How can communities stay engaged during a global pandemic?

This week our cohort heard from another speaker during our meeting named Brooke Hurley, a ceramics teacher in Chicago. She talked to us about the different steps her studio has taken to keep their community engaged since her classes mostly work with the elderly and special needs students who benefit a lot from her work. I especially thought it was interesting that she shared the function of her classes have changed a little bit since moving online and taking place during this difficult time. She said that a big part of the classes before was teaching a ceramics technique but now it’s about being together; she didn’t realize how much that community was the reason they loved their classes so much. 

I felt this in my own communities too because I realized that a lot of the things I was doing online with others were less about what we were doing and more about just being together. For example, I am doing an online class with a couple friends unrelated to the subject of this project, and while I am interested in what I’m learning, the reason why I’m doing it is to continue connecting with my friends.

This week I also realized that the events which are required for people to go to get less participation and excitement than those that happen less frequently or are purely voluntary. I noticed how Project Chaverim was getting very low participation while the Zoom bunk meeting and Yom Hashoah events had a lot of participation.