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The Arts, Spirituality,

and Learning Neighborhoods:

Caring for our Community

Dr. Maria Liu Wong

Walls-Ortiz Gallery and Center

Jan 27, 2021

Thank you, Annalisa and COLLO, for the opportunity to share about the work I am doing with my team and community at City Seminary of New York and the Walls-Ortiz Gallery and Center in Harlem and also, right now, virtually.

I’ll be sharing today about the ways we have been engaging in our local community using the framework of EcCoWell, which is a holistic integrated way of prioritizing lifelong learning across all of life and promoting quality of life and sustainable development. Introduced by Dr Peter Kearns in 2012, Ec stands for economy and ecology, Co stands for community and culture, and Well addresses wellbeing and lifelong learning. In recent years, this model has expanded to also include entrepreneurship and happiness, or a broader notion of thriving and flourishing, or what we might in our local community interpret as “shalom”, or the peace of our city.

So our work is at a local learning neighborhood scale and is built very much around the themes that we are talking about today - care, compassion, hospitality, building community and seeking the flourishing of people and more. I highlight the ideas of arts and spirituality intersecting with learning, care and community because typically the metrics for measuring quality of life and happiness have been economic (for example, the GDP or poverty level), but there is much more to us than a number. And that qualitative aspect of who we are as human draws much deeper in who we are as spiritual beings and cities as spiritual places. The themes for today resonate very much with this idea.

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Context: Central Harlem, NYC

Walls-Ortiz Gallery and Center

St. Luke Triangle Building

(W 120th St / 121st St; Frederick Douglass Blvd / St. Nicholas Ave)

On the move and at home

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Walls-Ortiz Gallery and Center (WOGC) team

Miriam Acevedo, Adrienne Croskey, Daniel John, Huibing He, Sarah Gerth van den Berg and Maria Liu Wong

[also featured: Anthony Artis, Jenny Tibbels, Zoe Larmey (intern)]

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The mission of the WOGC is to create a community space

for interaction with art, for conversation, for telling stories,

for visualizing and engaging faith,

and for new questions and unexpected appreciation.

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Before COVID (EcCoWell 2 approach):

our work in and with the community

EcCoWell 2: Economy & Ecology, Community & Culture, Wellbeing & Lifelong Learning + Entrepreneurship & Happiness

Group Exhibitions on Urban Issues and Faith Matters

Annual Calls for NYC-based Artwork - Group Show

Community Conversations, Yarn Circles, and Free Art Workshops

Gotham Arts Festival

Pop-up Artisan Fairs

Neighborhood Collaborations

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Community Partners

Fisher Center for Adults with Disabilities, New York Public Library, Wyatt T. Walker Senior Home, Police Athletic League, Local Police Precinct, Community Liaison, Safari Restaurant, Monkey Cup Cafe, Little Green Acre community garden, and WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

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Precinct Senior Paint Day (with Youth Ambassadors)

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Community Conversations with Raquel and Zoe

Walk in morningside, with Raquel
Zoe, planting and painting pots

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Tree Pit Planting Day with Community Heroes

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More Trees Grow in Harlem (yarn bomb part 2)

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Harlem Greenspace InfoDeck (intern: Zoe Larmey)

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WE ACT Environmental Justice Walk / Harlem Grown

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Fisher Center Art Workshops @NY Public Library

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In these tumultuous times,

how do Learning Cities practice and promote values of kindness, compassion and respect?

So, to answer the first question for today - how do learning cities practice….?

At the neighborhood scale - and translate this to your town, village, or local community - this can be done when partnership and collaboration as at the center. For us, Christian hospitality as a spiritual practice is to extend welcome to whoever comes in or is on the street. We engage in conversation and learning, not just skills like crochet and art making, but about each other as people. So the outcomes are not defined in the metrics of numbers, but in the qualitative deepening of relationships and the fabric of our community. This practice of hospitality leans into such values as kindness, compassion and respect for our guests and neighbors. For others, I would imagine it is leaning into the practices that whatever tradition or worldview you may be from to provide resources for building thriving and cultivating peace in our communities. This may mean listening first and speaking less, and bringing an openness to the ways we are connected in human and more-than-human ways.

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During COVID:

our work at home and in / with the community

Fresh Oils Community Garden - cleanup, clematis gate yarn installation, and spring bulb planting

Virtual Yarn Circles and Art-Making Workshops

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Fresh Oils Community Garden - Virtual Yarn Circles

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Fresh Oils Community Garden (before)

@ Rosa Parks Backyard (W 118th St/ St. Nick Ave)

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Fresh Oils Community Garden -

Clematis Yarn Installation at Gate Entrance (Sep 2020)

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Fresh Oils Community Garden -

Backyard Cleanup and Transformation (Sep 2020)

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Fresh Oils Community Garden -

Fall Opening and Planting (Sep 2020)

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Fresh Oils Community Garden -

Winter Cleanup and Spring Bulb Planting (Dec 2020)

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Monthly Virtual Art-Making Workshops (Oct 2020 - Apr 2021)

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How can ecosystems of

lifelong learning contribute to

“building back better”?

When lifelong learning is envisioned as a lifewide and lifedeep matter, “building back better” means taking the lessons of the pandemic - being physically apart, having to stay local and present to what is before us, our families, our neighbors, our local spaces as the starting point for building.

The theme of the seminary this year has been “build for the peace of the city”. So this means building capacity, community and courage in and through the relationships we have cultivated and staying, not leaving the city. It means seeing the gifts of the community and drawing from them, affirming and encouraging what we already have and what we need to prune or remove - especially as we have seen such ugliness and radical division unearthed by the pandemic. Systemic injustice. Hate of other. We cannot simply build back what was there, but move forward taking the lessons of the pandemic and building anew with reframed priorities. We need to lean into the practices that bring us together - listening, seeing each other, knowing each other as neighbor,

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Looking Ahead:

Community Care and Renewal

Creative Community Care: Artists Respond to the Pandemic

2021 Virtual Residency

2022 Exhibition Opening (in-person / online)

2023 Traveling Exhibition (N. American cities)

Monthly Virtual Art-Making Workshops

Fresh Oils Community Garden (outdoor programming)

Renewed Partnerships with NYPL, police precinct, seniors + others

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Questions? Feedback? Ideas?