Working with community is important at all stages. We work with others to design and implement our programming and again with event attendees — who become their own little community when they enter the space! — to create the energy needed for a successful gathering.

Read more about the (basic) Community Agreements we utilize in our programming spaces.

Community Agreements

Powerful Conversations on Race (PCR) was the first major Civic Reflection Dialogue (CRD)  initiative developed by Spirit & Place.

Launched in 2017, PCR offered monthly CRD sessions focused on race, grounding complex conversations in carefully curated arts and humanities materials. Between 2017 and February 2025, PCR engaged an estimated 1,500–1,700 participants. A key feature of the PCR model was its distributed facilitator network.

Between 2017 and 2021, Spirit & Place recruited and trained 54 community facilitators, offering free CRD certification with the expectation that each facilitator would co-lead at least two PCR sessions. This structure allowed Spirit & Place to maintain high-quality, monthly CRD gatherings without overextending staff capacity. Facilitators represented a wide range of sectors, including higher education, community nonprofits, government, PreK–12 education, and the arts. Many reported applying CRD techniques in their workplaces, classrooms, and civic settings, amplifying the program’s long-term impact.

Spirit & Place’s unique model has been shared with arts, humanities, and community-engagement practitioners and scholars at national and international conferences, including the 2021 International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement Virtual Gathering, the 2020 National Humanities Conference, and Imagining America in 2019 and 2020.

Following these presentations, former Community Engagement Director LaShawnda Crowe Storm was invited to serve as a fellow with Imagining America’s Assessing the Practices of Public Scholarship initiative. Across its eight-year run, participant feedback consistently highlighted increased empathy, deeper self-reflection, and strengthened skills for communicating across differences.

This five part dialogue series helped unpack varied lived experiences related to the words “inclusion,” “diversity,” “equity,” and “accessibility,” among others. This program has sunset.

We are proud of our community efforts outside the Spirit & Place Festival and invite you to reminiscence with us on our past events.