Journeys to Freedom

Journeys to Freedom: (Un)Known Project River Cruise is an immersive river excursion commissioned by IDEAS xLab and written and directed by artist Sidney Monroe Williams (they/them). Journeys to Freedom premiered on the Belle of Louisville in June 2022, with the plan that it will be staged annually during the summer as a cultural heritage tourism offering. 

While floating along the Ohio River between Kentucky — a slave state — and Indiana — a free state — participants were immersed in the stories of two families seeking to escape enslavement by boat.

When boarding the Belle for the river cruise, each guest received a color-coded boarding pass and was assigned a persona for the event. The boarding pass gave different passengers access to various spaces throughout the boat as the performance progressed. The riverboat came alive with poker and blackjack tables, vendors from MELANaire Marketplace, and food and beverages available for purchase throughout the cruise.

“It took a year of devising workshops with local artists/designers; hundreds of meetings hours with stakeholders/collaborators; the development of innovative art-making practices; community outreach and building with local stakeholders; multiple rounds of script edits; Covid safety and well-being; and two community “shareformances” to get us to this juncture,” said Williams. “Journeys to Freedom invites audiences to approach our history via immersive experiences. You choose your entry point. I like to use the analogy of a museum. In museums, art is curated for the viewer to find their entry point. Yes, sometimes, there’s a docent that might be able to provide more context about the art; but, ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Similarly, we have curated multiple sites of art/performance, and we invite our audience to immerse themselves within this world and witness the art.” 

In June 2022, four immersive experiences were offered, welcoming more than 500 attendees aboard the Belle of Louisville. 

Delve into the 2022 Journeys to Freedom: (Un)Known Project River Cruise Program here.

The Journeys to Freedom script is available for licensing and we hope that other communities seek to engage community members through this type of experience – whether it’s staged on a riverboat, in a theatre or community space.

Two nights of Journeys to Freedom will be offered in summer 2023 – more information available soon! 

Photos below by Wesley Bacon, Shachof Polakow and Josh Miller from summer 2022.