SAVE THE DATE  | JOY IS COMING | EYES OPEN CAPES ON

Join us for a weekend of events in celebration of the Wide Awakes movement and National Wide Awakes Day! These events are free and open to the public.

Saturday, October 2nd 

5:30-7:30pm | Wide Awakes Exhibition Reception

Wide Awakes: Eyes Open is curated by artist Michele Pred and Dwight Smith of Collection Elizabeth Oran.  Through the works of artists Nedra Bonds (Kansas City, MO), Autumn Breon (Los Angeles, CA), Summer Brooks (Kansas City,MO), Ebony Brown (Brooklyn, NY), Mona Cliff (Lawrence, KS), Michelle Hartney (Chicago, IL), Yvette Molina (Brooklyn, NY), Michele Pred (Oakland, CA), Lisa Marie Thalhammer (St. Louis, MO), and Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin (Kansas City, MO) the message of the Wide Awakes rings clear and we are challenged to imagine a future of radical love.

Sunday, October 3rd 

11:30am-1:30pm  |  Cape & Flag Making Workshop with Yvette Molina at 21c Kansas City

1:30-2pm | Wide Awakes Walk  |  21c to Ilus W. Davis Park

2-3pm  |  Wide Awakes Celebration in the Park

What is Wide Awakes?

The Wide Awakes of 1860 were a grassroots political movement in the United States – a force behind abolition who supported the election of Abraham Lincoln. Through collective action and the dissemination of powerful visuals, texts and songs, the original Wide Awakes allowed people to envision a world in which abolition was possible.  On October 3rd of 1860 the Wide Awakes marched in the name of emancipation with massive torchlight parades around the country; all carrying lanterns and clad in oil cloth capes.  Today, the Wide Awakes are an open-source network who radically reimagine the future through creative collaboration. We are a community of voices that welcome the ideas and membership of all as we grow this movement to create a new culture together in pursuit of liberation of mind, body and spirit. Anyone can be a Wideawake! ASK QUESTIONS, OPEN YOUR EYES, AND JUMP IN! Learn more at wideawakes.com/