We’re excited to introduce the USDAC’s newest publication: Imaginings: A DIY Guide to Arts-Based Community Dialogue.

What are Imaginings? Where did they come from?

From 2014-2016, the USDAC worked with three cohorts of volunteer Cultural Agents, each forming a learning community to support their local cultural organizing. Each Cultural Agent hosted a a public gathering using arts-based methods to envision their communities’ futures. Part performance, part facilitated dialogue, part celebration, these gatherings brought together groups of artists, organizers, and other community members to imagine what their neighborhoods (and the world) might look like in 20 years, when art’s transformative power has been fully integrated into all aspects of public life. Community members were invited not only to dream together but to catalyze collaborations to help make their dreams real.

Naturally, we called them Imaginings.

After supporting three rounds of Cultural Agents and Imaginings, we’ve learned enough about Imaginings frameworks, techniques, and approaches to give you, Citizen Artists, all you need to do it yourself.