(upbeat music)
- We are all connected,
is a quasi-permanent, two-dimensional
community-driven art project
that's on the floor of the REACH Plaza
outside at the Kennedy center.
It is put up over the course of one day
with members of six different sections
of the DC, Maryland, Virginia community,
each representing different color groups and dots,
and then Mo will connect to the lines together,
down on the artwork.
There's things you script out and you plan for,
and then there's these things
that happen magically in the moment.
The day was beyond my wildest expectations.
It was amazing.
- It was great. It was improvisational.
Just the kids started dancing around me
and I realized it's so cool to see this piece of art
that wasn't there when you showed up.
It was just a flat piece of stone.
And then suddenly there's a piece of art there.
Of course, you're gonna dance on it.
There was so much collaboration going on
just in the beginning, trying to set this up.
And we really didn't know, like, was the tape gonna stick,
or what was going to happen?
All of that stuff was totally new.
And then the groups came and they were so nice
and they were so cool
and everybody looked so cool in their t-shirts.
And they ran to put the dots down.
So we've got our first dot of "We Are All Connected."
It was just madness, but such a good-hearted madness,
such a kind madness.
And I really think that people who didn't know each other,
who didn't live in the same neighborhoods,
got together and they celebrated on their own terms
and connected.
- It's incredible to be invited today.
We were really excited to be with two of our greatest
storytellers, Mo Willems and Jacqueline Woodson.
And I think the world needs reminding of our connectivity.
This was just, it was a great reminder of that.
- We had a wonderful time.
We laid down a red dot and we're super excited
to see it all get connected.
- This has been quite the experience
full of hope in a troubled world.
- I love the way that it connects art and justice and food.
All of that is a part of the overall health
of our communities.
- Ideas,
they grow and they peck at you, much like the pigeon did.
And so I've been drawing these connection drawings
for three or four years.
I just wanted to make them bigger.
And so I went from making them this big to this big.
And then the idea that it would be a canvas
that you could see from an airplane became irresistible.
This has been like a Helen Frankenthaler painting.
Trust the process and just let it go
and see what happens.
- Hi, my name is Erika Rose.
I'm an actress here in Washington, DC.
I've known Mo for a long time.
I've done a couple projects with him.
He is so funny,
but also he allows himself to be here with you,
be present and vulnerable.
Today I feel like I'm going to start crying already.
It was just so moving.
We're outside with hundreds of people, nobody knows anybody.
And somehow what Mo created,
created the space for people to be able to share vulnerably
with people they don't even know.
And they are passionate about and engaged in art.
Like all of a sudden we're doing this like second line
dance, you know, through the REACH Plaza.
And it was so joyous.
One child said that she watched Mo's videos and drew,
and that he was her art teacher.
What I wanted to say to her was "me too."
You know, there, there are lots of ways to heal oneself.
And I think for me,
the thing that I've just been so grateful to learn from Mo
is that the arts are healing.
(upbeat music)
- My name is Kaitlyn Burke,
and I have been a project lead on all things MoKC.
There are 120 dots.
So there were 240 people
who were involved in this process today.
That's a lot of people (laughing).
It went so smoothly.
Super seamless, and it was a really, really exciting day.
I think the highlight for me was seeing everyone run around
and dance with Mo after everything was finished,
it just felt so special to feel the culmination of the day.
Just so much work went into it.
So it was just really exciting to see.
- At the Moonshot studio today,
we're hosting on activity based on connection.
We are inviting everyone that's here today
to stop by and tell us how they feel connected.
We're asking people to write it down
in a sticky piece of paper,
and then they come into the Moonshot
and they put it into the glass.
So you are building this massive wall of responses
in which people can kind of
like sort of trace their response and then look to see
if someone feels the same way about them.
After all, we're a minuscule part
that may be connected to somebody else.
- What have I learned in this project?
I've learned everything.
I very seldom create images in front of others.
It's a very private moment. And to be creating images
with others in public in real time
was daunting and exciting.
People who know nothing about this,
who didn't show up today,
didn't do anything are just gonna walk by
and see these dots and lines and then dance.
That's magic.
(upbeat music)