When Kathryn and her friend Idelle began hosting a JSP Creativity Circle in Ann Arbor, they invited artists, friends from their congregation, and people from other communities they were connected to. Fifteen people came to the first gathering, and over time, a core group of six began returning each month.

The circle became a regular opportunity to come together around Jewish text, creative practice, and the invitation to bring whatever each person was carrying that day. “We were able to come together in a space that was held, where we could bring our whole selves to talk and process our experience.” As the group grew more comfortable, Kathryn “saw people become more and more comfortable through the process, to express what was happening internally on a page.”

Over time, the group developed a shared understanding that whatever someone brought with them was welcome, creating space for people to encounter perspectives different from their own without needing to resolve them. For Kathryn, this regular practice created something her community needed, “a sense of belonging and being part of a process together.”

Supported by JSP’s structure and facilitation model, Idelle and Kathryn, aided by their background as an Open Studio Project Facilitator, were able to create a space their community could make its own, where people could show up as they were, make meaning together, and find grounding in one another.