Yesterday my daughter and I found a free art treasure. It’s a lovely drawing of a unicorn – my daughter is a huge unicorn fan. We found out about the opportunity through the Free Art Friday Twin Cities Facebook Group.

It’s a community sponsored project. It’s a closed Facebook group; although all we needed to join was to make the request. There are currently more than 1600 members in the group. The idea is simple. Artists hide art projects on Friday and post notes on the whereabouts on Facebook. Treasure seekers hunt for the art and report on their successes and/or misses in the Facebook Group. You can read more about Free Art Friday efforts around the world.

It’s a simple idea. It just takes a couple of community-minded folks willing to do some art to make it happen. The art in our area has included drawings, tiny sculpture, CDs of music – simple things created by artistic people.

It’s a fairly easy way to get a community to start thinking about how technology fits into the real world and can be used as a tool to generate community in the real world. It’s a simple way to reach out to non-adopters. It’s a project you can start in your own community – whether you’re a recognized community leader yet or not.