Hello All!
Welcome to the first of many updates regarding the Cuplomacy Project and the exciting engagement opportunities that we are pursuing. Our questionnaire that we share throughout these opportunties was designed specifically to encourage everyday Americans to share their opinions in a constructive way and to inspire the project to carry the voice of the people.
On October 4th and 5th the wonderful cities of Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota hosted an event called the Studio Crawl. This event offered the community an opportunity to visit and view studios and spaces around town where local artists create their work, and also provided a wonderful opportunity for our “Cuplomats” to collect valuable opinions via our questionnaire design.
Michael Strand and intern Sarina Sandstrom set up a space in the Plains Art Museum, a beautiful creative venue in the heart of downtown Fargo. Throughout the weekend members from all around the local community viewed the beautiful art in the museum and stopped by our station to share their opinions on the current political system and how it is or is not working. Pictured is a photo of Michael sharing a conversation with community members who are completing the questionnaire.
Everyone we met had unique and valuable opinions that helped transform the project and provide it with a powerful community voice. We were frequently moved by the words and thoughts people shared and reveled at the creative and compelling analogies that members of our community came up with to convey their feelings.
We even had people explain their effective ways to facilitate compromise visually by drawing intricate and interesting charts and animations. Pictured below is an example that a young community member produced while visiting with the Cuplomats. It is young people like this that inspire us to use the voice of the people to further the Cuplomacy project.
We look forward to engaging with the community in many other ways in the near future and collecting the opinions of the folks in Fargo and around the country.
More updates to come soon!
Best,
-Sarina Sandstrom