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Reflections on how the creative arts spoke to and through us throughout the year:

“…I’m a very detail-oriented person, and cross-stitch does require that. Technique-wise, there are certain techniques, but it’s pretty straightforward… The thing I’m most interested in exploring right now is that people have been doing these miniatures of famous pictures. A miniature Starry Night, things like that.” –Kia Honhongva (Cohort 29) Interview

“…those questions ultimately take me back to CLP and to Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet… “Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer…” –Julie Greenwood (Cohort 9) Interview

“I always felt like auditions were more than just auditions – what was at stake wasn’t just a spot in a piece, but a piece of social capital (and that’s a hard feeling to shake). So I never called myself a ‘dancer’ – instead, I would say ‘I’m in the dance group’ or ‘I dance sometimes’…” –Mercedes MacAlpine (Cohort 29), Make It or Break It

“…most of the time it’s really just settling in and letting my thoughts out, no-intention journal writing or recording them on audio, or recording a podcast with my fiancé, I can talk about what I am feeling and thinking. Different things to do inner work and just let it out in whatever way is constructive at the time.” –Miriam Johnson (Cohort 29) Interview

“‘The Awareness style’ of this artistic movement embraces the experience of the colonized, conquered, occupied, subjugated, dominated and their progeny…” –Sylvester Salcedo (Cohort 23), La Consapevolezza: An Invitation

“I like drumming, I find that a great outlet. I’m a big reggae fan, I love reggae. I consider myself to be eclectic, I listen to all types of music – there’s a time and a season for every type – but I have a bias for reggae. I believe that in the morning especially, if I’m going to listen to music it has to be inspiring, it has to have substance.” –Gamaliel Gammy Moses (Cohort 16) Interview

“We have just experienced a collective trauma. The impact of the pandemic on the arts and culture sector was especially harrowing. As leaders, we had to make choices between the unthinkable and the untenable. Even in this moment, many of us are still in the midst of crisis…” –Joshua Borenstein (Cohort 14), A Call for a Fuller Life

“…After my dad passed, I traveled through Europe for six weeks. My buddy and I got a spot in St Paul de Vence, a couple miles from where James Baldwin lived, I read No Name in the Street while looking over at Baldwin’s home. That was an incredible book and experience – the people, the place, everything.” –Onyeka Obiocha (Cohort 21) Interview

“The gardening is always an invitation and opportunity to think, feel, work, relax, renew… I always assume it will be 100% abundance. I let go, allow, and support the process. I tend to the soil, seeds, and plants.” –Esther Armmand (Cohort 4), The Unbroken Line of Disenfranchisement (Part 2)

“Go to a live music show, for whatever your favorite genre is. I live right next to an elementary-middle school, and there’s a jazz band class that plays outside every Friday. They’re good, these kids are SO good. How lucky am I to be near their practice every Friday? It happens at 8:30, and some people aren’t up by then, but I’m up, and super-stoked to have it.” –Erwin Li (Cohort 28) Interview

“Each time I sat down to write, I imagined a certain type of intellectual, opinion-piece, visionary fruit of my labor. But in my reflections, only a very particular “what if” appeared on the page. I was recaptured by thoughts I had in the midst of collective time of isolation.” –Genevive Walker (Cohort 11), What If We Were Still

“These poems – if they had a phone, they would call me and say “when are we coming out, when are you going to look at us again?” Constantly.” –Maria Solomon (Cohort 31), Becoming a Poet

Curated by The Circle’s creative director & editor, Lara Herscovitch. To reach Lara directly: thecircle@clpnewhaven.org or Lara@LaraHerscovitch.com

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