Creating Spaces for Healing, Connection, and Hope through the Arts

Dear Commonweal Community,

TGIS—Thank God it's summer! Growing up outside the United States, I remember summer as a letting go, a freedom. Neighborhood kids roamed the open fields and beaches without much structure or supervision. With my own children, summer was different—every moment scheduled, every activity curated. Now, approaching grandparenting age, I wonder what today's young people experience. My cynical friends believe screens have replaced roaming, and they're not wrong. Screens offer portals to many worlds, but they also narrow vision and capture attention. Add AI to the mix, and the pull becomes even stronger.

But I'm curious about something deeper: What skills and capacities do young people need to navigate a world saturated with technology and information?

Nearly two decades ago, when I was directing Visual Thinking Strategies, I was thinking about this same question. I wrote about the importance of critical thinking when the world's knowledge was available on our phones. The ability to discern, observe, analyze, reflect, and intuit was essential. Today, that's even more true. We have not only more information, but more channels—social media, AI—demanding our attention and shaping our thinking.

These skills can't be taught through lectures alone. They're learned through practice, ideally with others. Art offers fertile soil where they can grow. Art is ambiguous, fluid, open to interpretation. Making art engages the whole body and mind. It builds belonging, reduces loneliness, creates joy. Finding our creative pathways—whether making or experiencing art—is deeply healing for all of us, at any age.

What role can art play in meeting this moment? As communities face loneliness, burnout, environmental anxiety, and civic division, the arts create spaces for healing, connection, and hope.

This Sunday, on July 12, we invite you to join us at Commonweal or online, for "Art for Our Common Good: Creativity, Health, and Civic Life"—a public gathering celebrating 50 years of healing arts at Commonweal. We'll be in conversation with leaders in arts, health, and community practice, including Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, former NEA Director and Deborah Cullinan from Stanford University. We will be exploring how creativity strengthens well being, responds to environmental challenges, and helps rebuild trust in public life.

Discover how the arts can help solve some of our most urgent challenges by bringing people together, restoring meaning, and imagining new possibilities.

With gratitude,

Oren Slozberg
Executive Director, Commonweal

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‍Photo: Oren Slozberg leads a VTS session for a gallery exhibit luncheon in January 2026. Art by Jon Marro. Photo credit: Isabelle Ellingson