2025 Summer at The Common|Wealth
Summer 2025 was a season of regeneration and abundance at The Common|Wealth. From early June through the end of August, summer was rooted in weekly routines, seasonal rituals, and Communiversity programming as crops flourished, new carpentry designs were produced, and civic arts workshops fostered new art practices using the plants of the season. Sweet Water Communiversity welcomed a cohort of local residents, undergraduate students, and recent graduates for an intensive 10-week summer program, joining the SWF team, Neighborhood Academy participants, and neighbors in the weekly rituals of Wellness Wednesdays, Neighborhood Market, and Civic Arts programming. Read more about Summer 2025 at The Common|Wealth.
Human-in-Residence Charles Pryor catalyzing multi-generational music collaborations at Neighborhood Market.
Summer 2025 at The Communiversity
This summer, The Communiversity welcomed six “Summers,” a mix of local residents, recent college graduates, and undergraduate students. They hailed from diverse locales, including California, North Carolina, Indiana, Michigan, and the Chicago area, and represented five colleges and universities, including the City Colleges of Chicago, Pomona College, the University of Michigan, Indiana State University, and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Over an intensive 10-week experience, summer apprentices, interns, and fellows were immersed in the daily praxis of Regenerative Neighborhood Development. Through hands-on work in agroecology, architecture, carpentry, civic arts, and design, they experienced regeneration firsthand as they learned by doing. Through a six-week RND experiment on basil propagation, the summer team and Neighborhood Academy refreshed the Community Garden and shared propagation and harvesting techniques, as well as recipes, with visitors at weekly Neighborhood Markets. To deepen their connection to the work, each Summer was invited to prepare a farm-to-table meal for Wellness Wednesdays using the season’s harvest and recipes that reflected their culture and/or favorite dishes. During weekly Civic Arts Workshops, the Summers were introduced to SWF’s suite of Civic Arts activities that honored “wild” plants abundant during the season. Through this collaborative work, fellows and apprentices began to develop an understanding of SWF, the practice of RND, and the context for The Communiversity, alongside residents, Neighborhood Academy participants, artists, educators, and youth.
Examples of range of interdisciplinary Communiversity experiences from agroecology, civic arts, carpentry, and more.
For the Neighborhood Academy, the summer provided an opportunity to enjoy and share the fruits of their labor and learning that began in early 2025. They translated the knowledge they gained earlier in the year to the summer team, and worked with the SWF team and Summers every Wednesday for Wellness Wednesdays and Friday for Neighborhood Market.
Throughout the summer, SWF hosted Communiversity Immersions, welcoming groups that included nursing students from City Colleges of Chicago, students and faculty from the National University of Singapore, and Teens Grow Greens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the end of the peak summer season, SWF welcomed two members of Teens Grow Greens, a Milwaukee-based Values-Based Partner, for a two-week Leadership Training Immersion at The Common|Wealth. This was an opportunity for the SWF team, Summers, and Neighborhood Academy to translate their experiences and share their summer portfolio with the Milwaukee team as they engaged in the many diverse and interconnected elements of RND.
Communiversity Immersion Groups | Top Row: Nursing Students from City Colleges of Chicago, Middle Row: National University of Singapore, Bottom Row: Teens Grow Greens from Milwaukee.
For the third year in a row, the 10-week summer Communiversity experience culminated in an End of Summer Celebration in the Healing Garden. More than 50 people from multiple generations, including 14 guests from Teens Grow Greens, neighbors, Neighborhood Academy participants, and children, participated in civic arts activities ranging from Civic Arts with wild plants, birdfeeder building and decorating, and Prop Block decorating. The End of Summer Celebration culminated in a meal at the Thought Barn, featuring Creamy Basil Pesto Pasta, Grilled Vegetables, and a Kale and Pear Salad with a Homemade Raspberry and Blackberry Vinaigrette, celebrating the abundance of basil regenerated through summer propagation. The celebration also featured the furniture projects that the summer team had built, recreating the Healing Garden for the celebration.
End of Summer Celebration in Healing Garden | Top Row: Activities In Healing Garden, Middle Row: Play, Music, and Exploration in Healing Garden, Bottom Row: Meal Enjoyed in Thought Barn.
Weekly Rituals
Throughout the summer, Sweet Water Foundation’s weekly rituals provided a constant rhythm of regeneration that anchored the work at The Common|Wealth. For more than 20 weeks, these rituals provided space for people – from Neighborhood Academy and visiting groups to new and returning neighbors – to work the land, engage in civic arts, enjoy a farm-to-table meal on Wellness Wednesdays, and share in the bounty from the Community Farm and gardens during Neighborhood Market on Fridays.
Wellness Wednesdays
Every Wednesday throughout the peak summer season, we host Wellness Wednesdays at The CommonWealth, days dedicated to promoting well-being in the community. Visitors were invited to cultivate the land, build and strengthen relationships, and share a farm-to-table meal. Each week’s event culminated in a live performance by SWF Human-in-Residence, Charles Pryor, who played music during lunch and the Civic Arts Workshops that followed.
Wellness Wednesdays at The Common|Wealth | Column One: Activities on Community Farm, Column Two: Farm-to-Table Meals on Wellness Wednesday, Column Three: Sharing farm-to-table meals and enjoying music during Wellness Wednesday.
Civic Arts Work-Shops
In the afternoons on Wellness Wednesdays, Summers and guests gathered at Civic Arts Church for a series of workshops that focused using affordable, accessible, and aesthetic materials and mediums connected to and abundant within our urban ecology. Workshops included painting and natural dye with mulberries, a printmaking series, an introduction to weaving, and exploring regenerative mathematics through basil propagation. The workshops featured wild plants (plants found in abundance at The Common|Wealth that are often considered weeds or nuisances), activities that transform wastes-to-resources (like printmaking with cardboard), and a celebration of the exponentially regenerative nature of plants like basil through propagation. Regenerative Educational tools, such as instructional sheets and plant cue cards, were created for each workshop to deepen people’s understanding of the artistic methods and processes shared and to build relationships with the wild plants all around them.
Examples of the range of Civic Arts activities during Summer 2025, including printmaking, mulberry watercolor, nature weaving, and mulberry shibori dyeing.
Neighborhood Markets
Each week culminated in SWF’s Neighborhood Market at RND Park & Meeting House. The market celebrated produce from the Community Farm as it became available, featuring seasonal produce such as cucumbers, summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, and greens. The Community Garden was transformed into a Living Classroom, where the summer team helped people identify and harvest fresh basil for recipes at home. New carpentry designs – including the redesigned Sun Chair and the Solutionary Bench– were introduced and became a popular request for market goers. Each week, SWF Human-in-Residence, Charles Pryor performed during market, and Mama Aissatou shared health and wellness products with visitors bringing the market to life with play, conversation, civic arts, and music.
SWF weekly markets will continue on Fridays from 12:00 - 3:00 through the end of October.
2025 Neighborhood Market In Action | Live Music, Visitors, Civic Arts, and Seasonal Produce.
