The expERIEnce Children’s Museum partnered with six New American families and a family from Puerto Rico to create a video series titled “expERIEnce My Home.” Each video welcomes the viewer to learn about a specific culture, from a child’s eye view. The viewer is invited to learn about the Bosnian pastry called pita, a traditional Syrian wedding dance, the celebration of Diwali, how Congolese carry a baby on their back, traditional Puerto Rican attire, and ancestral drumming from Nepal. Children share greetings in Swahili, Spanish, Arabic, Bosnian, and Tamang.

Online learning can build community!

Last spring 10 New American artists worked with film students at McDowell High School. The artists captured video footage of themselves and the students learned interview skills via Zoom. The students edited the footage together to create mini-documentaries. The artists built their digital mettle while students met fascinating people representing a wide range of cultures and art forms.

Watch some of their videos and learn about Erie’s diverse folk and fine artists in our latest blog post.

In honor of World Refugee Day, we asked six chefs who came as refugees to share a dish from their culture that is simple enough for anyone to try. We encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, patronize one of Erie’s many refugee-owned markets, and try one of the dishes!

For World Refugee Day 2020, Kelly Armor collaborated with four former refugee artists from Muslim-majority countries. They are all part of a current Erie Arts & Culture project funded through the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art's Building Bridges grant program.

Did you know that Erie is home to several hundred followers of an ancient earth-based spirituality? These people are the Kiranti Rai, and they are part of our larger Bhutanese Nepali community. Every May, since 2014, Erie’s practitioners have celebrated their beautiful spring planting ritual called the Sakela.