Transforming Imagination about Community - May 12-14, 2009

Location: Chicago, IL
Presented by Bliss Browne, President of Imagine Chicago,
and Andries Botha, South African sculptor, art teacher and human rights activist
Sponsor: Imagine Chicago

Andries Botha and Bliss Browne invite you to explore  and develop the power of your imagination to inspire, create and transform communities.

Join us for an inspiration acceleration forum on imagination and social change. This will be a unique gathering for imagination activists committed to empowering community creativity. This creative, hands-on, challenging learning exchange will embed arts-based activities into the work of reflecting on and moving toward more vital and just community futures. We will share stories of cultural creativity and social development where innovative processes have generated important social outcomes. We will explore the relationship of individual and collective consciousness, and practices that sustain the vital connection between personal creativity and social activism.

Participants will learn and use tools to enhance creativity to encourage deeper forms of communication and expression and to inspire a richer understanding of individual and collective intelligence. Working individually and in small and large groups, this masterclass will incorporate artistic and facilitative processes to generate creative dialogue,  reflection and collaborative action.

Significant time will be spent working on questions brought by participants, and operating as a collective design team for innovative actions. We will also build in regeneration time for informal conversation, music, local exploration, reflection, and

to share food and fun.

BLISS W. BROWNE is a contagiously hopeful mother, priest, former corporate banker and President of Imagine Chicago (www.imaginechicago.org), an organization she founded in 1992 to create an economy in which nothing and no one
is wasted. Her work has inspired a global Imagine movement on six continents.

ANDRIES BOTHA (www.andriesbotha.net) is an internationally renowned sculptor, human rights advocate, social entrepreneur and teacher of art based in Durban, South Africa. A civic activist, he has founded multiple initiatives dedicated to empowering imagination and creativity and reshaping social  space. He loves traveling through the country and desert, working with women and children and making elephants.

Day 1: Engaging the Muse: Exercises in Creativity
Day 2: Awakening the Citizen: Activating Hope and Engagement
Day 3: Harnessing Imagination for Public Good

Cost: $1000 includes materials. Early bird discount of $100 for registrations prior  to February 28.

Space limited to 15 participants. Register early!!

For further information:

Bliss Browne  Ph: 773-275-2520

Email: info@imaginechicago.org

Download Spring 2009 Workshops and Master Classes Brochure