovation with a decidedly local bent. One audience member commented that she had no idea so much was happening in her own community. For those of you who are not familiar with our work, the Solutions Twin Cities series was started by Colin and Troy Gallas back in 2007 as a platform for future-positive creativity. The series has been on hiatus for a couple of years as we’ve all focused on getting our new non-profit creative collective, Works Progress, up and off the ground. In that time a number of similar presentation-based events have cropped up around the Twin Cities, most of them local chapters of larger national or international series like TED, Ignite, and Pecha Kucha. One of the challenges with bringing back the Solutions event was defining our own unique style of presentation-based program, as well attracting the audience that we wanted to see when we looked out across the room, a diverse and engaged group of adults that reflects the broad mix of ages, ethnicities, social classes, education backgrounds, and professional interests of Twin Cities residents. We decided to focus on the things that we feel are core to Works Progress: highlighting community-based innovation that comes from the ground up rather than top down; celebrating creativity and the contributions of artists, scientists, and designers; modeling inquiry-based experimentation and participation; including a diversity of ideas and approaches and encouraging participants to make their own connections; working to make our events approachable, engaging, and inclusive; and making sure that good design, aesthetics, storytelling and fun are all part of the mix. Compared to our other ongoing programs (Give & Take and Salon Saloon) Solutions Twin Cities is a big undertaking. We ended up relying heavily on community partners and volunteers to make it happen. Fortunately, we have some of the best friends and co-conspirators a group could ask for, and by the end of the event were able to celebrate together with the people who were responsible for pulling it off. One of our community partners, Northside Resident Redevelopment Council (NRRC), was instrumental in making last Friday’s event a success. In addition to suggesting that we try a Solutions event in North Minneapolis, Ariah Fine from NRRC introduced us to the Capri Theater, the perfect venue in terms of size and layout. It felt big, but intimate; fancy, but not intimidating. Audience members were forced to mingle in close quarters, which meant long bathroom lines, but also a chance to spark conversation with strangers. We even had delicious cookies.  All of this went down in a neighborhood that tends to get a lot of bad press, even though (as attendees found out) there’s a whole lot of exciting and innovative work being done there. Ariah helped to introduce us to some of the Northside’s changemakers and community leaders, and even brought a handful of these folks together in a community “info shop” at the event. Without Ariah and NRRC we might have filled the Capri, but it wouldn’t have had the same energy or excitement that comes from something done in the spirit of collaboration. It’s hard to really know the impact of a one-night event like this on people that participate and attend, but I can say that from my point of view as one of the organizers, it was an important learning experience, and a lot of fun. I look forward to keeping in touch with the presenters, partners, and other folks we met through the course of the project. We’re now looking at fall for the next Solutions Twin Cities event, but have yet to pick a venue or to secure community partners and sponsors, so if you are interested, let us know by sending a note to hello at worksprogress dot org. S.H.M More information: Solutions Volume 4 Presenter Bios Links // Northside Resident Redevelopment Council // The UpTake, where you’ll find video of the event // Photos of Solutions Volume 4 by Andy Richter

weworkhere:

Solutions Volume 4: Recap

Last Friday night over 275 people came out for Solutions Volume 4 at the Capri Theater in North Minneapolis. By all measures it was a fantastic event!

Our presenters shared stories, images, and music on topics as diverse as science education, artist-led planning, the achievement gap, water quality, food entrepreneurship, furniture design, and the importance of mothering mothers. It was great to see so many different people and ideas sharing one stage, all of them talking about creativity and innovation with a decidedly local bent. One audience member commented that she had no idea so much was happening in her own community.

For those of you who are not familiar with our work, the Solutions Twin Cities series was started by Colin and Troy Gallas back in 2007 as a platform for future-positive creativity. The series has been on hiatus for a couple of years as we’ve all focused on getting our new non-profit creative collective, Works Progress, up and off the ground.

In that time a number of similar presentation-based events have cropped up around the Twin Cities, most of them local chapters of larger national or international series like TED, Ignite, and Pecha Kucha. One of the challenges with bringing back the Solutions event was defining our own unique style of presentation-based program, as well attracting the audience that we wanted to see when we looked out across the room, a diverse and engaged group of adults that reflects the broad mix of ages, ethnicities, social classes, education backgrounds, and professional interests of Twin Cities residents.

We decided to focus on the things that we feel are core to Works Progress: highlighting community-based innovation that comes from the ground up rather than top down; celebrating creativity and the contributions of artists, scientists, and designers; modeling inquiry-based experimentation and participation; including a diversity of ideas and approaches and encouraging participants to make their own connections; working to make our events approachable, engaging, and inclusive; and making sure that good design, aesthetics, storytelling and fun are all part of the mix.

Compared to our other ongoing programs (Give & Take and Salon Saloon) Solutions Twin Cities is a big undertaking. We ended up relying heavily on community partners and volunteers to make it happen. Fortunately, we have some of the best friends and co-conspirators a group could ask for, and by the end of the event were able to celebrate together with the people who were responsible for pulling it off.

One of our community partners, Northside Resident Redevelopment Council (NRRC), was instrumental in making last Friday’s event a success. In addition to suggesting that we try a Solutions event in North Minneapolis, Ariah Fine from NRRC introduced us to the Capri Theater, the perfect venue in terms of size and layout. It felt big, but intimate; fancy, but not intimidating. Audience members were forced to mingle in close quarters, which meant long bathroom lines, but also a chance to spark conversation with strangers. We even had delicious cookies.  All of this went down in a neighborhood that tends to get a lot of bad press, even though (as attendees found out) there’s a whole lot of exciting and innovative work being done there.

Ariah helped to introduce us to some of the Northside’s changemakers and community leaders, and even brought a handful of these folks together in a community “info shop” at the event. Without Ariah and NRRC we might have filled the Capri, but it wouldn’t have had the same energy or excitement that comes from something done in the spirit of collaboration.

It’s hard to really know the impact of a one-night event like this on people that participate and attend, but I can say that from my point of view as one of the organizers, it was an important learning experience, and a lot of fun. I look forward to keeping in touch with the presenters, partners, and other folks we met through the course of the project.

We’re now looking at fall for the next Solutions Twin Cities event, but have yet to pick a venue or to secure community partners and sponsors, so if you are interested, let us know by sending a note to hello at worksprogress dot org.

S.H.M

More information: Solutions Volume 4 Presenter Bios Links // Northside Resident Redevelopment Council // The UpTake, where you’ll find video of the event // Photos of Solutions Volume 4 by Andy Richter

(via threeseven)

10:19am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z0GFYy3lurnC
(Notes: 8)
  
  1. shardlow reblogged this from threeseven
  2. threeseven reblogged this from weworkhere
  3. colinkloecker reblogged this from weworkhere and added:
    Laura Zabel said...Saturday morning: Inspiration hangover!
  4. weworkhere posted this