Co-creating a Community-led Public Art Experience
Harlem Wellness Center | National Day of Racial Healing
The Challenge
Vivian Kurutz, Founder of the Harlem Wellness Center and a long-time collaborator, reached out to the community to see if people were interested in planning an event for the National Day of Racial Healing. I’d known Vivian for years through attending her programs and workshops, and as an active Harlem community member, I saw an opportunity to support community wellness.
My Role
I joined the planning team as a community member, contributing my conflict resolution and production skills to help us co-create and execute our shared vision. What started as planning for one event evolved into something larger—a year-long program that included seasonal public art experiences alongside a dialogue series, all aimed at increasing racial understanding among Harlem community members.
The Outcome
The program launched on January 19, 2021, with a day-long, socially distanced, self-reflective labyrinth walk in Marcus Garvey Park. While walking the labyrinth alone, participants reflected on the question: “Harlem + Race: What is Bubbling Up for You?”
50 people visited the labyrinth over the course of the day—African American, Asian, Latinx, and White community members reflecting on their own race and that of their neighbors. In follow-up conversations, participants shared that the experience made them feel supported enough to explore questions of race in Harlem. Others described the experience as emotionally impactful.
The program continues to this day, creating ongoing spaces for community reflection and dialogue.
Impact: A community-led initiative that demonstrates how collaborative design can support difficult but necessary conversations—and how meaningful programs grow organically when community members bring their skills to shared challenges.
Co-developing Conflict Transformation Circles
NYC Parks & Recreation / GreenThumb
The Challenge
Skye Roper-Moses and I were hired to co-develop a conflict resolution workshop for 30 community gardeners at the GreenThumb Leadership Program hosted by NYC Parks and Recreation. We facilitated the workshop the day before the city shut down during the pandemic. Through this experience, we discovered that gardeners wanted to learn more about conflict management within their garden groups and larger communities.
My Role
As the pandemic unfolded, Skye and I were curious about how gardeners were doing. We reached out to see if there was interest in developing a conflict transformation series for community gardeners. The response led us to launch an ongoing series of conflict transformation circles in Fall 2020. We used circle facilitation methods to create space for people to share their experiences and knowledge, while providing teach-outs on various conflict resolution skills and frameworks to build capacity for garden leaders.
The Outcome
The ongoing circles increased participants’ ability to navigate conflict within their garden organizations and individual relationships. By combining shared experience with practical skill-building, we created a learning environment where gardeners could develop real tools for managing the inevitable tensions that arise in community spaces—and build community within the NYC community garden network.
The series continues to this day, providing ongoing support and skill-building for NYC’s community garden leaders.
Impact: A one-time workshop revealed a deeper need. By staying curious and checking in during a critical time, we developed an ongoing program that has sustained both conflict resolution capacity and community connection for years.
Creating Dialogue Through Curation
The Half King
The Challenge
The Half King was a pub in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan owned by journalists Sebastian Junger and Scott Anderson. Aside from providing excellent food and drink, they wanted to foster social engagement—real conversation and a sense of community. They believed art could make that happen.
My Role
For over three years, I curated a monthly photojournalism series that brought visual storytellers and their work into conversation with the community.
The Outcome
The series drew standing-room-only crowds month after month. Even after I left, it remained a gathering place for visual storytelling, and the conversations continued.
Impact: Thoughtful curation created a space where art sparked genuine dialogue and built lasting community—demonstrating how the right programming can transform a venue into a gathering place that sustains itself beyond any single curator.