Submitted Photo Valerie Walawender, pictured at center, is shown during a Faces in the Crowd event.

Three decades ago, social artist Valerie Walawender initiated a community youth conference in Springville. Asked why she wanted to do the conference, Walawender replied, “to use my art to change the world.”

That goal has not changed. Though most people do not know her name, those interested in how the arts can intersect with social issues, will be pleased to discover Walawender’s creative programs, art, and innovations.

Walawender has received national acclaim for her unique diversity, violence prevention and sensitivity creation, “Faces in the Crowd.” Originally conceived as an interactive sculpture, the Faces in the Crowd program has caught the attention of major organizations and institutes. Valerie made a presentation to the state Caucus of Black School Board Members at the NYSSBA Annual conference held in Buffalo this past October. Last month she made a presentation at the National School Boards Association symposium held in Washington, DC.

A leading conflict resolution center in Virginia has reached out to Walawender in hopes of bringing the program to their institute.

This isn’t the first time the Faces in the Crowd program has generated excitement. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, endorsed the program as “one of the best diversity, violence prevention programs in the country.” The Gandhi Institute (Memphis, Tenn.) adopted Faces in the Crowd as part of their program in the late 1990s.

Organizations, businesses, students, educators, agencies, and other groups across the U.S.A, Europe, and South America have experienced this unique program. Clients include the NYS Family Service Association, Cornell University, Kent State University, Rich Products, the Simon Wiesenthal Center/ Museum of Tolerance, Head Start and many others. An incredibly effective and gentle methodology, Faces in the Crowd workshops help people discover their own root beliefs and judgment patterns, and to become free of bias and disordered thinking.

Walawender explained, “It started out as an art project.

I wanted to create a work of art that helped people get a glimpse of what it feels like to be in someone else’s shoes. I had several experiences as a young person that made me reflect on how we are each “clothed” in a body and face. This physical self simultaneously connects and separates our internal reality (feelings, thoughts, ideas, etc.) and external reality (social and man-made and natural environments. I sketched countless ideas over many years, trying to get the gist of what I hope to achieve with my art. I kept coming back to images of “masks.” That is how the concept for Faces in the Crowd was born.”

With support from an art fellowship from the NYS Council on the Arts through the Chautauqua County Arts Council, Walawender built a prototype of her Faces in the Crowd concept. The prototype consisted of a mirror, flanked by two “pop-up” books depicting different crowds of people that had something in common (race, gender, age, disability, clothing type, size of body, etc.)

Walawender spent years photographing people from more than 75 countries of the world of all ages and backgrounds for inclusion in the project. She developed a comprehensive curriculum that has been presented by trained facilitators to professional, youth, community groups, schools, businesses and others. Rather than being “taught” and learning “lessons,” Faces workshop participants engage in interactive self-discovery workshops. They have the opportunity to explore diversity issues surrounding race, gender, age, disability, neurodiversity, class, language, and social dynamics.

Awarded a patent for her concept, Walawender hopes to bring her program to a larger audience through mass manufacture of the Faces in the Crowd kit. Representatives from agencies, businesses, and schools, and other groups have indicated belief that “the time is right” to use a fresh approach to their organizational diversity challenges.

Faces in the Crowd program offers such a fresh approach.

Walawender commented, “Through interactive exercises, the Faces in the Crowd tools and program help workshop participants develop their imagination, critical thinking skills, and desire to bring positive change to the world, one idea, one dream, and one creative process at a time.”

For more information, visit: www.facesinthecrowd.org