Before I Die .... Project

Alan Williams and Kristina Kassem from The Civic Center design studio in New Orleans, LA will discuss the creation of the community art project, "Before I Die..." This project debuted in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to capture individual expressions of hopes and aspirations of their community. Now going national, the project hopes to engage Portsmouth in a similar dialogue at Strawbery Banke Museum, working in conjunction 3S Artspace and their Open Space series. The project concept invites individuals to complete the sentence "Before I die I want to..." on a public chalkboard. The result encourages a dialogue as its evolves over the month-long life of the project. All comments are archived to capture the project as a snapshot of the community's collective consciousness at one particular moment in time.