NYC Roadtrip 12 – Get on the bus!
By Ryan Ringer
I write this under the wire, up to my nose in projects — a big corporate event-design gig, Project 165 programming, proposal writing, other stuff – you know, performing the life of a hyper-active artist. It ain’t easy, the pay sucks, and more often than not, it’s all too easy to think it’s all thankless. But in a sick, twisted way, it’s fun nonetheless. Anyway, I digress. I want to tell you about something else right now. …
I’m about to launch yet another Methinks‘ NYC Roadtrip – we take off Tuesday night! Now in its seventh season, this multidimensional joyride is a unique opportunity for fun-lovin’ people of all kinds to find genuine social connection, creative inspiration and fresh life-perspectives off the beaten path of routine. Much more than a bus trip, it’s a collective act of discovery, a participatory space, a special relational form.
While on the road, our “in-flight” attendants fluff pillows, serve snacks, screen films, host happy hour and generally do their very best to make the most comfy ride possible. (The busride is a great icebreaker, where we really set the mood for the rest of the journey.) Our friendly, creative, experienced crew — group leaders and support staff, along with many veteran Roadtrippers who travel with us regularly — work together to host the most fun, well- rounded, inspirational urban travel experience possible; and we hope our passengers will play an active role in this effort. Our tours and activities are well planned yet flexible enough to be shaped by spontaneous circumstances and events.
Back in Toronto, we invite everybody to participate in a multimedia scrapbook art show that explores individual and collective perspectives on various New York City-inspired subjects, such as the mapping of moments, travel as risk-taking, wanderlust, the meta-architecture of street art, the city as playground and collective urban myth-making.
Above all, we do our best to make NYC Roadtrip a truly lasting experience by steadily and thoughtfully stoking the artistic side of things and encouraging our passengers to respect each other, keep open-minded and understand that they’ll have a better experience if they accept that time and order are largely out of our control.
NYC Roadtrip is an important project for me, one of the most successful – and continuous – vehicles for merging art and the everyday; for encouraging people to break out of the proverbial box; for highlighting the importance of travel and risk-taking in the development of artistic life, whether you fancy yourself an artist or not.
You should see for yourself. Take a chance. Get on the bus.
February 15, 2010