Recently in Networking Category

Last weekend (as many of you know), a film class from Calvin College visited Three Rivers to film a short promotional video for Imagining Space and a short, original film with Huss School as the shoot location.

Overall, the experience seems to have been a great success! The students had a great time in Three Rivers and all of the logistical details were seamlessly attended to by local friends (thanks Julie and Tim!). It was really wonderful to see such creative people using the space; hopefully the weekend was a glimpse into the future.

We're looking forward to seeing the final edits of both films. In fact, we're exploring the possibility of showing the original short somewhere in Three Rivers when it's ready ... we'll see!

We already linked to Bruce Snook's article for the River Country Journal, but the local radio station and the Three Rivers Commercial-News have picked up the story as well (thanks, Elena!).

The past few days have been a ton of work for the students and their professor, Daniel Garcia, but they look like they're having a lot of fun, as well. Thanks to Julie, Tim and everyone else who have helped make their visit memorable and comfortable!

Bruce Snook has posted a wonderful story with audio and photos about our first adventure in hosting an educational program at Huss School. Rob and I are working in Grand Rapids this week, so we can't be on site in Three Rivers to help host the students until tomorrow evening, but the process of getting things set up and watching them go smoothly from afar has been so exciting--what we were hoping to do and what everyone is chipping in to help achieve is actually happening!

Witness the ripple effects... A class of 10 film students, three actors and one professor are in Three Rivers for three days and nights. For fourteen people who have probably never been to Three Rivers before, suddenly our town is on their radar. They're not only making a connection with a place, but with people: journalists who are recording the story of their project, community organizers whom they're interviewing for their films, and pastors and other friends who are providing food and accommodations. Though students subsist on little, the money they have been able to collect for a food budget has been distributed to local grocery stores and farmers. Their work at the school is bringing artistic eyes to the neighborhood and laughter and creativity to the building. The fruits of their work--a promotional film for the future projects of the school and an original piece written and produced by the students--will eventually be seen by hundreds, maybe even thousands more people. Beyond the films themselves, the adventure of filming on location in such a unique town and building will be a story the students tell over and over again for the rest of their lives.

And it all started with a conversation. Then a few e-mails and a lot of prayers. Then a group of over 150 people around the world, all contributing what they were able to give to help meet a preposterous goal.

To be continued...

Last night after Compline, we sat up late into the night with Brother Cuthbert and two long-time Abbey guests at St. Gregory's in Three Rivers. We had a great rambling conversation about the possibilities for partnership between *cino's Imagining Space project and the Abbey, which seem to be myriad. Exploring the combination and intersection of cultural engagement with a contemplative focus seems like it could yield some interesting and winsome results.

The monks (particularly Brother Cuthbert) have been very supportive and encouraging; we look forward to working with them in future!

Last night we held a hastily-arranged question and answer session in Three Rivers about the Imagining Space project. We gathered at World Fare (the fair trade store Kirstin and I helped found in 2003) to eat delicious treats (thanks Amber!) and discuss possibilities for the Huss School property.

About a dozen people with various connections to the project--from neighborhood residents to relatives--talked about dreams, obstacles and fundraising ideas. The excitement buzzing around the table was invigorating; everyone in Three Rivers who hears about this project seems to be happy at the prospect of the building being used for something that will bring many benefits to the community.

If we manage to purchase Huss, we'll certainly be doing more of these sessions in the future!

As we've been searching for feedback on the possibilities we're proposing for Huss School, we've been trying to get the word out around Three Rivers. Imagining Space has been featured recently...

• On WLKM radio


• At River Country Journal


• In the Kalamazoo Gazette Hometown South edition


• On the Liberty First forum

Kirstin's editorial in the newest issue of catapult looks at how the idea to purchase Huss School is a little crazy ... and that's kind of what makes it good.

Thanks, Andy, for twittering about *cino's Imagining Space project! Andy's recent book, Culture Making, is fantastic and gets at a lot of the ideas driving what we do with *culture is not optional. In fact, we're planning to review it soon for catapult ...