Baltimore Community Fellowships
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© Open Society Institute
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Baltimore, Maryland
2008
Ivy Parsons used her fellowship to turn a community’s vision of an artistically-created community gathering/meeting space into reality.
The Interfaith Garden Art Project, in partnership with the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition, Dr. Rayner Brown Elementary-Middle School, and the Interfaith community, is a breathtakingly beautiful space with chess tables formed from tree trunks, flowers and shade trees accenting the urban landscape. The community desired the space; Parsons helped them create it.
But there was quite a learning curve getting to that picture.
For one thing, Parsons had to understand the community around Dr. Rayner Brown before she could earn buy-in from the community’s residents and leaders. She did this by sharing stories, listening to their points of view and honoring the history of the community and its accomplishments. In essence, she had to become a part of the community. It was challenging at first but ultimately became one of Ivy’s most cherished memories.
“The conversations with people from the community were my favorite part of the project,” she said. “I really enjoyed all the people I met during the fellowship.”
Parsons also learned to become an expert collaborator, partnering with some four dozen organizations, agencies and individuals, including the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Morgan State University, Parks and People Foundation and numerous community residents.
Despite the astounding number of partnerships Parsons developed, she realized mid-project that she had spent so much time on programming, she had forgotten about funding. “In hindsight, I should have worked harder, earlier at getting additional funding for the next stage of the project,” she said.
Now, at the end of her fellowship, Parsons has secured additional funding and has sparked the excitement of community members who want to see more of her work in their neighborhoods.
“Other community members are talking with me about converting vacant lots into flower beds and gardens to grow food and to stop the dumping of trash next to their houses,” she said. “So the idea is spreading.”
