Finding Meaning Through the Arts

Dear Commonweal Community,

The Bolinas People’s Store is still full of our “summer people.” During the summer months, the town’s population seems to double and the number of kids seems to triple. At Commonweal, foggy July and August were full of life, art, partings, and love.

In July, the land here was humming with the energy of teenagers. Young people, between the ages of 14 and 18, converged at Commonweal for the Power of Hope Summer Camp. The Power of Hope staff, mostly artists and creatives, created an amazing experience, facilitated through nature, beaches, improvisation, music, spoken work, and just being.

It made me wonder, how do younger eyes experience some of the news that we talk about daily? What is their understanding? How do they integrate the conversations about climate change? Democracy? Money? Immigration? These are hard concepts even for some of us that are older (some a lot older, like me) to grasp.

One of our youth programs—Collaborations: Teachers & Artists (CoTA)—created a video about their work with the San Diego school district elementary schools, pioneering arts-integrated professional development for the entire faculty. In the video, featured here, 20 nine-year-olds experience immigration through acting and movement. The kids create tableaus of their ancestors, and create the shapes of planes and ships with their friends. They act out imagined stories of the difficulties of moving to a new country. Creating together is such a powerful way to begin to understand complex and challenging ideas.

Our 50th anniversary summer theme is focused on art and healing. For Rachel Naomi Remen, the beloved member of our community and co-founder of the Cancer Help Program who passed away just a few weeks ago, art and healing were central to her work with people with cancer and her medical school course “The Healer’s Art.” Rachel wrote and read poetry as part of her practice. She used sacred objects as a way to explore calling. You can join us on Zoom or at Commonweal on October 3 for a celebration of her life.

This month, our fall visiting scholar is Melissa Nelson of the Anishinaabe/Metis communities, professor of indigenous conservation at Arizona State University and founding executive director of the Cultural Conservancy. You can meet her September 29, when she is in conversation with Commonweal Board Member Jaune Evans, followed by a short workshop on The Rematriation of Science: Restoring Balance through Indigenous Knowledges.

This fall, and into the new year, our 50th anniversary theme turns to “Reimagining the Future.” Building on a 50-year legacy built by Michael, Rachel, and others, we now look forward, strengthening our calling to continue the legacy of healing, resilience, community, and hope.

I am grateful for your voice, support, and participation in all of Commonweal’s work, today and in the years to come. Our community is not complete without you.

With gratitude,

Oren Slozberg
Executive Director, Commonweal

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‍Photo: From the Commonweal Archives - July 2015 Power of Hope camp at Commonweal.

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