Front and Schiller Park
Starting in 2020, Ashely DeJesus Santiago, a young mother of three, started organizing the themed clean up at the Front and Schiller Park. DeJesus lives across from the Front and Schiller Park, a pocket park located on the northwest side of Reading. Neighbors have been concerned with the safety of the park because it is…
Read MoreSouth of Penn Community Lot
On a Friday in September 2021, a 110-pound turtle was walking along a patch of grass while children learned about reptiles and insects. The reptile show was part of a series of programs such as movie nights, cleanups, porch concerts, and art workshops that have been taking place at the South of Penn Community Lot.…
Read MoreAlleyway Concerts
The Alleyway Concerts were born out of the desire to activate underappreciated spaces while also gathering community members through music. Concert locations have ranged from abandoned lots to bodega fronts to inside a laundromat. Using simple portable speakers and microphones the program engages local artists and businesses to see the beauty of their community through…
Read MoreVacant Homes Tour
Wilkinsburg is community just outside Pittsburgh with a population of 15,000 residents. In 2014 a community artist, Dee Briggs, purchased a vacant house slated for demolition in Wilkinsburg. She painted it gold and used media channels to shine a light on the history of the house and the people who once called it home. In…
Read MoreSteps at Main
From the library’s perspective, staff were seeking a way to make the library more relevant for the low-income Latino community who live nearby. As part of this work, the library established an outreach coordinator position to develop non-traditional programming, starting with baseline surveys to identify obstacles that prevent folks from using the library. Respondents expressed…
Read MoreProphets, Poets, and Parks
City resident Lourdes Monzon organizes these gatherings, called Prophets, Poets, and Parks. She intentionally rotates the events around the city, picking abandoned and underutilized areas of parks. Her purpose is to create safe spaces that highlight the importance of words, narratives, and poetry. The first event in the series focused on reading poems by Audrey…
Read MoreDear Tamaqua
Dear Tamaqua was a yearlong letter writing campaign and subsequent community events which sought to catalyze lasting change in a community which experienced widespread abandoned properties and negative perceptions.
Read MoreThe Big Zipper
Over the course of the summer of 2015, the Meadville Neighborhood Center and Steve Prince, artist in residence at Allegheny College, initiated the summer-long collaborative art project. Mr. Prince cut zipper pieces – that is, the individual prongs of a zipper – out of wood and distributed them to community members at 25 wood carving…
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