My Convergence: a Spring2ACTion reflection

By Joshua Williams

(Photo Credit: Ron Akins)

April 22nd was a huge day. Spring2ACTion was my second event with Convergence, and as the New Media Associate, it meant a lot of exciting work for me. Lots of videos, photos, social media shares, and emails went into the planning and implementation of this event.

My first day filled with Convergence was about a month and a half before the big day, and it was truly inspiring to see the way the community rallied around this event. Considering this was our first year participating in Spring2ACTion, I had no idea what to expect from a fundraiser of this scope. Only a few weeks before, we held our third CRAVE micro-granting dinner with our friends from the Torpedo Factory. It was amazing to watch as the support poured in to CRAVE, seeing over a thousand dollars raised in one night for the chosen project.

The turnout for Spring2ACTion dwarfed the success of CRAVE the way the New York Skyline dwarfs a small midwestern town. Every day leading up to the event as I spent time on my computer making videos or posting Facebook, I was amazed as the donations jumped by hundreds. We received a few thousand dollars before the day even started, which made us very excited for the day.

I arrived at Convergence around 11 am the day of Spring2ACTion to help set up for the day’s events. There were many firsts this year, including a special arts only leaderboard, Spring4art, which we were very excited to celebrate by facilitating a happy hour, hosted by the Alexandria Arts Forum. The day included all sorts of art activities for all ages, including a visit from our friends at Metamorphasis, the Alexandria Mobile Art Lab, a reception for our current Exhibiting artist Nina Tisara, and musical performances by local artists Oklahoma Car Crash, and Echo. We welcomed over a hundred guests to Convergence throughout the day, including dozens of children who participated in art projects.

By the end of the day, we raised nearly eight thousand dollars, and made tons of new friends. During my short time with Convergence, it has been a true blessing to take part in such a caring and involved community, and it is amazing to see the way Convergence is growing and adapting to include more and more people.