UNITY DAY at the Ashland Farmers Market: Sat., Sept. 30, Oct. 7

In response to the negative overtones of the political climate following the Nov. 2016 presidential election, concerned residents came together to form Engage Ashland, a group dedicated to identifying and creating opportunities for the community to celebrate its diversity and build a stronger Ashland through civic engagement.
“I was drawn to the UNITY project because it reveals, in such a big and beautiful way, that although we may differ greatly from one another, there are commonalities, and we are all still part of this one great community,” Beth Adamec, founder of Engage Ashland, stated.
UNITY DAY at the Ashland Farmers Market will offer participants an opportunity to become part of an interactive public art project whose message will demonstrate the interconnectedness we share with one another. Its goal is to raise awareness about the labels we give ourselves and others and to explore how those labels both support and limit building interconnected, interesting communities.
The UNITY Project
UNITY is a larger-than-life outdoor structure. The project consists of 32 poles, set in a large circle, each with identifiers such as “I am a parent,” “I live with a disability or chronic pain,” “I identify as LGBTQ,” “I love science,” and so on. The activity is a simple one. Participants are each given a ball of colorful yarn to tie on every post with which they identify and connect back to the center pole. Each person’s yarn intersects with that of others’ who have already participated, to create a growing web of interconnectedness.
The intertwined threads create a colorful canopy against the sky as one looks upwards. The canopy symbolizes not only the web of life but also clearly demonstrates the uniqueness of each individual represented by the threads woven through it.
“The UNITY project is about celebrating each person’s uniqueness and respecting and embracing the diversity of others, not just tolerating it,” Ashland resident and UNITY volunteer Betsy Emberley said. “We hope this event will encourage people to learn more about one another and realize that our community is stronger because of every person’s individuality.”
Emberley will conduct student focus groups to vet the identifying statements used in the Ashland UNITY project. Teen volunteers will be on hand at the market to provide activity participants with clear instructions.
There will be a chalkboard or whiteboard onsite with the header “I AM …” giving participants an opportunity to fill the board with their own personal descriptors, and there may be other supplemental ways to express diversity and the web of interconnecting points in which we live.
Emberley expects the UNITY structure will be in place not only on Sat., Sept. 30 at the Farmers Market on Front St., but also at select times during the week for additional participants’ involvement, and featured again at the following Saturday marketplace on Oct. 7
“In the end, you’ll see that we are all connected by some common bond, and it’s our diversity that builds a vibrant and resilient community,” Emberley added.
The Origin of UNITY
The genesis of the UNITY project came in June 2016, also in response to the divisiveness and negative rhetoric in American politics. Nancy Belmont, CEO and chief inspiration officer of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Vessence Corporation, is the project’s creator.
According to the unityproject.net website, more than 20 countries have launched the project, making this a growing global movement. So far, 15 cities and towns in 11 states have launched their own UNITY projects, and a total of 47 states have downloaded the UNITY manual in preparation for hosting the UNITY project in other communities across the nation.
Eighteen months prior, in May 2015, Belmont created and launched a project called “Courage Wall” to raise awareness of the fears that hold people back from living big, bold, authentic lives.
The Courage Wall and UNITY are both projects that fall under Belmont’s #WeLiveBig initiative to promote human flourishing.
If you participate in the UNITY activity at the Ashland Farmers Market Sept. 30 or Oct. 7, consider sharing your experience on social media with the hashtags #WeLiveBig #UNITY.