December 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 37

Park Creation with Art:
At the Center of the Design
and Healing Process
Art is essential and integral to life
at the Zuni Pueblo - to both the
economy and to the spiritual resilience of the culture. ZYEP saw the
power of drawing in Zuni artists to
the park planning process, through
the creation of a six-member advisory committee, to give input on the
design of a park that would address
a broad set of psychological and social needs beyond physical activity.
Zuni youth and their families face daunting challenges of
historical trauma and enduring
poverty, leaving them at risk for
mental health issues, including suicide. Tom Faber, founder and codirector of ZYEP deemed arts and
culture critical to creating a " safe,
stable, nurturing environment " in
the park, as they concurrently shifted their organizational work to becoming more trauma-informed and
resilience-based over the course of
three years.
Carleton Bowekaty, a Zuni
Tribal Council member, believes
that some community members
initially felt a little out of place
at the grand RSHQLQJ, as they
had not previously had regular
access to a new, full-size turf
field.
However,
BowHkaty
reflects: " Even though I think
everyone I talked to said that
they felt a little out of place...it
was our imagery, it was our
artwork. It was everything about
what made our community park an

relationships with residents living
in the neighborhoods adjacent to
Fairmount Park. Like ZYEP, the
conservancy has partnered with
artists and cultural producers so
that community voices could be
tapped for planning and decision
making for new park investments.
For decades, Strawberry Mansion has been one of the poorest
neighborhoods in the city. Slowly
but surely, gentrification is creeping northward and home prices in
this section of the city are on the
rise. Change is also coming to the

elevation of what we envisioned. "
Prior to this park, the Zuni community had little input in capital
project developments. However,
because of early artist involvement
to culturally ground the design of
the park and foster community buyin, the Zuni people felt ownership
over " our community park. " This
cultural lens informed the architecture of the community center, traditional wood " coyote " perimeter
fencing and murals displaying the
Zuni origin story, reinforcing the
resiliency of the Zuni people.
Youth and their families were
also engaged in the park planning
process, both to secure their input about what would go into the
park and to build a sense of community ownership. The fruit of
this collective labor is a park that
includes multipurpose turf field, a
community garden, a walking trail,
a basketball court, traditional ovens, classrooms and a performance
space - all in service of promoting
healthy lifestyles and reinforcing
cultural resiliency.
Park Stewardship with Art: Fostering Community Conversations
About the Future
Fairmount Park Conservancy has
roots that go back to 1867. However, only within the past decade has
the organization evolved beyond
its role as a fundraising vehicle for
Philadelphia's park system to more
strategic investments in planning,
programming and community engagement. This evolution includes
an emerging focus on deepening

Zuni youth take in some Zuni artwork
during the opening of H'on A:wan Community Park on September 29, 2018.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHIWISUN PRODUCTIONS

tings and populations for artsbased projects are clear. But, there
are strong similarities in how each
deployed an arts and cultural approach to community development
and centralized inclusion in the
planning processes.

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Parks & Recreation

December 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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