IdeasCityWS wraps up year of collaborations

On October 2, Wake Forest University, New York City’s New Museum and local community partners marked the culmination of a year of creative collaborations with an outdoor festival in Bailey Park in downtown Winston-Salem.

The Marketplace of Ideas, hosted interactive exhibits from nearly two dozen local creative organizations, was a highlight of the event.

• With a series of connected square storage bags, the Lam Museum set up a hands-on exhibit to explain how blockchain technology is poised to help trace antiquities. 
• A start-up by Wake Forest senior Andrew Rust ByteSize Learning helps kids learn to code, see how at IdeasCityWS’ offered a chance for visitors to try out software designed to help children from 8 to 18 become more software savvy
• Wake Forest’s Center for Entrepreneurship showcased student-developed ideas

Panel discussions brought together experts and community members to share ideas on the creative process of music, arts for youth and the role of arts in health. The city’s mayor led a panel to discuss examples of intentional improvement in community lives–and reflect on how similar innovations could find a home in Winston-Salem.

Throughout the 2020-21 academic year, IdeasCityWS offered Beta Bonfires (moderated discussions) where participants shared new ideas and opportunities and explored how creative solutions can foster wellbeing in the city’s creative economic landscape. Topics included discussions on workforce development, scale and helping ideas grow, developing creative business ideas, and building a stronger team.

“Being selected as an IdeasCity site afforded us a unique opportunity to assemble local creatives from across Winston-Salem who work for common good in vastly diverse fields within the arts, technology, design and culture,” said organizer and Dean of Wake Forest University Collaborations Martha Allman. Providing this platform for exploration and cross-pollination among those whose creative work addresses critical community challenges, especially as we work to emerge from the pandemic, was deeply gratifying. Winston-Salem is alive with ideas and we eagerly anticipate the blossoming of new partnerships and previously undiscovered synergies forged at IdeasCityWS.”

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City of Arts and Ideas by Wake Forest University on Exposure

About IdeasCity

IdeasCity, which began as a collaborative program of the New Museum, has taken many forms over the years as a platform that builds on the premise that art and culture are essential to the future vitality of cities. Winston-Salem joins a global list of cities that have hosted IdeasCity including Athens, Detroit, Istanbul, New Orleans, New York City, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Toronto.