Photo courtesy of DreamLarge

The prequel to this SRQ Daily series of DreamLarge Weekends can be found here.

Two student teams emerged as winners last Sunday, October 13 at the first DreamLarge Weekends event. The #SRQHacks weekend challenge for the group of young changemakers was to find an innovative solution to current challenges local nonprofit organizations face in the community today. Presentations were held in the Larry Thompson Academic Center at Ringling College Art & Design in an exciting competition between the six teams, to win money for the nonprofit they represent. The panel of judges, which included Kati Burns, Douglas Cherry, Michael Corley, Lisl Liang and Peter McAllister, chose the winning teams based on the viability, creativity and impact their solutions represented.

'Team Darkhorse', the first-place winner, showcased an entrepreneurial spirit as they combined the challenges of two complementary nonprofits, Embracing Our Differences and SaraSolo Productions. "This tactical approach utilized the strengths of both nonprofits in order to support and help one another towards a viable solution to incorporate live theatre throughout the art exhibition, to make the experience more engaging, conversational, impactful and shareable for participants," shared the team of DreamLarge.

"I had an incredible experience at the recent DreamLarge weekend," says Sarah Wertheimer, executive director of Embracing Our Differences. "The students discussed how they could create a campaign focused on bullying prevention that involved partnering with the regional performing arts community. I was deeply impressed by their creative thinking and out of the box ideas." The students' idea to join forces with fellow nonprofit, SaraSolo Productions, was that it would allow the participating student artists the opportunity to express themselves through another art form of solo performance. "We can’t wait to see what will come from that!" she says.

'Team Current' was the runner-up, and their innovative and modern approach toward their nonprofit challenge was to drive student interest in theatre by utilizing social media platforms, including Snapchat and TikTok, and encouraging students to intern and volunteer at Urbanite Theatre, with the goal of bringing in youth who have never seen a play and encouraging them to become theatre-goers and supporters.

Photo courtesy of DreamLarge

Learn more about DreamLarge Weekends.