A Random Act of Culture

On Monday April 4th 2011 at around 4pm I got a call from Gretchen Berg of Portland Ovations asking me if I’d want to have the hip-hop/spoken word/all around awesome quartet known as Universes swing by the Portland Public Teen Library sometime this week and put on an impromptu show for the teens.  It took me about 3.5 seconds to answer with an over enthusiastic yes.

We planned on springing a low key event for the teens.  Sure, some of our regular library patrons would know that the Universes were coming through but for most of the teens in the library that day this random act would a total and complete surprise.  Thursday April 7th couldn’t come any sooner.  There was a definite buzz in the air that something really cool was going to go down.

The teens who visit the Portland Public Library on a daily basis got quite a kick out Universes in the library.  For some of them, it helped them see that the library is not just a place that’s about books and instead see that it’s a community space where all forms of art, entertainment, and people can come together to enjoy life.

What made it happen?  Community collaborations.  When you reach out to the different organizations in your community amazing things can happen.  On my own I couldn’t have made something like this happen, but with the help of Gretchen and Portland Ovations this once in a lifetime experience happened at the Portland Public Library one day in early April 2011 and hopefully blew some minds.

Check out some photos and video.