July 5: Toby Eaglebull Memorial Skatepark
July 7-9: Levitt Shell at Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Please tag #Innoskate when you post!
Established in 2013 as a joint collaboration between USA Skateboarding and the Smithsonian Institution’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, Innoskate celebrates skateboarding, invention, creativity, and freedom of expression. Key elements of the Innoskate program include large public festivals, hands-on STEAM-based invention activities, public programs and demonstrations, research and documentation of skate history, and acquisition of skate objects for the Smithsonian national collections. Innoskate shares its findings and engages broad publics through innovative educational initiatives, publications, and digital outlets. Together, these joint activities spark inventive and creative thinking in young people while fostering collaborations between the skate community, scholars, artists, museum professionals, scientists, and community leaders.
The inaugural Innoskate festival took place in 2013 on the 10th anniversary of global Go Skateboarding Day. With a skate ramp installed on the National Museum of American History’s plaza featuring the National Mall and the Washington Monument as dramatic backdrops, participants Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Patti McGee, Cindy Whitehead, Paul Schmitt, and others engaged the public with insights about skate history, invention, and innovation. The success of the initial Innoskate event inspired new collaborations and new festivals at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, Washington, the X Games in Austin, Texas with ESPN, at The Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina, at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and most recently at the University College London’s School of Architecture in London, England.
An exciting collaboration with the Levitt at the Falls Amphitheater and supported by a wide array of Sioux Falls community organizations will extend Innoskate’s impact and pursue new avenues of exploration. The Levitt Shell, centrally located to downtown Sioux Falls in Falls Park, will serve as a unique and unifying venue for this special Innoskate festival. Here, concerts featuring the Smithsonian’s Jazz Masterworks Orchestra ensemble and other national and local artists will explore the deep interconnections between music, skateboarding, creativity, and innovation. Panel discussions featuring professional and Olympian skateboarders, inventors, scientists, artists, and local community leaders will engage audiences about the evolution of skateboarding technology, skateboarding as an innovative culture, the role of skateboarding in the Native American community at Pine Ridge, skateboarding as a bridge for diversity and inclusion, skateboarding as an Olympic and Paralympic sport, skateboarding for enhancing physical and mental health, empowering girls and women through skateboarding, and nurturing the growth of the skate community in Sioux Falls.
Skateboarding demonstrations, public skating, and learn-to-skate clinics will take place throughout the festival. Young people will unleash their creativity through hands-on invention activities, art education programs, music demonstrations, and health and fitness activities, while learning how to build skate obstacles and skateable art, and take part in a drum circle. And as always, Innoskate will conclude with a “Best Trick” contest.
The Innoskate team is excited to inspire young audiences, with a particular emphasis on engaging the youth of Sioux Falls and surrounding communities, to be active contributors to their society driven by technological change and to appreciate that invention and innovation happen every day, often in unexpected places.
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