Illuminate Us

08/05/21 • 71 min

Every year, the city of Boston is transformed into an immersive playground. Illuminus is a contemporary arts festival featuring site-specific, installation and performance art. In this episode, we speak with Jeff Grantz, Founder and Executive Director for the festival. Our conversation runs the gamut—from curiosity to community, and ultimately what it takes to shape the cultural identity of a place. And through it, we realize that a nighttime arts festival isn’t just a party... it’s a catalyst for change on many levels.

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Annie Mitchell creates beautiful site-specific land sculptures that combine light and sound with the natural environment. Using handcrafted fiber optics and rhythmic soundscapes, she employs a method called brainwave entrainment, which induces the brain’s frequency following response. Her work is sometimes described as sound therapy, often resulting in meditative or even trance-like states. In this conversation, we discover how art and science can blend—tuning us to just the right frequency.
Outside In is a podcast about the moments that change us. Join your hosts, Pavani Yalla and Joel Krieger, as they discover design in unexpected places. These conversations cover a kaleidoscope of experience — from wilderness treks to VR films, communal festivals to immersive theater. Each episode, they deconstruct an experience with its creator — together, revealing what makes it transformative. A fascinating exploration on the frontier of design for change, this series is for anyone who yearns to transform something about the reality they experience.

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How can we change anything about our world if we can’t even hold a conversation? In the midst of extreme polarization, the Evolve Experience takes on society’s toughest issues to stimulate conversations that bridge our collective divide. Combining theatre and dramatic storytelling with workshop-style audience engagement, Evolve increases our capacity to hold complex, nuanced viewpoints. This unique process helps participants navigate profound disagreements, transforming defensiveness into curiosity and compassion. In this conversation, we speak with the co-creator of Evolve and founder of The Red Door Project, Kevin Jones, and retired Deputy Chief of Police, Bob Day. Together, we explore how to overcome our natural resistance to change and reclaim our curiosity about others.

Outside In - Illuminate Us

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Pavani Yalla, Jeff Grantz, Ryan Edwards, Joel Krieger

00:06

And it was mesmerizing, every single person who went in there walked out of that space with their face lit up.

00:16

You know, you're walking through the streets, but it really does make you look at the city in a different way.

It's beautiful casting of lights and shadows all along the tunnel for people to see and experience, there was a line around the block for people, you know, waiting