Few places are as rich in history, culture and innovation as the world’s cities, yet we tend to serve the city up as a series of isolated experiences with no connection or continuity as visitors and citizens move from airport or station, hotel or home, to museum, park, library, performance, shop and restaurant.

How can we use the power of storytelling and mobile technologies to knit together a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts? How can we create “network effects” that mean every urban experience is better because it is woven into the full diversity of voices that make up the fabric of the city? How might the very act of connecting its stories change the city itself?

izi.TRAVEL, the international mobile storytelling company, is leading a “Connected Cities” initiative to encourage the creation of high quality digital content that connects the stories and people that live in and visit US cities. They are offering $25,000 for collaborative teams in multiple US cities to create content that can be accessed through a range of platforms, including izi.TRAVEL’s mobile app. The Connected Cities initiative kicks off this month with the Baltimore Stories Prize.

Please join us at the Baltimore Museum of Art on March 22 for a free working lunch and charrette, followed by drinks at Gertrude’s, to help launch the Baltimore Stories Prize and participate in an afternoon of workshops and brainstorming about how we can make Baltimore a more connected city through its stories. At the end of the day, we aim to have formed our plans and a steering committee to manage and award the Baltimore Stories Prize by the end of summer 2016.

N.B. This event is free but in two parts; reserve one or both tickets. 

1. 12-1pm: Mobile storytelling workshop with lunch: create a mobile tour in 30 minutes and learn about the open technology that has inspired the Connected Cities initiative.
2. 1-6:30pm: Baltimore Stories Prize Charrette: help design and launch the first of the Connected Cities funds.

Agenda (Lunch and all sessions are free for registered attendees except drinks at Gertrude’s)

• 12-1:00: Working lunch: Workshop on using open platforms for creating mobile tours of cities and cultural sites with izi.TRAVEL experts
• 1:00-3:00: Presentations by leading Baltimore storytellers and creatives on how they connect stories in their work (Confirmed: Stoop Stories, Lab Bodies, Raphael Alvarez)
• 3-5:00: The Connected Cities Charrette & Baltimore Stories Prize planning
• 5:00: Adjourn to Gertrude’s for drinks and further conversation (cash bar)

WHEN Tuesday, March 22, 2016 from 12:00 PM to 6:30 PM (EDT)

WHERE Baltimore Museum of Art – 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218