LIFE,LIBERTY and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

A Deep-Listening Community Activation project

from Lara Downes

With THE DECLARATION PROJECT, iconoclastic pianist Lara Downes marks the 250th anniversary of the United States by gathering together American communities to find common ground in exploring the core essence of our founding promise: the unalienable rights of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

In Fall 2024, Lara began traveling to communities nationwide, in partnership with a broad consortium of performing arts, educational and civic institutions, to carry out immersive community-activation residencies centered on reflection, deep listening and self expression. Engaging with multi-generational communities in the form of round tables, conversations, generative writing workshops, and collaborative creative expression around the prompts Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, Lara is gathering a kaleidoscopic array of American voices to actively reimagine the promise of our future, reflecting in their own words on the magic and mystery of life, the ongoing quest for freedom and equality, and the radical power of joy. 

This work will be featured in a video documentary that will premiere at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the Summer of 2026, as part of Lara’s multimedia concert DECLARATION, featuring a groundbreaking triptych of newly-commissioned works for piano and orchestra by Grammy Award-winning American composers Valerie Coleman, Arturo O’Farrill and Christopher Tin, respectively titled Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.

This project is made possible by generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Tejama Foundation, and Classical California.