The Bright Ride is an actual event that I dreamed up and organized with friends. People decorate their bikes (and themselves) with lights and other things that sparkle and glow, and ride around the city together as a moving spectacle of co-created fun. We thought it would be just a one-time event, but people love it so much that it’s happened twice a year since 2011.
It’s also a way to describe my own career journey: from legal aid lawyer to economic policy researcher (and occasional advocate) to arts communicator and producer—with a passion for creating and strengthening community.
And it represents the growing movement of artists and organizations partnering with others to build healthy, vibrant, and equitable communities— happy places.
In this blog, I focus on the ways we work with others to achieve shared goals, and building understanding that the arts are a valued public good by shifting the way we communicate. And I call it out when we miss opportunities to enhance quality of life, or talk in ways that trigger thinking of the arts as something for others.