Readers of this blog are no doubt aware that the Republican National Convention is taking place in St. Paul next September. Given this unique opportunity, The Walker and many other arts and education institutions in the Twin Cities are teaming up to create an entity called The UnConvention. Over the next year and a half, The Walker, along with these institutions, will be presenting lectures, workshops, classes and exhibitions based on the theme of participatory democracy.
We’ve put out an official media release, and have a website just for The UnConvention. Here are some details from the media release:
The UnConvention is about participation and democracy, the public sphere, media, and creativity–not a critique of the Republican Party and its policies. Our motto is “unscripting the political process”. The UnConvention exists as a counterpoint to the highly scripted and predetermined nature of the contemporary presidential nomination process and convention.
The mission of The UnConvention is twofold:
- To create and promote artistic and educational activities (exhibitions, lectures, performances, etc.) that will take place in the Twin Cities during the lead-up and staging of the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul/ Minnesota.
- To be a resource for artists and the alternative media that will converge on the Twin Cities during the Republican National Convention.
We working on some exciting projects that residents of the Twin Cities will be able to participate in. Conventions in the past have been a good excuse for people to leave town for a week. We’re hoping to give people a reason to stick around and participate in a constructive way. As the convention approaches, we also will be fleshing out the website with more features including a full events calendar, a forum and some project specific features.
We also put together an announcement video, created from the announcement or pre-announcement videos of many of the presidential candidates:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFc4LTUP55E[/youtube]
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