Dahlberg to Moderate Lincoln Center Imagination Conversation in Massachusetts

I'm looking forward to moderating another Imagination Conversation this Tuesday in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the Bing Arts Center!

Lincoln Center Imagination Conversation at Bing

The “X” Main Street Corporation will host an Imagination Conversation at the Bing Arts Center, 716 Sumner Avenue, Springfield, Mass., on Tuesday, April 26. This event, Envisioning A Vital Springfield, will connect Springfield with the nationwide effort to engage communities in proactive, creative consideration of our future possibilities. It is intended to begin an ongoing series to encourage the development of imagination and creativity as tools to prepare Springfield for an increasingly competitive future.

The Imagination Conversations, a project of Lincoln Center Institute and a part of the Lincoln Center 50 Years celebration, run from the fall of 2009 to the spring of 2011. The panel discussion is listed on the Lincoln Center Institute’s website:
http://www.imaginationconversation.org

Many of the Conversations are hosted by state governments, businesses, and cultural leaders. They feature diverse groups of panelists with distinctive perspectives and draw a wide range of audience members from the public and private sectors. Moderators facilitate the conversations, some of which reach viewers nationwide via live and archived streaming video. This two-year initiative will culminate in America’s Imagination Summit, to be held at Lincoln Center, New York, in July 2011.

Imagination, the ability to visualize new possibilities, is a prerequisite for success in the 21st-century global economy. America has long been at the vanguard of creation and innovation, but an economic downturn and increased worldwide competition mean that we cannot take our position for granted. Now more than ever, we must teach imagination in our schools and nurture it in our communities.

The Imagination Conversations respond to this need and prepare us for the future by:

• Building national awareness of imagination as a vital tool in work and in life.
• Sparking dialogue about imagination across the professional spectrum.
• Leading to the creation of an action plan to make imagination an integral part of American education.
  

The Bing Arts Center will record the conversation, which also will be available for live viewing online: 
http://www.lvestream.com/bingartscenter

The moderator is Steven Dahlberg of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination. The panelists are: Ron Ancrum, President of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts; Josh Bogin, Director of Springfield’s Magnet Schools; Magdalena Gomez, Executive Director of Teatro Vida; Michael Jonnes, Executive Director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra; John Judge, Director of Development for the City of Springfield; and Robert McCollum, former member of the Springfield School Committee and community activist.

The event is by invitation only due to space and seating constraints.