Residents in the Montclair area have hatched a plan to build social bridges and trust among neighbors, working together on an enjoyable art-making project.

They're launching a new, free, community-wide festival, called Seeing from the Heart. The festival matches participants into small teams, each of which then collaboratively creates an artwork. The theme is "mutual compassion, empathy, respect, and friendship across boundaries or differences."

Visual artists, art-making enthusiasts, and other interested members of the local public are invited. Sign-ups to participate in the festival are now open online, through September 30.

Adults and seniors are matched into teams of about 4–5 adults. Parents with their kids or teens are matched into other teams, of 2–3 families.

Each team meets in person, several times during October and November at local sponsored venues, to envision and design a joint artwork inspired by the theme. Teams may create either a 3-dimensional mobile or a 2-dimensional patchwork/collage.

Between meetings, each team member exercises individual creativity, building components of the team's artwork design. Finally, each team assembles the individual components into their finished artwork.

To promote creativity and sustainable reuse, the teams will construct their artworks from interesting found materials, which the organizers have collected from attic-, garage-, or closet-clearing local residents.

Finally during December, the teams' artworks will be exhibited publicly at Montclair Art Museum and other local venues. A public opening celebration for the Seeing from the Heart exhibition will be held on December 12 at Montclair Art Museum.

The festival is initiated by Montclair Mutual Aid and co-sponsored by Montclair Art Museum and local art-loving businesses Eclectic Chic Boutique, Mellowworks, The Space, Keep Creating, and One River Montclair.

"The aim of Seeing from the Heart is to foster new conversations and connections among local residents and artists – centered around a socially meaningful, community-positive art project," said Jonathan A. Marshall, one of the festival organizers. "We believe that the arts offer effective and meaningful ways to address turbulent times."