In collaboration with the RennerVation Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada, Dragonfly Energy partnered with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus to bring together innovation, music, and youth’s imagination to write, record, and premiere an original song and music video.

In July of 2024, Imagine: A Musical Collaboration with Jeremy Renner premiered at Artown in Reno, Nevada, the largest arts and culture festival in the western United States. Imagine is the result of six talented youth from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada who joined the team from The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus and actor, musician, and founder of the RennerVation Foundation, Jeremy Renner, for two days of songwriting, recording, production, and filming.

The Making Of ...

A Documentary on the Imagine Collaboration

Coming Soon

Music is a unifying and personal experience, and it’s meant to be shared. I’m thrilled to be part of this project and this community and to have the opportunity to make a difference in kids’ lives. The RennerVation Foundation emerged from the Rennervations show filmed here, with the goal of being more effective and providing every opportunity to foster and at-risk youth. This project has achieved that. Everyone involved is a strong supporter of this community, so it’s wonderful to be a part of it.

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Jeremy Renner

Actor, Musician & Founder of the RennerVation Foundation

It’s been an incredible couple of days here in Reno, working with the youth, Jeremy Renner, and the community. We do projects all over the country and this one was special to shine a light on the youth in such a big way and give them a stage and opportunity to be involved in something bigger than they can imagine. That’s what it’s about. We’re thrilled to be here and partner with Dragonfly Energy, The RennerVation Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada on this collaboration.

Brian Rothschild

Co-Founder of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus

About the Lennon Bus

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is the premiere nonprofit mobile recording facility that provides hands-on experiences for students of all ages. The concept began as an offshoot of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, which is dedicated to providing opportunities for both professional and amateur songwriters around the world. The Lennon Bus travels across the U.S. and Canada year-round, providing free tours and workshops at schools, colleges, and universities, festivals, on tours with headlining artists, and at major industry conferences.

Inside, you’ll find everything that makes this our bus turned mobile recording studio a haven for aspiring young artists to unleash their creativity. The bus’s front studio houses a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 Mix, Recording, and Video Post-Production Studio, followed by a second studio in the rear, complete with professional equipment from industry leaders, including Apple and Genelec.

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The Power Behind the Bus

With two full production studios on board, plus necessities like air conditioning and keeping the lights on, the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus requires extensive amounts of power to operate and fully focus on the project at hand–the kids. The Lennon Bus crew knew the frustrations of generators and fuel all too well–not to mention having to rely on toxic, unreliable lead-acid batteries when sustainability was, and still is, a core value of the nonprofit organization.

Now, a recent upgrade to lithium power takes the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus to a new level of sustainability, cost-savings, and improved experiences. Over 100kWh of Battle Born Lithium Batteries were installed on the bus permitting up to eight hours of runtime off the batteries alone, plus extended runtime from solar energy and a 2,400 watt solar array.

This transition to green energy components not only saves on expensive generator fuel, reduces noise pollution, and improves sustainability but also enables the nonprofit to make an even greater impact on our country’s youth as the Bus makes its way to communities and schools around the United States.

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