A Good Story!

In 1998, Imagine Chicago partnered with British Airways to design an intergenerational conference to inspire their executives and improve their coaching skills. 350 BA executives joined 400 members of the Chicago Children’s Choir for a shared day of intergenerational learning at the Field Museum of Natural History. Executives brought objects from their 83 countries of origin that represented music making, community building activities, and everyday life. The children prepared for the day by learning repertory from all over the world — Irish ballads, African hymns — to welcome the executives to their city. Young and old worked together in pairs, visiting museum exhibits and designing questions for one another that focused on seeing and understanding more about global connections and their own lives.

What contributed to the day’s success as a learning venture? Enthusiasm, risk, dialogue, ritual, fun, creativity, music, object-based learning, reflection, networking. It tapped into the lived experience of community members regardless of age. It engaged multiple generations in posing questions and in common reflection on them. It connected actively to all the senses. People sang, listened, painted, felt and smelled objects, ate together, and sometimes held hands as they moved through the museum. The conference blurred the boundaries between personal and professional by reminding executives (many of whom have children) that adults can play more and children are vital learning partners. Lastly, it developed strong individual and institutional connections between partners. For the Field Museum, the event developed the capacity and confidence to turn the entire museum into a hands-on community learning center.