EPL & Evanston150 to Host "Night of Ideas" May 12
The Evanston150 Steering Committee and the Evanston Public Library invite members of the Evanston community to take part in Night of Ideas, an evening of brainstorming to generate big ideas for Evanston's future on Thursday, May 12 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Evanston Public Library, located at 1703 Orrington Avenue. The event will include live music, visioning activities for children and teens, and prize giveaways.
Night of Ideas is part of Evanston150, a community-wide grassroots effort to engage community members in brainstorming ideas that would make the city a better place to live, work and play. The goal is to collect at least 2,013 ideas by midnight on July 31, 2011. The ideas will then be narrowed down to 100 by a volunteer selection jury, and voted on by the community in mid-October to
determine the top 30 ideas. The selection jury will then choose the final 10 ideas to be announced on November 10, 2011. The Evanston150 Steering Committee hopes to see many of the ideas underway or completed by 2013, the 150th anniversary of Evanston's incorporation.
Evanston150 Steering Committee member Marybeth Schroeder says, “We want to create a fun atmosphere and provide an opportunity for individuals who might not be members of organizations to come together and form ad hoc brainstorming groups. Individual ideas are welcome, and being collected through the evanston150.org website, but one of the goals of this initiative is to engage community members in the process of envisioning our future together.”
Eight conference rooms and study areas in the public library, including the Teen Loft, will be utilized for brainstorming and visioning activities during the event. The library will remain open to the public for regular library activities. Library Director and Evanston150 Steering Committee member Mary Johns states, “We aim to turn the library into a beehive of brainstorming activities.” Johns adds,
“Regular library services will continue including a night time used book sale. It should make for an interesting hybrid of readers, thinkers and visionaries coming together for a night. I can't wait to see what kind of ideas come from that mix.”
Reservations are not needed. Community members are welcome to drop in anytime between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to participate. For more information on Evanston150 please, visit www.evanston150.org or call 847-347-2013.
EVANSTON150 is a community-wide initiative that engages all of us in imagining our future, resulting in 10 visionary ideas having broad support and promising long-lasting impact to celebrate Evanston's 150th anniversary in 2013.