Project 1979

I learned about a project yesterday that seeks to examine the lives of 30-something Gen Xers. It’s called project1979. Here is an explanation from the project blog:

“project1979 is a transmedia-fueled performance which aims at creating an experience examining the 30-something generation: who we are, who we were, why we do what we do and how we shine.

“It’s modern Vaudeville meets improv in an interactive show: movement, music, monologues with audience games interspersed with real accounts of past and present lives of people who have been interviewed in the past months.

“People worldwide can access the show through Google hangouts and there will be a live feed to Facebook and Twitter that will allow people the audience (actual and global) to comment and ask questions at certain portions of the show. There will be a slideshow of photos that have been collected in the last six months as the show culminates in a dance party that invites all to participate (of course)! It highlights how members of the 30-something generation are different, and what we share through nostalgia and real-life triumphs.”

The project sought crowd-source funding via indiegogo and raised nearly $1,900. Alice is the actress and artist behind the genius of project1979. I’ve watched her videos and I think she’s funny and talented.

When I started blogging about Generation X in 2007, the youngest Gen Xers were still in their late 20s. They’d not yet crossed that emotional divide that signals the official end of youth: turning 30.

Fast forward to 2012, and those same Xers are now taking inventory. They’re bonding to the idea of belonging to a generation. They don’t possess the edgy, slacker baggage of the disenfranchised older Gen Xer. They don’t regard the term “Generation X” as a pejorative. They actually take pride in being part of Generation X. Moreover, they don’t want to be associated with Generation Y. In many ways, these younger Gen Xers are changing the tone of the Generation X story. project1979 demonstrates this perfectly, and introduces us to fresh new protagonists and plots along the Generation X narrative.