Berks Alliance Community Forum: GoggleWorks Art Park

Spotlight on the GoggleWorks Art Park
In 2017, a young school student named Maria wandered from a group tour of GoggleWorks, a former goggle factory turned art center, through a stairwell door, to a shuttered alley outside. She turned back inside and asked, “¿Por qué no hay arte aquí?” or “Why isn’t there any art out here?” The question seemed funny at the moment, since the group had just toured the art center's enormous headquarters inside a former goggle factory, where art and artists can now be found in every corner.

Later, the GoggleWorks leaders discussed how Maria actually touched upon a serious line of questioning, the larger challenge to the organization’s mission to “transform lives through unique interactions with art”

Over the ensuing year, Googleworks leadership focused on how to more actively engage the neighboring n6th Ward residents in helping to shape its work.  Hundreds of residents and nearly 100 community partners engaged in this process.  Ultimately at task force, facilitated by the Wyomissing Foundation, piloted scores of outdoor “pop-up” programs from 2018 to 2021 using placemaking best practices to engage local residents.

Then in 2020, leaders at the Lauer’s Park Elementary School reached out to the GoggleWorks. The gardens adjacent to the school had fallen into disrepair. Again with support from the Wyomissing Foundation, and a partnership with the Reading School District, the GoggleWorks and the elementary school partnered to create The GoggleWorks Gardens at Lauer’s Park.In turn, this became a framework for using the arts as a vehicle for solving larger community problems, in this case, food insecurity. Continuing to engage the broader community lead to deeper community conversations and other events.  The result is the development of the proposed GoggleWorks Art Park, a vibrant placemaking initiative, bringing the arts outdoors to offer cultural programs for neighbors, city residents and other visitors. Phase 1 of a Public Arts Park in the 6th ward of downtown Reading is coming soon. 

Join us to learn more about this exciting opportunity to use the arts to transform under-utilized outdoor spaces which in turn will encourage community engagement, foster a stronger sense of place and belonging, and introduce more people to the importance of the arts.