7 weeks of collaborating will benefit charities

Think about where we’ve been. “We” meaning Rochester, America’s first boomtown.

Arts, imaging, social justice, food, inventions and famous and influential people make a most impressive list of what’s notable about our community.

What if we could tap into that partly lost spirit of innovation and risk-taking to create a better future?

Picture the Impossible attempts to get things started. Through games and group activities, we will highlight the assets that have put our community on the map. There will be ways to participate on individual levels and challenges that must be overcome through collaborative efforts.

The Democrat and Chronicle and Rochester Institute of Technology have worked together on this project because we value the lessons and achievements of Rochesterians who came before us and, more than that, we believe there is great potential for our future.

We want to start a new kind of dialogue that requires collaboration to solve problems — and ensure that we have fun along the way.

Picture the Impossible can be played in the newspaper, online and through local challenges that require participants to go out in the community.

There’s also an underlying fictional narrative about a longstanding secret society in Rochester known as The Gears. The society is currently in a struggle for control, and three factions have emerged: The Tree, The Forge and The Watch. Each faction is associated with a local organization — The Tree works with the Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, The Forge works with Foodlink, and the Watch works with Wilson Commencement Park, which provides resources to low-income parents and chilren.

Upon registering, players will join one of three factions. Each week, the faction with the highest number of points accumulated by its members will have the largest donation made to their charity, while the second- and third-place factions’ charities will receive smaller donations.

— Traci Bauer, managing editor/content and digital platforms

Launch trailer created by David Cowles and Thomas Sebastien Smolenski.