Sorry you missed registering to be a presenter or performer for 2011!  Start thinking about what you will do for next year!

Click here to review the ONLINE application for the 2011 What IF?! Festival.

If you'd like to download a pdf version of the application to print and ponder, click here.

Criteria for Applications

We invite proposals that celebrate innovation and/or creativity.  While creativity and innovation are subjective terms, we offer these (not to be limiting) definitions:

What is creativity?  It is our inherent, but sometimes un-fostered ability to create something that is, in some way, new rather than imitated. 

What is innovation? It is the creation of something that is both imaginative/creative and usable.   An innovative idea might be a totally new concept, push the boundaries of an existing idea or break the existing assumptions and move outside the box.

 
Photo: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
Applications might:
  • Demonstrate an innovative process or an innovative product or both.
  • Show collaboration between/among surprising partners, such as among multiple usually unrelated businesses, or between technology and art, or ranching and dancing.
  • Span diverse cultures or geographical areas.
  • Result in a presentation, play, interactive exhibit, installation, or some completely unexpected interactive Experience.
Importantly, we invite applications showing creativity or innovation in any domain/discipline: arts, technology, business, education, culinary creations, community engagement, retail, religion, etc.  We encourage application in any other area including interesting inventions devised in your garage, or new processes for doing something.
 

Basic Festival Standards

Each application must describe how the proposed Experience would meet the basic Festival Standards for Experiences or it was excluded from further review.  The Festival Standards are:

  • The proposed Experience is educational and not about selling a product.  (Note: Sponsorships with product exhibition are available.)
  • The proposed Experience is in good taste and appropriate for a family-friendly event.
  • The final Experience will be professionally presented and/or executed.

Photo: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Selection Criteria

The following Selection Criteria were used to evaluate applications.  The order of these criteria implies the amount of weight given each.  We did not expect all selected Experiences to necessarily score high in all areas, but the criteria give guidance to what we expected overall.  The proposal clearly described how it met each of these criteria:

  • The proposed Experience is creative and/or innovative.
  • The Experience is engaging, interactive, and/or participative.
  • The Experience has a “wow factor”.
  • The Experience is inclusive, sensitive to diversity, and does not judge others with different viewpoints or beliefs.
  • The proposal demonstrates collaboration (e.g., across communities, ages, disciplines, geographic areas, cultures, etc.).
  • The development of the Experience and the Experience itself are “Green”.  We define “Green” as having a neutral or positive impact on the environment.