When Cultura Plenera first began using Willow Grove, they saw a great new space for workshops, rehearsals, and programs. What they quickly discovered was something even more valuable: freedom, flexibility, and a true sense of ownership.

On September 16, 1981, a small group of neighbors sat down in a room together and did something quietly radical: they decided that the stories of our community, the everyday ones, the ones that don't usually make it into history books, were worth saving.

I’ve spent most of my career as a fundraiser, and I’ve coached a lot of people who were terrified of asking for support. There’s a cultural bias many of us carry, one I understand completely, that asking for a gift means asking someone to give and get nothing back. It’s not true. It never has been.