Bing Arts Center

The “X” Main Street Corporation will host an Imagination Conversation at the Bing Arts Center. The event will connect Springfield with the nationwide effort to engage communities in proactive, creative consideration of our future possibilities.

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 through spring of 2011. Many are hosted by state government, business, 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 of this year.

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 videotape the conversation and make it available by live streaming on the internet. It will be moderated by Steven Dahlberg of the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination. The panelists will include: Magdalena Gomez, Executive Director of Teatro Vida; John Judge, Director of Development for the City of Springfield; Josh Bogin, Director of Springfield’s Magnet Schools; Michael Jonnes, Executive Director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra; and Robert McCollum, former member of the Springfield School Committee.

The Conversation, entitled “Envision a Vital Springfield,” is intended to help our community move towards that goal.

This is an invitation only event due to limited seating, but the event will be streamed live and taped.