What happens when people sit down and make things together? From a decades-long Valentine-making party in a Santa Cruz living room to art programs supporting immigrant and refugee communities in Oakland, this episode explores how creativity, friendship, and shared practice build belonging over time. Psychologist Christine Brooks helps name what’s happening beneath the surface — and why it matters now more than ever.

In this episode of The Sidewalk Ballet, we sit down with Kady to talk about placemaking as practice and possibility. From Placemaking class to her on-the-ground experience building community through culture, she shares how storytelling, celebration, and showing up shape the way we live together. It’s a conversation about creativity, access, and the small, artful moves that change the feel of a city.

Karen Christensen is an author, publisher, and founder of Berkshire Publishing Group. Her forthcoming book with Ray Oldenburg revisits the idea of the “third place,” exploring how we build community in an age of loneliness and division.