Is it new game, new chances? Susanne Wichman doesn't know, but she is happy with the number of registrations. ‘I sense enthusiasm. Participants are looking forward to it. It strikes a chord. A total of 27 groups have signed up. Some have catchy names such as 'we have vision'. Groups have been formed from the other, individual registrations.’ She continues: ‘That is also exciting. Staff members who turn out to be in the same group. Having to work together. How is that going to work out? Who will take the lead? I am curious to see what it is going to be like.’
Informal
The staff will get together next Tuesday in an informal setting. Following a plenary kickoff in the Vrijhof's Agorazaal, they will spread out all over the Culture Department centre to work on one of the themes. ‘The painting studio, the workshop, the Audiozaal, everything is designed for creative brainstorming.’
The future
If you participate you should ‘bring your best and brightest ideas’, says Wichman. ‘Ideas you have read about. Think ahead and then see what it means for tomorrow.’ Looking into the future, therefore. ‘And that may be quite extreme. Think out of the box, go as wild as you like.’ According to Wichman, the themes are mostly perspectives serving to inspire the participants. ‘They relate to the UT, the campus and to what we do here. They are starting points for further brainstorming.’ After the first session, the jury members receive all the proposals. ‘They will then choose the best idea and announce the winners at the end of the day, and yes, a prize will be awarded.’ Meanwhile, the think tank will continue to elaborate on the ideas. ‘Each group will explore a submitted concept in more detail.’
Output
A week after the think tank, the groups submit their final proposals. ‘They still have a week for fine-tuning. All proposals become available for everyone in the form of a summary. We want to show those which fire the imagination and develop a visual representation of them.’
