Journeys to Freedom
Journeys to Freedom: (Un)Known Project River Cruise is an immersive river excursion commissioned by IDEAS xLab and written and directed by artist Sidney Monroe Williams (they/them).
Journeys to Freedom premiered on the Belle of Louisville in June 2022, and was offered 2x in 2023!
While floating along the Ohio River between Kentucky — a slave state — and Indiana — a free state — participants were immersed in the stories of two families seeking to escape enslavement by boat.
Throughout the immersive experience, the boat was activated with:
- Poker and blackjack tables
- Product vendors
- Food and beverages available for purchase.
“It took a year of devising workshops with local artists/designers; hundreds of meetings hours with stakeholders/collaborators; the development of innovative art-making practices; community outreach and building with local stakeholders; multiple rounds of script edits; Covid safety and well-being; and two community “shareformances” to get us to this juncture,” said Williams. “Journeys to Freedom invites audiences to approach our history via immersive experiences. You choose your entry point. I like to use the analogy of a museum. In museums, art is curated for the viewer to find their entry point. Yes, sometimes, there’s a docent that might be able to provide more context about the art; but, ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Similarly, we have curated multiple sites of art/performance, and we invite our audience to immerse themselves within this world and witness the art.”
Delve into the 2023 Journeys to Freedom: (Un)Known Project River Cruise Program here.
Delve into the 2022 Journeys to Freedom: (Un)Known Project River Cruise Program here.
The Journeys to Freedom script is available for licensing and we hope that other communities seek to engage community members through this type of experience – whether it’s staged on a riverboat, in a theatre or community space.
Photos below by Wesley Bacon, Shachof Polakow and Josh Miller from summer 2022.