By Kimberly Niemela, COSACOSA art at large, Inc.

Following a year of community planning and art-making, COSACOSA art at large, Inc. opened the first of three new Site and Sound Gardens in North Philadelphia’s Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood.  Funded by the Knight Arts, the project is transforming abandoned city lots into public green spaces with visual and sound art site-specific to their communities.

The new Unity Garden, located at Old York Road and West Venango Street, is the culmination of discussions among residents of differing backgrounds and celebrates the unity of all cultures.  The centerpiece of the Garden is a giant mosaic and mural “quilt” featuring unity symbols from around the world. The Garden will also feature solar-powered, motion-activated sound installations, playing stories and memories recorded in community members’ own voices.

This fall COSACOSA launched a year of monthly family-friendly art events in the new Unity Garden, in cooperation with the Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team.  Storyteller and African drummer Ron Carter performed and inspired the open mic session which followed.  Visitors had the opportunity to make drums, mosaics and seasonal prints, and share good food and great camaraderie with neighbors.  COSACOSA is collecting more neighborhood stories and songs over the winter months to launch Unity Garden’s sound art in the spring.  If you have a bit of North Philly history you’d like to share, please email [email protected].

COSACOSA artists begin work on the Unity Garden wall artwork.

Unity Garden wall art features a quilt of unity symbols from around the world.

Nicetown-Tioga neighbors create mosaics at the Unity Garden.