Indivisible - The Village of Arts and Humanities

EDUCATOR'S GUIDE: INDIVISIBLE - Community Project Profile

THE VILLAGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A deteriorating neighborhood in inner-city north Philadelphia, home to public-housing projects, condemned buildings, and unsightly vacant lots, is being transformed through the collaborative efforts of its residents and volunteers. Spearheaded by Chinese-born artist Lily Yeh, Philadelphians of all ages have joined her efforts to reshape their community through the programs of the Village of Arts and Humanities. Village participants also believe that taking part in the physical restoration and beautification of the neighborhood serves as a healing and bonding process that strengthens them through their communal efforts.


Mosaic sculpture in Ile Ife Park by Joseph "Jo Jo" Williams and James "Big Man" Maxton Incorporated color coupler print © Reagan Louie 1999	Lily Yeh works with a neighborhood boy in Fairhill Park, Cumberland and Tenth Incorporated color coupler print © Reagan Louie 1999

The Village, an arts and cultural organization begun by Yeh in 1986 as a park-building project, has grown into a vital nonprofit organization, both enriching and healing residents and the neighborhood through art classes, the creation of colorful murals and mosaics, renovations, community festivals, puppet plays, theatrical productions, educational programs and incentives, and housing projects. Together, staff, residents, and volunteers at the Village have cleaned up and converted eighty-seven abandoned properties into art parks, a tree farm, community gardens, and entrepreneurial and low-income housing facilities. The Village's educational programs inspire and help area youth attend college and invest in their futures. The project is succeeding in its goal to create a vital, sustainable, and replicable urban village in which people are reconnected with their families, sheltered by decent housing, enriched by meaningful contributions, and nurtured by the care and efforts of neighbors in their community.

Photographer Reagan Louie is known for his sensitivity to and use of color and for his interest in the social landscape. His images capture the area's renewal and the commitment of those involved with the Village. Pictured are a mosaic sculpture in the park created by Village participants (Slide 23) and Lily Yeh and a boy cleaning up an empty lot in their neighborhood (Slide 24). Also seen are people working at the tree farm and Village staff performing a puppet play on Earth Day.

Interviewer Barry Dornfeld, a documentarian, is director of the Communications Program at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His interviews present the voice of Lily Yeh as well as staff and community members of all ages who discuss their involvement and pride in the Village's projects. We also hear the crowd at the 1999 Earth Day celebration held at the Village tree farm on an abandoned lot near the Village, and from James "Big Man" Maxton, operations director at the Village, who began working with the project in 1988 as he was recovering from drug addiction. Maxton is now a recognized mosaic artist and public and community art specialist. quotation from an interview

http://www.creativephotography.org This page last updated September 24, 2000. oncenter@ccp.arizona.edu