Building on our past accomplishments, Innoskate is poised to move into the future with an expanded national outreach and research program that will explore the history of skateboarding, invention, and creativity in distinctly new and innovative ways. Specifically, Innoskate will:
- Use skateboarding as an interdisciplinary lens for exploring history, invention, and innovation.
- Demonstrate how skateboarding integrates traditional STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) with art, music, fashion, and culture.
- Make invention and innovation accessible to new audiences through unexpected subject matter.
- Demonstrate similarities between skater/inventors and inventors from other disciplines who exemplify flexibility, resilience, risk-taking, creativity, and collaboration as essential characteristics of successful inventors.
- Document, record, and share the history of skate and innovation with diverse audiences through the collection of objects, archival materials, and oral histories.
- Promote community collaboration and civic dialogue among local skate communities, local museums, and local government entities.
- Use skate as a lens for understanding how technology and inventions are shared across cultures (domestically and internationally).
- Explore how innovators use skateboarding as a tool for social change worldwide.
- Encourage young people to appreciate invention in their everyday lives and challenge common assumptions about who and what invention and inventors look like.
To achieve these objectives, Innoskate is now considering a multifaceted array of activities:
- Innoskate Festival traveling tour to 12 US cities
- Innoskate Festivals at Street League events, X Games, and 2020 Olympics
- Innoskate Legacy Project – collect/record oral histories with skate’s leading figures
- Innoskate Global Innovators Congress at the Smithsonian in a multi-day Innoskate festival featuring international participants
- Innoskate traveling exhibition
- Expand the breadth of Innoskate topics for inclusion at Innoskate Festival events—particularly the integration of music, physical health, and international cultures. Previous topics include:
- Invention and Innovation in the skate deck
- Innovative minds (invention of tricks and the creative process)
- Skate as an international tool for social change
- Innovations in art and skate
- Innovation in Native American communities and skate
- Impact and influence of local skate innovations
- Terrain—design, construction, and invention of skateparks
- Skate, civic discourse, and community change
- Impact of skate technology, fashion, and culture on broader popular culture
- Innoskate mobile app as a central information hub and repository for crowd-sourced skateboard information and history
- Innoskate STEAM education curriculum
- Spark!Lab education materials and hands-on invention activities
- Innoskate book, journal publications, and conference presentations
- Community action forum to facilitate community dialogue about skate in local communities