THE LISTENERS PROJECT:
QUEREMOS ESCUCHARTE

The Listeners Project: Queremos Escucharte is a place based project promoting listening as a tool for building community, empowering one another, and celebrating our lives. We record and share stories from communities who have been historically left out and whose stories are lost or misrepresented in narratives about Walla Walla. We also invite all members of the community to participate!

This community collaboration was created by the Colectivo de Arte Social (Socially Engaged Art Collective), a group of creative immigrants and immigrant advocates from the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition (WWIRC). Founded in 2018, the Colectivo de Arte Social initiates creative projects, community conversations, workshops and gatherings that use stories to bridge gaps of divisiveness and difference. Past projects include: Because You Are Here, a theatrical performance based on interviews with immigrant and first generation members; Hear Here, Walla Walla, a phone storyline and website that maps our community through immigrants' first-hand experiences; a workshop series and oral history training with Sarah Loose and Fanny Garcia; and the Walla Walla Coronavirus Stories project, an oral history and digital archive documenting our communities experiences living through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Listeners Project: Queremos Escucharte emerged through a collaborative process with the Walla Walla Public Library and the Whitman College and Northwest Archives. As part of the core ethics of the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, we provide all project materials, events and participatory activities in both English and Spanish.

The Listeners Project: Queremos Escucharte is made possible through generous support of the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Whitman College Student Engagement Center's Internship Grant, as well as the Walla Walla Public Library and the Whitman College and Northwest Archives.

This project was made possible by support from the Office of the Secretary of State through the Washington State Library and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, with project support from the Whitman College Community Based Learning and Research Initiative and the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, diversifying the curriculum through community engagement.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

-WWIRC Colectivo de Arte Social