On February 28, 2019, 12 students from Senn High School visited The Commons looking for inspiration as they worked on Design4Democracy, a project supported by the Chicago Learning Exchange. The project engaged teens in a collaboration with Convergence Design Labs to redesign their school’s library into a “student-owned civic media space.” During their visit, the students were exposed to the artistic and creative aspects of The Commons and left with inspiration to implement into their project.

On Tuesday, February 26, Sweet Water Foundation sparked the Radical Imagination of more than 80 children, families, students from Chicago Free School, and artists in the  Lightbox Theater & Gallery during the Urban Bush Women's Community Sing at The Commons. The space was activated by the power of song, dance, and community. The Community Sing was the first workshop in the “Radical Imagination Workshop Series,” welcoming an intergenerational audience to express their creativity and story through song + dance.

Meet Danny Salomon... Danny first visited The Commons in September of 2017 while visiting Chicago. In 2018, he came back to learn more about SWF’s practice and, within six months, was invited to become a SWF Human-in-Residence with a focus on Design+Build. Humans-in-Residence are Lifelong learners, artists, and contributors of all ages and talents that engage in an immersive and generative experience with lasting impact. Danny’s residency took place from  February 23, 2019 - March March 9, 2019. During this intensive, 2-week period at The Commons, Danny stayed in the Think-Do House and worked alongside the SWF team on the design of the [Re]Construction House, design and build a storage system for a shipping container, and, most importantly, becoming part of the SWF Family.

For a third time in less than a year, the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival Neighborhood Tour hosted a puppet show at Sweet Water Foundation. On January 18th, 2019, SWF welcomed more than 25 people to the Lightbox Theater + Gallery located in SWF’s Thought Barn for an international puppet show. This event was not only the first performance at The Commons in 2019, but also the inaugural, public art performance in the Lightbox Theater + Gallery.

On a cold afternoon in early January, the SWF team visited The Smart Museum of Art to [de]construct the Radical [Re]Constructions exhibit. Most of the exhibit returned to The Commons for a new project, the [Re]Construction House, but the bench that was the focal point of the exhibit, found a home in the courtyard outside the University of Chicago’s Physics Building.

Meet Vora Long Williams...Vora is a lifelong resident of Englewood who has witnessed many changes in the community. Despite the changes, Vora is dedicated to the Englewood community and to connecting people to each other and resources. In 2017, Vora found Sweet Water Foundation during a walk through the neighborhood. She has had the opportunity to get to know the team and see changes at The Commons. After retiring from the US Postal Service, Vora became a community leader and hopes to be a Life Coach someday. Sweet Water Foundation is excited to share Vora’s story and looks forward to continuing the relationship.

On November 3, 2018, the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival Neighborhood Tour brought a live puppet theater performance to The Commons for the second time in 2018. Sweet Water Foundation’s Maker Space, located in the basement of the Think Do House, was transformed into a wonderland during Tom Lee’s “Shadow Show” of Tomte.

On Wednesday, October 24, 2018, the Sweet Water Foundation team delivered four hexagonal dance floors to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago for an exhibit called Groundings. Throughout the exhibit, open from November 3, 2019 - May 12, 2019, artists of various mediums will explore the relationship between seen and unseen movement. The floors were built at The Commons via a collaboration between Sweet Water Foundation apprentices and mentors, Ozuzu Dancers, and Links Hall.

On November 3, 2018, Sweet Water Foundation hosted teens from the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum for a final cross-city collaboration for the Working Through S.C.A.L.E. Program. The year-long partnership between SWF and the PNNM has engaged youth in the process of investigating their surrounding ecologies and collaborating with other youth across the City of Chicago.

From October 19 - 21, 2018, over 1,000 students from across the world visited Chicago for a three day conference through Clinton Global Initiative University. On the last day of the conference, 32 of those students spent an afternoon at The Commons for the conference’s Day of Action. Read on to learn more about the global audience and interactions at The Commons.

Meet Yasi Shaker...Yasi visited The Commons with a group of students from Kalamazoo College during the summer of 2018. Soon after, Yasi returned as Sweet Water Foundation’s 2018 Fall Fellow. Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Yasi came to the United States go to school. As SWF’s Fall Fellow, Yasi has been helping the team build fractals, sharing her passion for environmental justice, and becoming immersed in the practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development.

During the summer of 2018, SWF hosted Yash Kumbhat as its 2018 Summer Fellow. During his time at The Commons, Yash learned about the practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development and how that practice might be implemented in other cities across the globe. Yash also shared his knowledge about solar energy in an effort to begin Lighting Up The Commons. When he returned to school, Yash brought the skills he gained at Sweet Water Foundation back to Harvard University and to the City of Boston.

On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, more than 75 people that traveled to Chicago to attend the 46th Annual NOMA International Conference and Exposition gathered at The Commons for a day of [de]construction, [re]construction, and [re]connections. NOMA volunteers worked alongside the SWF team throughout the day on various projects across The Commons.

What are public spaces? And, how can they be creatively and intentionally transformed into gathering spaces that are productive, safe, and welcoming for all? Since 2014, SWF has reclaimed and transformed 4 contiguous city blocks on Chicago’s South side. The Perry Avenue Commons (The Commons) has become a demonstration site with an emphasis on community.  Now, others across the country are looking to SWF as a model of Regenerative Neighborhood Development, and seeking SWF’s counsel as they work to transform public spaces across the country.

Meet Yash Kumbhat….Yash came to The Commons as an intern during the summer of 2018. Originally from Kolkata, India, he is now a sophomore at Harvard College. During his summer at SWF, Yash helped with various tasks such as leading tours, learning architecture and design projects with other interns, and learning farming techniques from SWF apprentices. He also helped SWF begin lighting up The Commons with solar energy. Now, Yash is back in Boston, spreading SWF’s practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development across the city.

On Tuesday, September 25, Sweet Water Foundation hosted the For Freedoms Town Hall, gathering more than 50 people from EXPO CHICAGO in the Thought Barn for an evening of conversation on the topic of Art and Public Space. The Town Hall, organized in collaboration with the Smart Museum of Art, welcomed a panel of speakers from March for Our Lives and AfriCOBRA who discussed strategies for integrating art into the reclamation of public space. The evening’s dialogue was enhanced by the surrounding environment given SWF’s focus on integrating art into each space at The Commons.

On September 22, 2018 a group of 175 people attending Breakout Chicago visited the Perry Avenue Commons for a neighborhood celebration with activities, performances, food, and connections. Breakout is a nationwide organization whose mission is to champion change makers, with a focus on those who make changes from within communities. The Commons provided the perfect place to gather a national audience of change makers to witness and celebrate the transformations taking place at The Commons and across the country.

Throughout the summer, the SWF team performed a series of experiments with solar panels installed on the Smart Pod and on test kits around The Commons to better understand solar energy. The knowledge gained from those experiments is being translated to solar projects across The Commons.

On July 13, 2018 ten preschool aged children and four care providers visited Sweet Water Foundation for the launch of a pilot food program called Chicago Fresh, a farm-to-child initiative with Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion. The initiative seeks to increase access to and understanding of healthy produce to early child care educators and in-home providers.

Sweet Water Foundation practices Regenerative Neighborhood Development - a radically reconstructive and holistic model of economic development that transforms disinvested spaces into productive and sustainable spaces of healing, intergenerational connections, and beauty. A critical, yet often overlooked component of SWF’s practice is water. SWF has creatively and intentionally called the issue of water to attention as it works towards neighborhood transformation.