City of Arts and Ideas

IdeasCityWS Festival marks year of creative collaborations

By Wake Forest University

October 5^th, 2021

Marketplace of Ideas

A fall outdoor festival in Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter marked the culmination of a year of creative collaborations between Wake Forest and New York City’s New Museum known as IdeasCityWS.

The Marketplace of Ideas, with interactive exhibits from nearly two dozen local creative organizations, was a highlight of the event.

With a series of connected square storage bags, the Lam Museum set up a hands-on exhibit to explain how blockchain technology is poised to help trace antiquities.
A local community makerspace, WS Mixxer, offered guests a chance to create a screen printed design on paper.
The Second Harvest Food Bank shared information on its Providence program, which offers culinary, hospitality and life skills training along with shrimp and grits samples for tasting.

An Ongoing Conversation

Panel discussions brought together experts and community members to share ideas on the creative process of music, arts for youth and the role of arts in health. The city’s mayor led a panel to discuss examples of intentional improvement in community lives—and reflect on how similar innovations could find a home in Winston-Salem.

Students from Authoring Action, an organization that provides tools to youth to express themselves dynamically, performed.

A Musical Interlude

In the afternoon and evening, local musicians hit Bailey Park’s stage to perform for the crowds – including The Martha Bassett Show live with Sonny Miles, Earl Gray and Reliably Bad. Jeffrey Dean Foster, Cashavelly Morrison, Laurelyn Dossett, Molly McGinn, Big Ron Hunter and Donovan Livingston also took the stage.

A Global City

Winston-Salem joined a global list of cities that have hosted IdeasCity including Athens, Detroit, Istanbul, New Orleans, New York City, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Toronto.