In addition to making the headlines, we’re making the cut.

• Read about our work Building Leaders in Kent’s East Hill neighborhood and Building Places in Tuscaloosa, AL.
• Watch Milenko’s television interview on NW Focus.

Last week, members of the Pomegranate Center team received another warm welcome from Tuscaloosans on their third visit to Alabama. The mile and a half wide tornado that created a path of destruction through the heart of the city on April 27th, 2011, was just one of 208 tornados that touched down in the United States that day. And in the midst of rebuilding their individual lives (some have lost their homes, belongings, vehicles, and employment), they are also focused on rebuilding as a whole. Volunteers for the Alberta City Gathering Place are from the entire city of Tuscaloosa, not just the Alberta neighborhood. We are inspired by their generosity and camaraderie. When we return in June, we will work with them to build an amphitheater and picnic shelters constructed primarily of salvaged materials from the tornado. To learn more about this project, sponsored by Tully’s Coffee, visit the Alberta City Gathering Place facebook page.

July 31, 2012

Napkin Notes on Collaboration

The foundation of Pomegranate Center’s work is collaboration. Here are napkin notes on the subject, collected from writings to myself over the past twenty-five years.

• Collaboration is a fluid, interactive state where the parts have power to influence the whole while the whole influences the parts.
• In collaboration, teamwork and individual excellence are equally required: as in jazz, the greater the individual virtuosity, the greater team virtuosity.
• Collaboration should magnify individual greatness rather than deny it.
• Collaboration requires coexisting differences, not sameness. Where there are differences there are tensions.
• The purpose of tension is to create a field where creativity grows.  As long as there are differences, tension is there to stay.  When one is resolved, another appears.
• Working willingly with tensions is the prerequisite for collaboration.
• Modern cities and communities are filled with differences—people from myriad cultures, ideologies, religions and world-views, all expressing their values and talents.  These differences (and their inherent tensions) are our greatest, and most untapped, asset.
• Collaboration’s purpose is to relate to each other in such a way that typically irritating differences can be transformed into valuable gifts.
• To turn differences into gifts requires strength and flexibility.  It involves the confidence to express ideas and the humility to adjust them to those of others’.
• This requires us to stand in one’s center while falling into the unknown-a demanding circus act.
• To hear and see without instant misrepresentation and distortion is an act of utmost bravery. Great 20th century artist Henri Matisse stated long before our pop-culture that everything we see is more or less distorted by acquired habits and ready-made images that are to the eye what prejudice is to the mind. To see through the noise takes courage.
• In collaboration we rely on others to help uncover the greater truth of any situation.  One of the most powerful sentences is one of the simplest: And what do you think, observe, understand?
• Avoid jargon that is the language of lazy shortcuts and presumed shared assumptions.
• We are all smart in some areas and ignorant in others.
• Collaboration is about increasing our collective smartness and decreasing our collective ignorance.
• This requires a mature degree of self-knowledge where we claim not only what we know, but also our gaps, acknowledging deep oceans of blissful ignorance.
• When lazy, we talk only to those who are alike which is just another form of talking to ourselves.
• Collaboration is only possible when all parties are willing to steps into the empty space beyond pre-existing ideas where mutual discovery is possible.
• Collaboration is not possible between fixed ideas.
• When we are able to share our different “smarts” we quickly realize that, amazingly, together we know more and that together we are able to accomplish what no one individual or group could separately.
• We discover that the results of collaboration meet many important goals at the same time.
• Collaboration is next step in our evolution. We are all invited to practice.
• Our world is a school where collaboration is the main lesson plan.  We have all been invited to enroll into collaboration kindergarten.

I trust that very soon we will be able to move to the elementary school.

November 28th, 2011

Pomegranate Center’s Landmark Year

2011 was a landmark year for Pomegranate Center.  We had the opportunity to test our collaborative philosophy in five parallel projects and demonstrated that, when conditions are right, ordinary communities are capable of extraordinary things; that meaningful community projects can be done quickly and with moderate funds; and that people, given a chance, are eager to jump with both feet into improving their neighborhoods.

In 2011 we completed five gathering places in five different communities in the greater Seattle area.  One was a pro bono project in Bellevue, WA.  Four were made possible with a generous grant from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters through Tully’s Coffee. Here was the timeline:
·      In March we put out a Gathering Places Request For Proposals and received seventeen responses.
·      In May we trained the leaders of the four selected projects in our gathering places model.
·      In June we held planning and design sessions in each community.
·      Between August 5 and September 17, we organized intensive, participatory four-day building workshops culminating in opening celebrations with proclamations, musical celebrations and, of course, Tully’s coffee!

Here are the stats: these five projects engaged 781 volunteers who gave 8000 hours of time to conceptualize, design and build.  Pomegranate Center’s four-person staff received assistance from two summer interns and a dozen Public Space Rangers (professionals in design and building who offered their services pro bono – at a value of $139K).
We:
·      used 20 gallons of paint and 18 gallons of wood preservative
·      mixed 473 bags of concrete by hand
·      placed 67 tons of rock
·      spread 81 cubic yards of soil
·      painted 45,000 dots on banners
·      carved 350 sq. feet of cedar
·      installed 500 feet of paths
·      polished, bent and twisted 500 feet of stainless steel flat bars
·      constructed 44 benches (20 on bicycle wheels) and
·      planted 500 plants.

These are remarkable achievements, especially in our current charged civic situation where acrimonious blaming and complaining are the norm.  Our projects demonstrated that given the opportunity and under experienced leadership, people are capable of remarkable accomplishments.  It is good to remember that, typically, similar projects take years of planning and unrealistic budgets.  Our intensive, streamlined process unlocks a surprising amount of positive energy because the process moves quickly and people can actually see their ideas taking shape on achievable budgets that are complimented by volunteer work and in-kind donations of materials and equipment.  In addition, because our projects offer an easy opportunity to deposit care and artistry, they become a stark contrast to the anger and violence that dominates the news and our public awareness.  Our model works because there are so many ways for different people to be involved.  But mainly it works because every neighborhood has people who have a keen awareness of how things ought to be and they jump at the chance to realize such potential.
Today, when most municipalities have no resources for such projects, our model provides a powerful alternative.

Pomegranate Center’s goal now is to transfer this model in many communities throughout the country.  A complimentary goal is to train new leaders capable of creating their own projects in the future. We know that to achieve this goal we will need more partners in this exciting adventure. With the help of a new Tully’s grant, we will take the show on the road with a project in Tuscaloosa, AL, creating a gathering place in that tornado-ripped city.

These are challenging times for our country and we agree with those who demand changes for a more just and sustainable future.  Destructive policies and practices must stop.  Pomegranate Center’s approach, however, has always been to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes,’ to find a way to realize a mutually preferred future within the limited possibilities of each project. Our five 2011 projects accomplished this.

I would love to hear from those who wish to get involved with our next steps.

Milenko

(more…)

Chosen from a national pool of more than 500 entrants, the Taste of Community winner is (drumroll please!)…Kimberly C. from Alabama! Kimberly is an art teacher who has lived in the Tuscaloosa area for five years. She cares deeply about her community and is passionate about rebuilding a sense of place in the aftermath of the devastating tornadoes that hit Tuscaloosa County earlier this year. For her contest entry, Kimberly asked for the chance to improve her community by giving people a safe, accessible, clean place to gather. Kimberly’s vision is to develop a gathering place that will serve as a focus for the rebuilding effort that is just beginning and will ultimately knit the community back together, both physically and emotionally. In the coming months, Pomegranate Center and Tully’s Coffee will work with Kimberly, the Tuscaloosa County community and local officials to determine where a community gathering space is most needed and what type of space will have the greatest impact. The project build will be completed in 2012 and will seek to engage the community at large throughout the process from design stage to completion. See more about her submission here: http://on.fb.me/ofZRYb

Pomegranate Center’s founder and Executive Director Milenko Matanovic describes himself as a recovering artist. This interview in ARTMargins Online gives insight into that past, the same past that includes hitchhiking, falling in love and starting this non-profit.

Read the interview here.

• used 20 gallons of paint and 18 gallons of wood preservative
• mixed 473 bags of concrete by hand
• placed 67 tons of rock
• spread 81 cubic yards of soil
• painted 45,000 dots
• carved 350 sq. feet of cedar
• created 500 feet of paths
• made 44 benches, 20 on wheels
• planted 500 plants
• built 5 gathering places!

Sumner Mainstreet Alley Project
Over 75 people volunteered over 1,200 hours

 
More than 75 citizens of Sumner transformed an ordinary alley into a space that expresses the unique character of their downtown. This gathering place is an intimate and attractive area that is a signature artistic element for tourism, photo ops and more.

Tully’s Coffee & the Pomegranate Center – Sumner project from Tully’s Coffee on Vimeo.

Mercer Island Early Learning Garden
Over 60 people volunteered over 900 hours

 
Through the use of all different sorts of materials – rebar, concrete tiles, clay, dogwood twigs, painted banners, cedar and rock – the garden supports various learning styles through sensory exploration, intimate reading spaces, and a gathering space for storytelling, programs and the enjoyment of nature.

Tully’s & Pomegranate Center – Mercer Island build from Tully’s Coffee on Vimeo.

Hunter Tree Farm Gathering Place
Over 200 people volunteered over 3,200 hours

 
Starting by defining the existing space, edges of the gathering place include the installation of composting walls and organized patterns of plants of different colors and textures. Wooden poles were  adorned with birdhouses, lights, colors and objects donated to the project by the community. Benches made with wood and bicycle wheels are the movable seating for a brand new amphitheater.

Tully’s & the Pomegranate Center – Hunter Farms build in Wedgwood from Tully’s Coffee on Vimeo.

132nd Square Park Gathering Place
Over 175 people volunteered 1,700 hours

 
This park now has a picnic shelter made of cedar with a granite tile and sage green quartzite floor, a crushed gravel walking path, a stone wall and story-telling circle made of limestone, slate and donated rocks, benches and tables made of cedar and beautiful hand painted banners.

Tully’s & the Pomegranate Center – Kirkland project from Tully’s Coffee on Vimeo.

Factoria Outdoor Gathering Place

As Pomegranate Center’s 2011 Dig Fund Project, an acre and a half of underused green space was converted into a public amenity. The plot is owned by Holy Cross Lutheran Church, and the congregation made a commitment to work with Factoria neighbors and businesses to turn the precious corner into a community gathering space with an amphitheater, picnic shelter, gateway and orchard labyrinth.

It’s time to celebrate! Join us to mark the completion of all four gathering places built this summer in partnership with Tully’s Coffee.

We’ll make good use of each gathering place with food, coffee and music!

Mercer Island Library Early Learning Garden
Saturday, September 17, 10:30am
4400 88th Avenue Southeast, Mercer Island, WA

NE Seattle Hunter Farm Gathering Place
Saturday, September 17, 3:30pm
7744 35th Ave NE, Seattle, WA

Kirkland 132nd Square Park Gathering Place
Sunday, September 18, 4pm
Corner of NE 132nd Street and 132nd Avenue NE, Kirkland, WA

Sumner Alley Gathering Place
Monday, September 19, 10:30am
1101 Main Street, Sumner, WA

Questions? Contact Katya!

Custom Orders

This is it – your chance to order a custom carved and stained piece lovingly made just for your home or office. And the added benefit – your order helps us make the 2011 Dig Fund project a reality!

This year’s order options include:

• A 6′ board perfect for hanging next to a door, along a fence or as a business sign ($600)
• A 4′ board just right for over your front door ($400)
• A 2′ square panel, to put in your garden or use in your home ($200)

Customize your order with text, specific images and even your favorite colors!

Order today!

Help Sponsor a Gateway

Don’t need anything for your home this year? Help make the Dig Fund gateways come to life by sponsoring part or all of a gateway! Your gift will go directly to the creation of beautiful carved and stained elements that will mark key points in the project.

Make a sponsorship gift today!

Questions? Contact Katya.

Make your impact even bigger!

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is proud to support this event through their Care in Regions program by providing additional funding! Every order and sponsorship gift will be increased through their matching gift.

Our dear friend Shirley Kern passed away in May. We met Shirley in 2008 in her home neighborhood of Edith Carrie in Walla Walla, WA. She was a courageous community builder who inspired us in so many ways and she will be dearly missed.

Shirley was featured in this video we made about two projects we worked on in Walla Walla. Her interviews took place just one month before she passed.

Our 2010 Dig Fund project – the Washington Park Gathering Place in Walla Walla, Washington – has won a Smart Communities award from Gov. Chris Gregoire. We’ve been recognized in the Smart Partnership category for effective partnerships and significant public participation.

Thanks to our partners: Walla Walla Parks and Recreation Department, Commitment to Community and Sherwood Trust.

Here’s what the press release says:

• Innovative and wise land use, resource management, enhanced rural preservation, water utility planning, and transportation planning;
• Effective city-county partnerships and achieving significant public participation; and
• Incorporation of public safety and community gathering places, density supporting transportation, and reducing vehicle miles traveled, and downtown revitalization as key components of their growth plans.