A Celebration of Welcome: Preparing for the Experience
“Welcome is… you know it when you know it. And you want other people to know it, too. So let’s talk about it.”
For the last two years, the Flourish team has engaged with concepts and extensions of “welcome” as a value we hope to see cultivated in Oklahoma City. This has looked like hosting experiences and events for city members to engage with this topic and with each other.
We chose the value of welcome because it felt like the right next step after our focus on restorative justice. While we started with Welcome in spring 2021, the value was especially important with the fall 2021 arrival of new neighbors from Afghanistan and the humanitarian needs of arriving neighbors migrating to the US southern border. Our hope was that rather than only focus on how Oklahomans might welcome individuals arriving through various immigration pathways, the Flourish team wanted to learn more about welcome from new neighbors. We know that everyone in our city brings a wealth of knowledge and experiences to the table and turning to new neighbors to learn about how we can better practice and embrace welcome has been wonderful.
Our focus on welcome culminated in “A Celebration of Welcome” in early November 2022. Held at Oklahoma City’s Yale Theater, “A Celebration of Welcome” was an immersive and interactive experience for Oklahoma City visitors focused on:
Encouragement in the ways welcome is being practiced in our city
Inspiration for a more welcoming city
Insight into tangible ways to practice welcome in our own lives
Offering food, drink, storytelling, and hospitality
Curating original exhibit contributions of students who have both experienced and offered welcome in Oklahoma City.
We began planning for the event in March 2022, discussing the elements and focus of the event. This led to our call for student projects in June. The call for projects was specifically for students who were 18-30 years old and first or second generation immigrants. Applicants could submit a project of their choice detailing how they practice welcome in their own lives. From larger informational sessions to one-on-one meetings with our mentors for feedback, we were– and continue to be!-- so encouraged by the work students submitted showcasing how they practice welcome in their day-to-day lives.
Once all projects were submitted in July and finalists chosen in August, the elements of the event began to come together. More on these projects later!
Our team purposefully centered student projects, finding pathways from these projects to other exhibit pieces. Being aware that visitors can process content and exhibits on different timelines, we wanted to curate a self-guided experience that wasn’t rigid but allowed our visitors to flow through areas at their own pace. Our hope was that this embodied experience also matched the tone of welcome, inviting individuals to sit with the pieces they connected with longer.
The finalists’ projects touched on three core themes which became the groupings as our team set-up the space. These included:
Giving of ourselves to our neighbors and our communities
Learning from each other as we make our homes and neighborhoods a place of welcome
Being open to the many perspectives present around us
See our next article about the process of curating the original exhibit with contributions from local students!
