Spark!

Places of Innovation

Explore the ingenuity and tenacity of rural Americans in Spark! Places of Innovation.

Visit the Smithsonian exhibition “Spark! Places of Innovation” at the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library, October 10 through November 21.

You’ll hear stories from people who turned community problems into real solutions. Old neighborhoods revitalized; historic business districts rejuvenated; cultural attractions generated. These towns are going places. Rural innovation –all it takes it a spark!

Presented in partnership with the Mississippi Humanities Council.

Spark! Places of Innovation, a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program, dives into innovation and invention happening in rural America. In small towns across America, people are creating new products, taking risks, meeting challenges together, and seizing upon exciting opportunities that change local life and sometimes reach far beyond. Spark! features stories from over 30 rural communities across the nation that reveal the dynamic relationship between place and creativity. Technical, social, cultural, artistic, or a combination of all of these—every innovation is as unique as each community.

Spark! Places of Innovation is part of MoMS, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, state humanities councils across the nation, and local host organizations. To learn more, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org.

The exhibit will be open during the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library’s normal operating hours. See below:

Monday	9:00-7:00
Tuesday	9:00-7:00
Wednesday	9:00-7:00
Thursday	9:00-7:00
Friday	9:00-5:30
Saturday	9:00-5:30
Sunday	2:00-5:00

Programming

First Regional Library and the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library are partnering with local organizations, educators, and community leaders to present a series of complementary public programs alongside the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit, Spark! Places of Innovation.

Brought to the community in partnership with the Mississippi Humanities Council, this initiative pairs the national exhibition with local expertise to celebrate regional ingenuity, history, and creative problem-solving.

Opening Reception: Spark! Places of Innovation

Saturday, October 10, 1:00PM – 3:00PM

Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library

Sparking Epiphanies: Giving Voice to Hidden History in Plain Sight

Presented with the University of Mississippi Center for the Study of Southern Culture

Monday, October 12, 5:30PM

Tupelo Room of Barnard Observatory

University of Mississippi Innovation Hotspots Tour

Presented with University of Mississippi Office for Research and Economic Development, Center for Manufacturing Excellence, National Center for Narrative Intelligence, and EdgeTheory

Thursday, October 22, 9:00AM- 1:30PM

University of Mississippi Insight Park

How to Citizen: Civics Skills for Everyone

Presented with the University of Mississippi Department of Journalism

Saturday, October 24, 10:30AM – 1:00PM

Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library

Opening Reception – Soul Force Magazine: Decades of Community Voices

Sunday, October 25, 3:00PM – 5:00PM

Burns-Belfry Museum & Multicultural Center

Big Bad Business Series: Night of Genius

Presented with Oxford Lafayette Incorporated and Yoknapatawpha Arts Council

Tuesday, October 27, 6:00PM

The Powerhouse

Community Development and Innovation in North Mississippi

Presented with the University of Mississippi Grisham-McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement and the John C. Stennis Institute of Government

Tuesday, November 3, 5:30PM

Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library