We-Making Stories
WE-Making: How Arts and Culture Unite People to Work Toward Community Well-being
WE-Making is a set of resources that explores the relationship between place-based arts practices and social cohesion to advance health equity and community well-being. WE-making resources are tools that enable practitioners and funders in the arts and culture, public health, and community development sectors to articulate their work and amplify the voices of marginalized people in their projects....through the power of the arts.
The stories below highlight organizations from across the nation that demonstrate the core concepts of WE-Making.
The walls inside the small, bright yellow house are covered with art by local artists with faces that represent the diversity of the city. Families paint signs to take down town to a march for human rights. A small gathering of folks sits on a picnic table on the front lawn, sharing and devouring fresh fruit from the Community Cart as conversation moves from introductions to origin stories.
In early March 2020, the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) was planning a third Indigenous Winter Market, an indoor farmers and art market showcasing local Indigenous food producers and artists. Another event, Here Comes the Sun, was planned on the same date at the Gimaajii Building to feature a Native-owned solar installation company, Solar Bear, and hands-on activities for youth and community members to learn about renewable energy.
Our work, as social practice artists working under the name Little Manila Queens Bayanihan Arts, came from the fortunate circumstance of having resources and positive relationships with willing activists to support the New York City Filipino community—whom we refer to as “Little Manila”—during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 1959, John Howard Griffin went undercover for six weeks — posing as a Black man in the Deep South. Griffin was a white Texan journalist who wanted to know what it was like to be Black... so he went to a dermatologist and temporarily darkened his skin to the point where friends no longer recognized him and strangers assumed he was Black. His plan was to perform a science experiment to test how simply changing the color of one’s skin might affect their ability to survive in America.
Sweet potato pie is what I consider to be the “sacred” dessert of Black culture and it has an amazing comforting effect. The murder site of Mr. George Floyd in Minneapolis is located only two blocks from what was my father’s home for over 30 years. NBC Nightly News reported my sharing sweet potato pie to people as “feeding souls one pie at a time.”
Cities throughout the U.S. have sections that were once thriving bastions of community culture and commerce. These towns, small cities or sub-sections often came with descriptors that let you know what it had to offer, and that Black people proudly occupied that space. “Harlem of” this City, “Black” fill in the institution, “Broadway” of a region far away from a New York city street.
The sun shines at the Westminster Community Playground, located in the Westminster Heights neighborhood in South St. Petersburg, Florida. Kinsey and Angie, two artists from the neighborhood, begin setting up for their weekly NOMAD MicroCamp.
HOME is a creative civic engagement initiative informed by West Hill residents, led by Chameleon Village Theatre Collective. West Hill’s community development corporation (the West Hill Neighborhood Organization) strives to activate its dual-zoning (UPD40) district; however, engagement is limited.
In March of 2020, Dunedin Fine Art Center (DFAC) closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, canceling 105 art classes for adults and children half-way through a six-week session. For many of DFAC's students, their weekly art class supports their wellbeing, and they don't miss a class.
It's a brisk autumn morning in Pleasant Ridge, a neighborhood on the north side of the Cincinnati metro area. Leaves are falling and wind gusts swell, as local students make their way up the driveway to begin their Sidewalk Hospitality shifts at Community Happens Here – a neighborhood-focused non-profit committed to connecting people across differences.
The place now known as Baltimore, Maryland is part of the ancestral homelands of the Piscataway and the Susquehannock, along with a diverse host of many American Indian nations. In the mid-twentieth century, thousands of Lumbee Indians and members of other tribal nations migrated to Baltimore City seeking jobs and a better quality of life.
A line of human figures, plastic cutouts each resembling the walking symbol found on a city crosswalk sign, lies the tree-shaded median of National Street, an avenue known for excessive speeding and several recent pedestrian casualties. The figures stretch four city blocks, far enough that one can’t see one end of the line from the other. National Street cuts through the racially diverse and predominantly low income Heights neighborhood of Memphis.
It’s the summer of 2023, and you are walking downtown, passing the capitol building on your way to the park for a walk. You notice a group of people seated around a table, and rows of what look like flags or banners swaying in the breeze. Upon closer inspection, you realize the banners are pieces of embroidered cloth—some with lists of names, some with images of masks, others with inspirational quotes, stories, or images of animals and plants—covered in blue and red stitches, each marked with a date: June 26, 2020…Aug 31, 2020…
Luna Stage develops, produces, and presents vibrant plays about local and global experiences. As a community-engaged arts incubator and professional regional theatre, we are committed to reflecting the rich traditions, histories and experiences of our region. Our work inspires dialogue and appreciation between the diverse communities we serve. Founded in 1992 in Montclair, Luna is now in its 29th season and celebrates 11 years as an arts anchor of the traditionally underserved Valley neighborhood in West Orange.
A staple healthcare institution for the predominantly BIPOC community of Watts/Willowbrook and surrounding South Los Angeles closes after 35 years, and in its closure leaves residents with lack of immediate access to any care. So, what does the community need most in this time of inequitable access to healthcare?
Founded in 1981, Touchstone Theatre is a professional not-for-profit theatre dedicated to the creation of original work. At its center is a resident ensemble of theatre artists rooted in the local community of Bethlehem, the Greater Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, and the international community of Ensemble Theatres. The Touchstone Theatre Ensemble creates original theatre and re-imagines select texts, tours and presents original and ensemble-created works and offers educational programs and community-building projects.
The proposed project "Stitching Our Stories Together: A Sewing workshop and Story circle for BIPOC women and gender queer folk. Is a collaborative creative place making project between Asé Arts and Amara Tabor-Smith House/Full of Blackwomen. Together through this collaboration they will invite Black women and femme identified folk to a series 8 workshops to gather at the sewing table to share their stories of living in Oakland as a way to cultivate a deeper sense of community and Home-fulness.
Jim Crow laws, redlining, traffic flow projects, and the development of Mill Creek Valley among other developments in the 20th century led to the subsequent displacement of residents from the neighborhoods north of Delmar in St. Louis, especially African Americans, and destroyed individual and family relationships through the loss of shared culture and experiences. Today
St. Louis remains one of the most segregated and violent cities in the US, especially along the Delmar Divide.
Over two weekends in spring 2019, intimate audiences walked the hallways, mounted the narrow staircase, and rode the cramped and creaking elevator of Hotel Iroquois, a single room occupancy hotel (SRO) in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood that’s home to eleven families and 63 individuals. Audiences were guided by Skywatchers Ensemble members who sang, read poetry, and shared their first-person stories of home- and place-making, isolation, poor living conditions, and community-building (place attachement).
The Style Affect uses the art of personal style and fashion as a mechanism to educate African Americans in the Richmond community about mental health issues, symptoms, management skills and treatment resources .
The desired outcome of the project is for an increased understanding of the mental health needs in the African American community, to eliminate barriers and access to mental health resources, and to increase African American participation in mental health treatment.
Community Matters exists to build a thriving community by removing barriers to opportunity. We work closely in partnership with the 1,500 residents of Lower Price Hill, one of 52 neighborhoods that make up Cincinnati, Ohio. Lower Price Hill is a diverse and culturally unique home to approximately 500 families. A historically Appalachian community, the Lower Price Hill neighborhood is now significantly more diverse with 60% of residents now identifying as African American, Hispanic/Latino, or multiracial (ACS, 2019).
We Too Are Art is a project developed by a same-titled group of intersectional youth participant researchers (aged 17-22 years) with support from the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) under its Young Scholars Program.Our project is founded on the idea that we, as Black girls and Black women, are art and encourages Black girls to embrace their quirks and imperfections. The project broadens the horizons of what is conventionally deemed as art to include what Black girls touch, consume and create (sense of belonging). This includes everything from nail art, baking, anime, creative writing, and journaling to more traditional visual art mediums.
The Assemblage Art Space is a 1200 square foot gallery, performance, and collaboration space located in the Northwest corner of a boutique hotel on the South Boston Waterfront. It faces a windswept public plaza with floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides. The Assemblage is a Chapter 91 Facility of Public Accommodation, which means that it is dedicated to increasing the public's access to (and enjoyment of) the Boston Waterfront.
AHC Inc., an Affordable Housing Corporation, has been providing essential services to their residents — whom include: low-income families, immigrants, and people of color. Studio PAUSE, a community space for art and stories run by arstist Sushmita Mazumdar, is located in the Rinker Community Center in AHC Inc.’s Gates of Ballston community.
