Decorate the Well
in Gratitude
Saturday, July 26
A Civic Project, a Sacred Project, a Communal Health Project
-Sandy Spieler
Join us on July 26 for an all day family festival
to help us dedicate our newly restored lobby drinking fountain.
Filled with live music,
an outdoor street carnival, puppet shows and art-making activities, this
free event promises to be a cool way to spend the final day of the 68th
Aquatennial Festival right here on Lake Street.
About this Episode:
Decorate the Well in Gratitude
Lake Street, from Bloomington to 15th Avenue, will
be closed for the day and participants will partake in activities inspired
by old-fashioned carnival games that will engage the entire family – games
about disappearing aquifers, brain teasers about water issues, a fortune
teller who inspires water stewardship, and of course “taste testing.” In
addition there will be public and private advocacy groups with interactive,
kid-friendly demonstrations about storm water runoff, sewage treatment
and rapidly filling landfills. All activities will be bi-lingual, Spanish/English.
Inside the theater participants will be
involved in hands-on art making activities, watch short videos, see small
puppet shows and visit our temporary gallery set up to display water
paintings contributed through an open community call for paintings about
water.
The emphasis will be on FUN for the entire family as
we educate people about the local and global issues surrounding WATER
and how their individual actions can make a difference as they reduce
their fertilizer use, clean up after pets or are more mindful about what
is put down the drain.
To learn more about this opportunity, contact:
- Bonita Kosciolek, Sponsorship Coordinator,
at 763-231-9440
or by email
Background
There was once a beautiful two-story decorative fountain at the
center of our home, the former Avalon Theater, the only trace of which
is a small drinking fountain in the theater’s lobby now adorned with
the sign “Out of Order.” Those who have come thirsty in recent years
have found their water for sale in plastic bottles. Instead of investing
in our own public fountain we have inadvertently supported a system of
privatized water through the sale of water in plastic bottles.
Invigorate
the Common Well evolved from this sad shrine to the neglect of our public
water “commons.” Working with a team of artists and drawing from the
wisdom of advisors from scientific, cultural and spiritual sectors we
created a performance trilogy to examine the numerous issues facing Water – both
locally and globally. Episode #1 Come to the Well (Feb.-March, 2007)
focused on water quantity, consumption and ownership. Episode #2 Beneath
the Surface (Feb.- March, 2008) focused on water quality and our local
water systems. Episode #3 Decorate the Well in Gratitude (July 26, 2008)
will celebrate the renewed drinking fountain in our theater’s lobby,
drawing on all we have learned during the last three years about this
precious resource.
ON THE COMMONS
Understanding the
presence of the commons in our world makes it possible to imagine social
change taking place in new ways. We rise together to claim our inheritance – of
nature, culture and community. In so doing; we recognize our responsibility
to safeguard this inheritance for future generations.
Here in Minnesota,
at the headwaters of the Mississippi, the opportunity for leadership
in re-defining our relationship to water is ripe and critical. How we
share our water today with those who live downstream has ripple effects
around the globe.
In our collaboration with In the Heart of the Beast,
On the Commons celebrates the role of art and culture in making the
commons tangible, concrete and visible. We thank In the Heart of the
Beast for the privilege of working together to bring public attention
to water as a commons. Across the U.S. On the Commons encourages deeper
public knowledge and interest in the significance of the commons in
all of our lives. You can find out more about us at: www.onthecommons.org
-Rachel Breen,
On the Commons
