Welcome to Journey Arts
Being at Intercultural Journeys is, well, a journey, as this gem of an organization has always been a place of connection and artistic confluence.
After last year’s beautiful 20th anniversary celebration, we started another journey: looking at our identity in the hopes of putting together a new visual brand. The design group The Devoted ran focus groups and talked to many of you – artists, audiences, donors, staff, and volunteers – and then they shared back what you thought about us.
Artist-forward. Welcoming and open. Passionate. Honest. A place and space of belonging.
It was beautiful and humbling to hear the warmth and affection from all of you. And we also heard a question: Does your name now share your story to its fullest?
And as we pondered that question, here’s what we found to be true:
We open pathways for the audience journey.
Alsarah and the Nubatones
“I can’t remember if I was performing that evening, or if I was in the audience. All I remember is that I felt like I belonged.”
An audience member shared that with me years ago, and I’ve always felt it encapsulates our ethos and essence: more ways in. More ways to journey towards an understanding of yourself, your neighbors, your friends, and the world around you. When you come to a show, it’s a journey through artistic creation, and when you come back to see us again, you find we’ve all taken another few steps on the pathway, together.
We exemplify the artistic journey.
There’s the performance. And then there are the years of planning and fundraising and artistic visioning and rehearsing that go into the performance. We are artist-first and process-driven, working with artistic visionaries to imagine what can be. It’s a years-long journey – one that we undertake with imagination and openness, and that is essential to our DNA.
Lela Aisha Jones, Videographers Raishad Momar & Aidan Un.
We embody a collective journey.
Journeys are for seekers. And when we find ourselves together on the journey, it is that much richer and more nuanced. Wayfinding together – the connectedness of multi-varied perspective-seeking – is our artistic beating heart. Someone told me walking into a performance with us is like getting a hug – literally, as many of you who’ve been to more than one show know! – and figuratively, being embraced as part of a community. We are on this journey together.
We are journeyers. And we are the same bold and nurturing arts makers with a “yes-and” vibe, the people focused on depth and meaning-making discovered hand-in-hand with our artists and communities.
But we’ve got a brand new name and a brand new look to match our ethos.
I’ve written “IJ” for almost eight years, and that beloved nickname for this beloved organization will always make me smile. But I’m beyond proud to watch us step out into a new name that fits so well, a name that embodies the artistic work, the audience pathway, and the ethos of belonging-to-all.
animation by Gabrielle Patterson
Welcome to Journey Arts.
