Craft Lake City and the International Rescue Committee are overjoyed to announce the installation of our new public art exhibition, Local Voices: Together We Welcome. This new exhibition aims to honor and highlight global cultures that have arrived in Utah with those who now call the state “home,” and invites you to learn more about our newest neighbors and listen to their stories. In the case of this exhibition, in-person visitors to the public art will be able to literally listen to those featured tell their stories, thanks to an interactive element. Viewers will be able to scan a QR code and hear audio of the featured person telling their story, working or playing instruments.
“We have gathered stories of multiple individuals in the refugee and new American community that will each have dedicated boards to their stories and contributions. With that, they will fill in their own Together We _____,” says Mikaela Herman, Communications Specialist at IRC Salt Lake City. “Our goal is to make it people-centered/story-centered, while incorporating some statistics that maybe people do not know about refugees in our community!”
This exhibition is only the latest in Craft Lake City’s work with IRC’s Salt Lake City chapter. Last autumn we announced our joint-project, the New Americans Workshop Series, which presents a total of six craft workshops taught by makers from around the globe who’ve made Utah their home due to humanitarian crises in their countries of origin. New Americans workshop instructors Jawaher Fadhel, Raida Jarjes, Daniel Oduntan and Rispah Otieno also have their stories featured as part of Local Voices: Together We Welcome. The next workshop in this series will be Rispah’s Maasai Beaded Earrings Workshop on January 12 at Craft Lake City HQ from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
We are pleased to be highlighting the amazing work the IRC does through its wide breadth of refugee programs by featuring stories & statistics that people might not know about refugees in our community. This exhibition spotlights New American entrepreneurs in the greater Salt Lake City area and the businesses they’ve created.
With support from The Center for the Living City and The Temporary Museum of Permanent Change, Craft Lake City’s Local Voices installation series highlights the inspiring work of Utah-based organizations in an effort to connect the community with ideas that matter. Craft Lake City curates this seasonal, rotating outdoor art exhibition for the Salt Lake community. The exhibits feature visually inspiring and interactive artwork meant to engage viewers and passersby. All Local Voices installations are displayed in fourteen metal frames adjacent to the sidewalks in downtown Salt Lake City. They are located on the north and south sides of Broadway(300 South) between 200 West and 200 East. Local Voices installations are open to the public 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and are free of charge. Those interested in learning more can visit https://craftlakecity.com/local-voices.
Watch the Virtual Discussion!
For more information about this exhibition, please visit www.rescue.org/announcement/together-we-welcome/ To learn more about the IRC’s year-round initiatives, visit www.rescue.org/SLC.
About the IRC:
The International Rescue Committee provides opportunities for refugees, asylees, victims of human trafficking, survivors of torture, and other immigrants to thrive in America. Each year, thousands of people, forced to flee violence and persecution, are welcomed by the people of the United States into the safety and freedom of America. These individuals have survived against incredible odds. The IRC works with government bodies, civil society actors, and local volunteers to help them translate their past experiences into assets that are valuable to their new communities. In Salt Lake City and other offices across the country, the IRC helps them to rebuild their lives. Since opening its doors in 1994, the IRC in Salt Lake City has resettled nearly 12,000 refugees and provided life-changing services to thousands more in the Beehive State. Services include resettlement, education, health, advocacy, economic well being, and more.
Rescue.org/SLC @rescueorg @ircsaltlakecity
About Craft Lake City:
Founded in 2009 by Angela H. Brown, Executive Editor of SLUG (Salt Lake UnderGround) Magazine, Craft Lake City® is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with the mission to educate, promote and inspire local artisans while elevating the creative culture of the Utah arts community through science, technology and art. Craft Lake City strives to further define the term “Craft,” by modernizing the definition for handmade creativity.
craftlakecity.com @craftlakecity
Craft Lake City’s year-round programming is supported in part by the residents of Salt Lake County through the Zoo, Arts & Parks (ZAP) Program, the Salt Lake Arts Council, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, and Utah Arts & Museums, with funding from the State of Utah and the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the Temporary Museum of Permanent Change:
The Temporary Museum of Permanent Change is a community based, participatory project that uses the ever-changing development processes underway in Salt Lake City as catalysts to animate city life. The Museum engages a variety of audiences using a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach that includes performance art and video production, visual art, urban archaeology, anthropology, local history, existing businesses and ongoing deconstruction and construction processes as spectacles for people of all ages. Together these elements provide teachable moments in our efforts to manage and celebrate change. This museum has no specific address. Rather it is a construction of ideas, installations and illuminations that comprise a new way of seeing our city.
museumofchange.org
About the Center for Living City:
The Center for the Living City’s purpose is to expand the understanding of the complexity of contemporary urban life and through it, promote increased civic engagement among people who care deeply for their communities. The Center provides portals for community engagement through the lens of urban ecology to further the understanding of the interconnected human and ecological systems in our communities. The Center’s multi-disciplinary approach to community engagement is applied through educational programs, collaborative projects, fellowships, on-line portals, workshops and publications.
centerforthelivingcity.org @centerforthelivingcity