By Milwaukee Courier Staff
Milwaukee Water Commons (MWC) and artist in residence Melanie Ariens will lead Milwaukee’s participation in the national Dare to Imagine Campaign for one full week, beginning this Saturday, October 10th.
Milwaukee residents will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite future water initiatives at five events featuring the organization’s mobile inspiration station, the WaterCycle.
The events will be fun, educational and interactive – and at the same time connected to a deeper purpose.
MWC is inviting everyday Milwaukeeans to imagine and help shape Milwaukee’s future as a water city.
Ballots cast will help determine which of a series of initiatives related to water MWC and its partner organizations will prioritize and build public momentum toward accomplishing.
In addition to voting, visitors to the WaterCycle will also have the opportunity to participate in water-themed arts and have their photo taken with a statement about their favorite initiative.
Weather permitting, the WaterCycle can be found at the following locations:
• Saturday, October 10th • ReFlo Waterfest, 10am-12pm, The Guest House, 1216 N. 13th St.
• Saturday, October 10th • Shorewood Fish and Feather, 1-4pm, Hubbard Park Lodge, 3565 N. Morris Blvd.
• Tuesday, October 13th • Popping up near Colectivo, 11am-1pm, 2211 N. Prospect Ave.
• Wednesday, October 14th with Wisconsin Green Muslims – 4-6:30 p.m., Location TBA
• Saturday, October 17th – Milwaukee Public Market Harvest Festival, 11am-4pm, 400 N. Water Street
Forging the world we want to live in requires social imagination, and visitors to the WaterCycle will help to imagine what’s possible for Milwaukee’s water future.
The resulting texts, images, votes and more will be uploaded to an online platform, yielding a crowd-sourced vision of the future to inspire policy, community action and the arts.
“We are most proud of the work we’ve done to activate new and growing involvement in a bold, visionary conversation about our city’s water future,” said Alexa Bradley, co-Executive Director of Milwaukee Water Commons.
“Recognizing our water as a commons is giving people hope that we can create change together, heal some of our city’s divides, and discover a collective capacity for revival and innovation. We are building toward change, toward being a true water city.”
Milwaukee Water Commons is a cross-city network that fosters connection, collaboration and broad community leadership on behalf of our waters.
We promote stewardship of, equitable access to and shared decision-making for our common waters.
The Dare to Imagine campaign is a national movement led by the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, which is not an official government agency but rather a people-powered movement dedicated to cultivating empathy, equity, and social imagination.
Photographs of the WaterCycle in action, along with a copy of the voting ballot containing the eight initiatives, are attached.
For more information, please contact Melanie Ariens, Artist-in-Residence, Milwaukee Water Commons at 414-378-8727 or ariens.melanie@gmail.com
