I do not want anyone to miss what will happen on May 12th in Philadelphia. There is such an outpouring of creativity, generosity, and energy, I’m often feeling overwhelmed by it.

Just today, I was on a call with Michael Munetsi, an art teacher in Dallas, Texas, who spoke of how her students got to know who they were, truly, through the Dreamline experience. It is that deep connection that will be celebrated en masse on May 12 .

And I want you to be a part of it. If you live near us, come. Get a free Eventbrite ticket here.

If you live elsewhere and Facebook is accessible to you, follow us to watch our Facebook Live stream. The schedule for it is at the end of this blog.

But don’t take my word for it. Take the Walking Tour of May 12 below for a preview, and see for yourself. I look forward to seeing you there.

What you see below is a diagram of Cherry Street Pier, the site for our May 12 Dream Festival.  For a sense of scale, the whole thing, from left to right, is about 500 feet long. It  connects to the street on the left side where people enter. The rest is surrounded by water and there’s lots of glass. It is an early 20th century pier, recently renovated by the Delaware River Waterfront  Corporation as an art and community space. It just opened last fall.  It is the ideal place to let dreams fly. More on the history of the pier here.

And now let’s start our walking tour…

When you walk in you’ll be greeted at the welcome table (far left).  If you have an Eventbrite ticket, you’ll get a free raffle entry. And we’ll be giving away Dream in a BottleKits, a Dream-Branded bottle with a beautiful design created by Dreamline staffer Grace Bridy, that has a poster inside on how to bring Dreamline into your community.

One of the Pier’s great food trucks from Cooperage Restaurant is on your left. Further down, you’ll see our socially minded vendors and community organization information tables. Other food vendor trucks you’ll find down the Pier are Little Baby’s Ice Cream, Birdie’s Biscuits, and Harden’s Indonesian Fare, along with the Pier Beverage Truck.

Moving down the pier, you’ll encounter our workshop tables where you can stop in to learn techniques for simple printing on cloth (great for Dream Banners), how to start your own podcast, or how to make a Dream Bracelet you can wear home. And those are just a few.

In front of the workshop tables, you’ll be able to enter, for the first time ever, our newly revealed Dream Spiral, an immersive installation of Dreamline Banners from around the world. You’ll walk in, surrounded on both sides by 7-foot high “walls” of cloth Dream Banners. Moving into the center, you’ll be entirely surrounded by art and words on cloth. There you’ll be invited to write your own dream on a small piece of paper and add it to the “waterfall of dreams” hanging at the center of the spiral.

When you emerge, you’ll be fully ready to sit down and make your own Dreamline Banner with markers and cloth at the nearby Banner Making station set up for all who are attending. Then you can take it to the Dreamlining Table, adding it to the Digital Dreamline to be instantly shared around the world on the Dreamine gallery and mobile app.

Step over to the Photo Booth, donated by Snap Happy Photo Booth to get a great shot. Finally, attach your Dream Banner to one of the Dream Cubes being created down the Pier in our PVC Zone–where you can help construct PVC Dream Cubes if you like building things.

If you step back and look up, you’ll see the Pier’s two-sided video display overhead. It’s 11 feet long and 7 feet high!. When we’re streaming live on Facebook, you’ll see it there. And between segments, you’ll see some of the Dreamline Banners from around the world that have been uploaded to our app, some with the voices of students reading them. And with tech luck, we’ll have students from different places around the US and the world reading the Dreamline banners from that screen as well.as part of our Spoken Dreams segment (see below.)

Speaking of sound, you could be hearing any of the following performers who have volunteered to add their art to our event this year: spoken word artist Word Smith and his DJ, vocalist Aylee, rap and spoken word artist T Coda, vocalist James Allen, vocalist Trina Davis, and others.

Continuing down the Pier and toward the performers, you’ll find the our Dream Philly Festival Raffle and Merch Table where you can buy a chance to win one of the very generous packages donated by local business such as United by Blue, Fringe Arts, Bluecross Riverrink, and Shot Tower Coffee. You can also pick up Dream buttons, tattoos, and other items to help you keep focused on what matters most.

As you get to the end of the indoor part of the pier, you’ll see the Ripoff Contest area to your left (along with the PVC Zone). There, contestant teams will be competing to see who can rip sheets into Dream Banner sized cloths in fierce timed competition to win honor and prizes–and do community service at the same time. The banners will be given to schools who need them.

Finally, before you step outside, you’ll see and hear the stage area where the Pier’s PA –that totally fills the space— will broadcast our performers. At 2:30 (US Eastern Time) it will be the center of our brief remarks followed by our Spoken Dreams segment of the day. You’ll see bleacher seating in front of the performance area along with a large group of wooden chairs. Spoken Dreams will feature individuals speaking their Dreamline Banners and the Banners that inspire them for all to hear.

Walk past this and step outside. The end of the Pier is completely open sky, filled with planters, and surrounded on three sides by the water of the Delaware River. To the left you’ll see the 1.8 mile long Benjamin Franklin Bridge spanning the river from Philadelphia to Camden, New Jersey. And all around you’ll see Dream Banners blowing in the breeze. (If the weather is rainy they will be inside as there is plenty of space.) You’ll also find two of the Pier’s food trucks in this space so you can get a snack and take some time to read and enjoy art and words of dreams from Texas to Chestnut Street.

And while you’re out here, you’ll definitely want to step into one of the free 10-minute standing yoga stretch sessions donated and led by Flex Yoga’s founder Aisha Shabazz. She’ll help you open your heart to receive these powerful messages of hope.

And that’s our tour. I very much hope you can experience this in person on May 12, 2019. But if you can’t I hope you can tune in virtually to find meaning in the fabric of our connected dreams.

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Below is the schedule of our Facebook Live feeds on May 12th. Follow our Facebook to get and share our Video Link on the day.

May 12, 2019 Dream Philly Festival Facebook Live
Video Stream Schedule

All times are in USA Eastern Time. Time Zone Converter Here.

1:00-1:10
Intro with Jeffrey and Serita, event organizers. Quick look at the food trucks and the whole Pier.

1:30-1:40
Highlighting the Workshops  in progress.

2:00-2:10
A look at the Dream Spiral and all of the Dream Banners on display.

2:15–2:30 Call in time for Facebook Liver Dreamline readings from around the world. Will show on the Pier’s 11 x 7 ft / 2  x 3.3 m video wall.

2:30-3:15
Spoken Dream Segment with introductory speakers, attendees reading their own dreams or those that inspire them,.

3:45-4:45
Wrap up with Jeffrey & Serita and interviews with attendees.