Of Grief & Dreams
Grants Awarded
The "Of Grief & Dreams Outdoor Classroom Project" is an art and healing endeavor in Albuquerque that provides an artistic outdoor space for communal and personal healing through nature engagement. Constructing a large, interactive ship sculpture on Albuquerque Open Space property, it will serve as an outdoor classroom, community gathering spot, and exploration hiatus for grief and dreams. Offering interdisciplinary events and workshops, in alliance with local schools and grief support centers, it will facilitate community building while emphasizing the importance of the natural world. The project, backed by the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts and Culture, Parks and Recreation, and Public Art Division, will significantly impact Albuquerque's cultural scene by initiating a space for healing, creativity, and community involvement.
Of Grief & Dreams is a multifaceted, socially-engaged art project for individual and communal healing. The project involves constructing a large-scale, interactive ship in Albuquerque, along with interdisciplinary workshops, public programming (on and off-site), and an online archive of dreams. Addressing grief on personal and global scales, the project creates space for tending to grief and dreams across cultures. It takes a radically personal approach to collective progress by bringing people together through art-based experiences to process grief and initiate healing. Its purpose is to explore what we can mine from our dreams that will enable us to live and thrive amidst the grief around us. Over the past two years, Of Grief & Dreams has been actively developing community programming to support its mission. We have successfully secured partnerships with the City of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department, the City of Albuquerque Arts and Culture Department, and the City of Albuquerque Public Arts Division. These collaborations have strengthened our community engagement and expanded our reach. A key partner in our work is the Keshet Center for the Arts, whose longstanding commitment to fostering inclusivity, creativity, and community-building aligns deeply with the values of Of Grief & Dreams. Together, we are creating a space where the arts serve as a vehicle for healing, and our partnership amplifies our shared mission of using art to address grief, honor dreams, and nurture personal and collective growth.