2023 Summer at The Commonwealth
Summer 2023 was jam-packed with weekly rituals, special events, visitors from across the globe, and a lot of labor, love, and community. Over the months of June, July, and August, Sweet Water Communiversity was in full swing, welcoming a new cohort of Urban Ecology Global Fellows and delivering hands-on arts, culture, and Urban Ecology programming to 100+ students from across the Chicagoland area and the world. SWF also hosted its Sixth Annual Juneteenth Celebration and engaged the community in the weekly rituals of Wellness Wednesdays, Friday Market, and Civic Arts Fridays.
Read more about Summer 2023 at The Commonwealth.
Summer 2023 at The Communiversity | Urban Ecology Global Fellows, Values-Based Partners, and Catalyst Events
The Commonwealth is a bio-dynamic campus and demonstration site for urban ecology, human development, and neighborhood development. It is a place where humans come together to learn and practice SWF’s Regenerative Neighborhood Development (RND), an interdisciplinary practice that cultivates community and embodies art, culture, design, and education. Although Communiversity programming happens year-round, summer is peak season at The Commonwealth.
This summer, SWF welcomed seven graduate, undergraduate, and recent graduate students as Urban Ecology Global Fellows representing 5 universities -- Cornell University, Kenyon College, Lake Forest College, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and Illinois Institute of Technology -- and 7 disciplines -- Architecture, City and Regional Planning, American Studies, Landscape Architecture, Biology, Environmental Studies, and Studio Art. Fellows were immersed in an intensive 10-week experience, during which they engaged in the daily praxis of RND activities, including farming, gardening, carpentry, historic and cultural preservation, woodworking, architecture, art, and design. Through this work, Fellows developed an understanding of SWF and its surrounding community and explored the fundamentals of urban ecology alongside local residents, artists, educators, and youth. Beyond hands-on work, Fellows also participated in daily seminars and were challenged to engage in a new form of human development as lifelong learners exposed to a series of “firsts” (first harvest, first carpentry build, etc.) through hands-on and solution-oriented work, research, and reflection.
The Communiversity also welcomed Values-Based Partners from Boston and Feedom Freedom Growers in Detroit and hosted a series of Catalyst events. Values-Based Partners joined for a week-long immersion at The Commonwealth to learn, share, and exchange practices, including gardening and farming, landscaping, daily reflections, civic arts, and much more. Catalyst events - half-day experiences that introduce The Commonwealth and the practice of RND to visitors in hopes of catalyzing future engagement - engaged students and faculty from Olive-Harvey College of Chicago’s City Colleges, a delegate of government leaders from El Salvador as part of the U.S. State Department´s Citizen Security Project; teens from Austin Grown on Chicago’s West side; youth from the Cook County Forest Preserve’s summer program; and more than 20 undergraduate student leaders from Latin America (Panama, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guatemala) as part of the Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSIs) for Student Leaders Program hosted by Miami University of Ohio.
Last but not least, Sweet Water Communiversity welcomed rising first-grade students from Beasley Academic Center’s garden club as an extension of SWF’s Seeding The Future program. Children, teachers, and chaperones joined the SWF team for a field lesson that introduced them to soil, insects, and nature arts throughout the month of July.
Sixth Annual Juneteenth Celebration at The Civic Arts Church
On Saturday, June 17, Sweet Water Foundation celebrated its Sixth Annual Juneteenth Celebration at The Commonwealth. For the first time, Juneteenth was hosted at Civic Arts Church, which SWF opened in June 2022 after a years-long transformation from an abandoned church to a community design center. This year’s celebration welcomed 200+ neighbors, community partners, and friends from around the globe, who joined us to celebrate freedom and community. We invite you to read more about the 2023 Juneteenth Celebration at The Commonwealth here.
Weekly Rituals | Wellness Wednesdays, Weekly Markets, and Civic Arts Fridays
Sweet Water Foundation’s weekly rituals continued throughout the summer. Every Wednesday, SWF welcomed our community network and volunteers to work the land, engage in civic arts, and share a farm-to-table meal made by the SWF team and fellows. More than 200 visitors, community members, and volunteers joined SWF over the summer.
At the end of each week, SWF hosted its weekly market where fresh produce from the farm and garden was available -- and people were invited to join in SWF’s weekly ritual of practicing civic arts. Workshops have included nature collages, prints, and weavings, and practicing making spin drums from cardboard and beads.
Wellness Wednesday will continue through the end of September and weekly markets with civic arts will continue through the end of October.
