Community Dreams

A new art installation has made its way to the Monon 16, capturing the dreams of the neighborhood.

With Pre-Enactment just around the corner--October 7, 2017--a new installation has appeared on 16th street. The storefront semblance located on the corner of 16th and Yandes St. is now covered in pink “sticky notes”, loosely inspired by the work of artist Candy Chang. These notes display the dreams of neighborhood residents, collected through neighborhood interviews by Harrison Center staff and interns. Some call for more foot traffic in the neighborhood, some want to see every empty lot filled, and others are just excited to see Pre-Enactment Theater unfold before them.

For those not familiar with our Pre-Enactment event, Pre-enactment Theater is an arts and theater initiative that fuels neighborhood and commercial revitalization. Pre-Enactment is professional theater that has revitalization as a goal.  Using a script based on the socio-economic back story of the neighborhood, local actors and set designers will collaborate with three schools (Herron High, The Oaks Academy and IPS School 27), 7 theaters (Freetown Village, Asante Children’s Theater, IRT, No Exit, and others pending), artists and community stakeholders to reenvision their neighborhood as a just, equitable and economically healthy place.  Set designers will make the abandoned buildings and vacant lots look healthy and actors will portray business owners and neighborhoods improving their community.

The idea being to create the vision for Monon 16 in a way that is more tangible than just words. Seeing equity, justice, reconciliation and booming businesses--if only for a day-- makes progress seem more possible than words alone. In keeping with the mission of Pre-Enactment, the new installation is intended to imagine the neighborhood “as it ought to be.”