The Vermillion Public Library’s Civic Imagination Station is pleased to present “Imagining Utopia: Designing Our World”, a collaborative community art exhibition, created through a process of considering challenges we face in our world today, imagining what a better world can look like, and building worlds together that help us to articulate shared values, hopes, and actions to take for being better communities.


The co-creators of the “Imagining Utopia; Designing Our World” exhibit include:

  • Mrs. Griese’s 4th Grade Class, Jolley Elementary School

  • Mrs. Krell’s 7th Grade Exploratory Class, Vermillion Middle School

  • The Missouri River Watercolor Society, Vermillion, SD

  • Project Team from Edith B. Siegrist Vermillion Public Library Project:

    • Amanda Raiche, MLIS

      • Library Staff Co-Lead, Civic Imagination Stations

      • Youth Services Coordinator, South Dakota State Library

    • Sandra Kern Mollman

      • Artist Co-Lead, Civic Imagination Stations

      • Rural Co-creator, Community Engaged Interdisciplinary Artist



“Imagining Utopia: Designing Our World" can be seen at:

First Dakota Coyote Gallery

12 E. Main

February 6 - 11, 2023

Thursday & Friday: 3pm – 9pm

Saturday & Sunday: 12pm–9pm



The Vermillion Public Library is one of twelve artist/library staff teams selected from a national application process for the pilot cohort of the American Library Association’s Civic Imagination Stations. ALA Civic Imagination Station Press Release With this funding, the VPL is creating a Civic Imagination Resource Hub, leading civic imagining workshops in the community, and developing focus groups for activating transformational change toward becoming a more just, healthy, equitable community.


American Library Association’s Civic Imagination Station grant initiative is generously supported by The Estée Lauder Company’s WRITING CHANGE program, a new collaboration with National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman. As part of the Civic Imagination Station pilot, a cohort of twelve libraries across the nation have partnered with local artists to implement short-term arts-based interventions that engage local residents and build traditional and digital literacies. In addition to these pilot projects, a process map will be widely disseminated to support other library staff/artist partnerships in working together to create locally appropriate and meaningful collaborative projects of their own.


Partnerships and support: