Purpose Statement:
To show the power of human connection by listening to people about the places they love.
Vision:
I envision a world that recognizes the value of every individual as part of the whole, creating a more advanced and happy society.
Values:
Compassion, Honesty, Tolerance, Sustainability, Education
Guidelines:
- Travel via sustainable means: Bicycle and Train
- Use couchsurfer.com to arrange for sleeping and living
- Create very little waste on my journey
- Be compassionate and respectful of people I meet
- Create a community of people and businesses across the U.S. which support the Vision of this project
Sara Young grew up just out side of Chicago and moved to Portland in 1991, at the ripe age of 20. In 1996 Sara enrolled in the Ceramics program at The Oregon College of Art and Craft. In 2000 she received a BFA in Craft and began showing in small venues around Portland, including Blackfish Gallery and The Portland Building. Her work centered on the measurement of value outside of the context of currency, and consisted of large scale installations in which participants would interact with her work.
Sara enrolled in the MBA program at Marylhurst University and completed her degree in 2008. Soon after that she began her first social experiment, 20 Dates in 20 Weekends, which examined the nature of on-line dating and the ease, or lack there of, between participants when dating is undertaken in a virtual fashion. After attempting another social experiment and finding it lacking, she began to explore human interaction via the project 25 People for a City, where she would have people, known and unknown, take her to their favorite place in the city and tell her why it was significant. It was this project which ultimately proved meaningful, and a catalyst to talk about many topics close to her heart. She is currently traveling the U.S. doing this project, which is now called 25 Days, and will come to its conclusion in July of 2012.
25 Days: Celebrating cities by celebrating the people who love them.
