The Living Rooms Across America Tour: Changing the World One City at a Time
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” – John Lennon
Chicago Ideas Week is about big ideas.
It’s about recognizing the power in convening some of the most inspiring people on the planet to have thoughtful and engaging conversations about some of the world’s most pressing challenges. And it’s about accepting our responsibility to not only discuss great concepts, but to put our ideas into action.
Last year, I created The Living Rooms Across America Tour, a nationwide tour that set out to raise awareness of important issues, build community, and inspire people to change the world.
We visited 10 cities in 10 states in the 10 weeks leading up to the presidential election and showed how music can be a truly effective vehicle for change and transformation.
As I traveled the country, I found that people were also dreaming big and implementing their own ideas locally.
Despite the economic situation, people were finding ways to truly support and nurture one another.
Whether it was people forming gift circles in Fairfield, Iowa or converting abandoned buildings into community gardens in Detroit, local solutions were sustaining people in new and creative ways.
This year, I partnered with Chicago Ideas Week to help produce the second year of the tour so we could bring the tour to scale and impact more people. In CIW, I found the perfect partner because we both like to dream big, really big.
Together, we’ve committed to changing the national narrative around the issue of gun violence.
We believe that we could help change the culture around violence by amplifying the voices of victims and those most impacted by violence.
And we believe that once we change our culture through the re-telling of ideas, images, and stories, that we can help usher in a new form of political discourse and ultimately pass comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation.
So we’re visiting five of the most violent cities in America and partnering with five non-profit directors who specialize in saving lives and stopping violence.
We’re convening policymakers, cultural influencers and these same community leaders in the months prior to, and leading all the way up to, Chicago Ideas Week, with tour participants sharing their ideas of how to reduce violence in front of White House officials and other prominent leaders.
And through the tour, we’re hoping to change the way that we address gun violence both locally and nationally.
So we’re dreaming big again because we have no other choice.
We know that we have to be more imaginative and creative in how we change the national discourse around gun violence and we know that we have a responsibility to highlight local leaders who are doing everything in their power to keep their communities safe and vibrant.
So we’re bringing together people with big ideas and hoping that our dreams can change the world.
And ultimately, we continue to be motivated by the fact that a dream that we dream together is indeed reality.
To learn more about The Living Rooms Across America Tour, visit www.livingroomstour.com
Mike de la Rocha is an LA-based musician, writer and entrepreneur. To find out more about Mike visit mikedelarocha.com and follow him on Twitter at @mrmikedelarocha
