Ashlandia: A Mission of Community Storytelling and Civic Imagination

Creating Story Experiences of Transformational Wonder

Daily, we are immersed in stories that reinforce division, fear, consumerism, and passivity. Rarely are we invited into larger-than-life stories that reawaken our sense of play, wonder, and collective creativity.

Ashlandia is a year round participatory theatre of place that transforms our community into an interactive landscape of adventure, discovery, and connection. Through immersive storytelling, site-specific art, and events, we recast public spaces as realms of possibility—egalitarian, inclusive, and imbued with magic.

A Vision for Ashlandia

We believe that stories shape our lives, and the stories we tell together shape our world. Through Ashlandia, we create a civic experience that is:

✨ Imaginative – Reclaiming the city as a canvas for myth-making and artistic expression.
💫 Inclusive – Welcoming all ages and backgrounds into a shared, participatory world.
🔥 Empowering – Encouraging creativity, agency, and collaboration.
🌍 Place-Based – Rooted in the landscapes, histories, and cultures of Ashland and Southern Oregon.

How We Do It

🎭 Storygames & Live Storytelling – We blend performance, gameplay, and interactive narrative to create an ever-evolving, community-driven experience.

🖌 Public Art & Immersive Installations – Murals, sculptures, and site-specific artworks and events turn our city into a stage for adventure.

📖 A Year of Story Landscapes– Twelve interconnected realms, each with its own mythology, challenges, and quests, invite participants to step inside the story.

🌲 Nature & Place-Based Magic – Ashlandia honors the natural world as a character in our tale, integrating outdoor experiences, conservation, and local history into our creative landscape.

A New Model for Public Life

At a time when so much of our civic space is shaped by commerce and consumption, Ashlandia invites us to reclaim our public spaces as a playground for imagination.

We work in partnership with cities, artists, schools, local businesses, and cultural institutions to create an immersive art experience—a story that we write together.

Ashlandia is not just a place.
Ashlandia is a way of seeing, a way of playing, and a way of imagining a more connected world.

✨ Step inside the story. The adventure begins now. ✨

Ashlandia: Creating Story Experiences of Transformational Wonder

Daily, we are immersed in stories that reinforce division, fear, and passivity. Rarely are we invited into mythic experiences that awaken wonder, ignite imagination, and reconnect us to our communities, our creativity, and our environment.

Ashlandia is a year-round participatory theatre of place that transforms the city of Ashland into a living storyworld. Through immersive storytelling, public art, and interactive installations, Ashlandia recasts familiar streets, parks, and buildings as portals into epic journeys of personal and collective transformation.

The experience unfolds through twelve interactive quests, one for each month of the year, organized around the Storyspinner Journey—a creative hero’s journey that invites participants to reflect, imagine, act, and celebrate. Each quest begins at a designated public realm (such as Wizard School, the Garden of Love, or the Campfire Forest), where visitors interact with visual art, theatrical design, or AI Story Guides embedded in the landscape. The journey may ask them to write a wish for the Wishing Tree, pick up a “future self” postcard, dance at a tea party, or consult the Oracle at the Crossroads.

At the core of the project is a belief that stories shape our lives, and the stories we tell together can shape a more creative and connected world. Ashlandia draws from place-based folklore, local history, and contemporary art practices to create a civic experience that is:

✨ Imaginative – Reclaiming public space as a canvas for myth-making and artistic play.
💫 Inclusive – Welcoming all ages and backgrounds into a shared participatory world.
🔥 Empowering – Encouraging personal reflection, agency, and joyful collaboration.
🌍 Place-Based – Honoring the natural world, Indigenous heritage, and regional identity.

Each of the twelve story realms is activated by a public art installation, such as a mural, sculpture, portal, or immersive environment. Some are anchored by a character—like the Wizard, Sleuth, or Muse—who invites interaction through signs, prompts, or technology. Others unfold through seasonal events and storygames that invite the community into theatrical processions, treasure hunts, and pop-up performances.

Visitors collect “passport stamps” as they complete story tasks, building their own personal mythos across a calendar year. The tone is whimsical yet sincere—designed to catalyze emotional connection, creative expression, and new relationships across generations.

The project draws on methodologies from immersive theater, therapeutic design, gamification, and public art. It incorporates materials such as fabric, paint, AI interfaces, scavenger maps, and sensory prompts. Some installations may feature interactive QR codes or analog phones; others will be purely physical and poetic.

Ashlandia is ultimately a civic artwork in motion—a celebration of what it means to be human, alive, and part of something greater than ourselves. It’s an invitation to imagine, together, a more connected and beautiful world—right here, in the heart of Ashland.