Resisting Erasure

Exhibit on view at the GWI Greenhouse (65 St. James Street, Kingston) during weekday business hours and 1:00 – 5:00 pm on second Saturdays (June 11, July 9, August 13, September 10, October 8).

For more information visit Resisting Erasure.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson. 

And we want to acknowledge and thank the following sponsors for their support! Upstate Films, Bailey Pottery, Blue-Byrd’s and the Hinds family.

COVID POLICY

  • We are monitoring COVID carefully to make sure our guidelines are keeping everyone safe.
  • We will not be checking vaccination status. 
  • While indoors, we ask that you wear a mask. We want to protect those in the community who might be at-risk or immune-compromised.

Climate Grief Conversations

GWI and Jenny Bates are holding ongoing climate grief conversations. This group will meet on the first Thursdays of the month at The Greenhouse 65 St. James St. on the corner of Clinton street and St. James Street in Uptown Kingston. This group is free and open to anyone who has concerns about the climate, about our City of Kingston, and who are stressed about an uncertain future.


“We are picking up distress signals, as living beings on this planet” – Jenny Bates.


Grief is not easily processed alone. The grief felt, consciously or unconsciously regarding the planet is on a scale previously unknown to our species. This series of conversations is an opportunity to share and verbalize what is felt in the context of group that will be facilitated with care, support and a sense of belonging in a confidential and fully respectful manner.


You can listen to Micah and Jenny speak on The Good Work Hour about this topic.


If you have any question email [email protected] or [email protected]

Resisting Erasure (Exhibit Opening)

Engage with the artwork of Shirley Parker-Benjamin and Onaje Benjamin and join them in exploring our own imaginations to envision and express resistance to erasure.

bell hooks: “To be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our concrete reality while simultaneously imagining possibilities beyond that reality.”

Each of us has a story to tell, from our own unique view and experiences. But in our culture, some narratives are actively elevated while others are erased. Visual artists Shirley Parker-Benjamin and Onaje Benjamin have been resisting that erasure, liberating their imagination about whose stories matter and asking us to do the same. Their creative work and lived experiences have led both to be highly attuned to legacies of oppression, how they manifest in injustices today, and what a more just world would look like. 

Shirley Parker-Benjamin’s mixed media, sculpture, and textile works draw inspiration from the traditions of her African ancestry and bring our attention to lack of representation in both process (Black women’s creative expression) and outcome (images of Black beauty). 

Onaje  Benjamin’s photographs help us see how resources accumulate and are distributed, highlight visual clues of inequality, and celebrate urban communities in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley. 

Their work will be on display at GWI’s Greenhouse (65 St. James St., Kingston, NY) from June 11th through October 8th. From 1-5 pm on the second Saturday of each month, there will be opportunities to view and actively engage with their work, to participate in hands-on “Respond + Create” art making, or to register for GWI-facilitated events. Registration is only required for the GWI-facilitated workshops and reception bulleted below.  

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Shirley Parker-Benjamin is an interdisciplinary artist creating across the genres of sculptural mixed media, assemblage and installation. Her work has been exhibited regionally and internationally. In her work, she explores the intersection between ancestral, spiritual, metaphysical, African/African diasporic traditions and the feminine. Her materials include found objects, natural materials, metal, minerals and beadwork to convey her ideas. Shirley Parker-Benjamin is a high priestess emeritus in the Ministry of Maat. Her studio, Ezili Arts is located in the Cunneen Hackett Arts Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Onaje Benjamin’s photography reflects a passion for social justice and activism. His images capture urban settings and the cultural and artistic tensions which evolve in these rapidly changing environments.  His work ranges from images of street taggers and murals, to portraits of street people and the structural and architectural evolution which symbolizes gentrification and the uprooting of disenfranchised communities.

Exhibit on view during weekday business hours and 1-5 pm these Saturdays:

June 11th: Opening with artists’ talk (4 pm)

July 9th: Artists lead “Respond + Create” workshop (4 pm) 

  • Just Transition Primer: details & registration here
  • GWI Network Reception: details & registration here

August 13th: Open invitation to “Respond + Create”

  • Reality / Possibility: Exploring Cognitive Dissonance and Collective Resonance: details & registration here

September 10th: Open invitation to “Respond + Create”

October 8th: Closing “Respond + Create” community exhibit and sound healing with Ben Brown (4 pm) 

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson. 

And we want to acknowledge and thank the following sponsors for their support! Upstate Films, Bailey Pottery, Blue-Byrd’s and the Hinds family.

COVID POLICY

  • We are monitoring COVID carefully to make sure our guidelines are keeping everyone safe.
  • We will not be checking vaccination status. 
  • While indoors, we ask that you wear a mask. We want to protect those in the community who might be at-risk or immune-compromised.

Reality / Possibility: Exploring Cognitive Dissonance and Collective Resonance

We invite you to join us IN PERSON to deepen with Just Transition, exploring how dissonance affects us and resonance opens up possibilities.

This workshop is an opportunity for reflective engagement with the ideas of Just Transition.  We are invited to bravely face the discomfort of cognitive dissonance as we recognize misalignment between our actions and our ideals. This honest look increases our awareness of the impacts of living under systems of extraction. We will examine what cognitive dissonance means, how it shows up in our lives, and how it stands in the way of the regenerative world we desire. From a grounded place, the workshop invites us to tap into our own sources of creativity and access more energy to envision shared pathways toward collective action. 

This was an incredibly generative and meaningful workshop. From setting the tone and intentions of our time together, through the embodiment practices, to the opportunities to share in large and small groups, the facilitators held and inspired space for self-connection, community connection and radical imagination. Thank you so much. This workshop felt like a gift. ~Julie S.

During this workshop, you will be invited to explore: 

  • Mindfulness and embodied presence
  • The meaning and symptoms of cognitive dissonance through the Just Transition framework 
  • Noticing and sharing examples of how cognitive dissonance manifests in your life
  • Solo imaginings of possibility, change, alignment, regeneration, resonance
    • Note: Bring any tools that support your creativity! Examples include, but aren’t limited to: pen and paper, musical instruments, pastels, crayons, markers, pipe cleaners, clay, etc.
  • Collective inspiration and ideas for ways forward

The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives. ~Audre Lorde 

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. ~Arundhati Roy

Just Transition Primer

Let’s come together IN PERSON to align understanding and action in support of effective, collective responses to the moment we are living in.

Our entrenched political divides are laced with conflict and create a sense of insecurity. No longer in the eye of the pandemic storm, we continue to navigate the uncertainty of a landscape in which soaring housing prices have displaced community members and extreme weather conditions are becoming the norm. How do we make sense of these realities? Where can we glimpse the kind of possibility worth coming together to work for? This workshop provides an opportunity to connect, explore a shared vision of Just Transition, and consider the question: What will it take to build systems centered on care for each other and our shared home? What would it mean for many of us in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley to be focused on social and ecological well-being? 

Join us for our first in-person workshop since 2020!  In community, you will deepen your understanding of the Just Transition framework, principles and practices. Through video, reflection, story sharing, and small group discussion, you will:

  • See people from across the country describing aspects of Just Transition
  • Hear how other participants respond to the framework
  • Connect your own experience to extractive and regenerative economic paradigms
  • Gain a sense of the framework, principles and practices, and where they come from
  • Discuss ways you are drawn toward weaving one or more Just Transition principles and practices into your Good Work

Following this workshop, you are invited to stay from 3-5 pm for a reception to connect with others in the GWI Network, including the opportunity to participate in a “Respond + Create” art-making workshop led by Shirley Parker-Benjamin and Onaje Benjamin, the artists featured in the Resisting Erasure exhibition at the GWI Greenhouse.

GWI Reception & “Respond + Create” Workshop

You are invited to a gathering of folks connected to GWI at the Greenhouse! Whether you are new to GWI, have participated in our online workshops, or have been a part of our community for a long while now, this is an opportunity to meet, greet, and catch up with new and old friends over beverages and noshes.

Many of us feel drawn to focus on the social and ecological well-being of our region, and we believe that informally learning about each other’s Good Work is a big part of moving in that direction! Finding ways of connecting and supporting one another strengthens and grows the impact of our efforts.

We’re delighted to be joined by Shirley Parker-Benjamin and Onaje Benjamin, whose artwork is currently on display at the GWI Greenhouse. At 4 pm, they will guide us through “Respond + Create” – an opportunity to explore our inner artist and express our creativity in a hands-on way! Working with 5 people at a time, Shirley will offer a prompt related to her work, a working surface and tangible materials, and invite us to assemble them into a temporary collage that we can photograph to create an ever expanding gallery of recombinations and interpretations. Onaje will share perspectives that inform his approach to photography and invite us to head outdoors to document one or more scenes from the neighborhood. 

Whether you end up photographing the neighborhood, your collage, or both, you can submit a digital image of what you create for viewing on a display screen if you wish, so we can experience the interplay of our creative expressions. 

Learn more about the Resisting Erasure exhibit that shines a light on Shirley and Onaje’s art.

College Behind Bars: A Screening & Discussion

Join GWI and the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) for a special screening and discussion of College Behind Bars. The highly acclaimed documentary directed by Lynn Novick, produced by Sarah Botstein, and executive produced by Ken Burns tells the story of a group of incarcerated men and women in New York State earning degrees through one of the most rigorous and effective college in prison programs in America.

The Good Work Institute is honored to collaborate with the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) in hosting this specially-curated, 25-minute screening of College Behind Bars. Through the lived experiences of the students and their families, this is a groundbreaking story of incarceration, injustice, race in America, and the transformative power of education. It raises questions we urgently need to address: What is prison for? Who has access to educational opportunity? Who among us is capable of academic excellence? How can we have justice without redemption?

Following this screening we will hold a discussion and Q+A with BPI Founder and Executive Director Max Kenner ’01 and program alumni. Together, let’s learn and consider ways that we, as a community, can work towards racial justice and social equity in the Hudson Valley.

Food and beverages will be served.

More about BPI:

The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America. Since 2001, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within America’s prison systems. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning.

Today, BPI enrolls over 300 incarcerated students full-time in programs that culminate in degrees from Bard College; it offers extensive support for its nearly 1000 alumni in New York City and across New York State.

COVID Policy:

  • We will follow up-to-date NY State COVID-19 mandates and guidelines.   
  • CO recommends, but does not require, that all guests wear masks when not socially distanced.

Period Power! Open Mic Night

Young activists from Kingston High School who are members of the Period Power! Club, a newly formed www.Period.Org Chapter of Ulster County will be hosting an Open Mic Night at Good Work Institute. 

Period Power! Open Mic Night invites you to express your creativity through spoken words, songs, story telling, and/or dance. Sign up to secure your performance spot! We are asking all performances to be original work ONLY! Performances should be no longer than 4 minutes, and we will close sign-ups with a maximum of 20 performances.

What’s Happening in Your Community?

Happy Spring!

How are you? Do you have any new projects in the works? Do you need support in your Good Work? What is happening in your community? We are inviting you to connect with old friends, meet some new ones and answer some of these questions on Wednesday, April 20th at 12pm. 

We have been learning about some of the initiatives happening across the Network of those doing Good Work towards Just Transition here in this valley of the Mahicantuck river. We also know that there are so many more things happening, big and small, that are adding up to making a difference in our region. Sharing these is a crucial part of the work. It’s how we inspire each other, how we increase what’s possible and collectively imagine and build.

Join us in a virtual space to share what’s happening in your community. At this session, we will hear from each other, ask each other questions, and share calls of action. Feel free to enjoy your lunch while we connect and share with each other so that we can support each other in carrying this momentum forward. We will host this event via Zoom. The link will be provided in the registration confirmation email. 

This is event is free, but registration is required. If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].

Radical Mindfulness 1: Dismantling the Oppression Within Us

“We say we want peace in the world, yet we’re not peaceful ourselves.” Shri Shiva Rudra Balayogi.

About this Event

In order to dismantle the systems of oppression that exist in the world we must face the systems of oppression that live within us. This requires heartfulness, mindfulness, and the cultivation of internal peace. Practicing mindfulness supports us in our commitment to drive racial justice and social equity, which is in turn central to Just Transition. 

This workshop starts with your interest in the practice of mindfulness as a path to social change and willingness to take a look at your own capacity for change and peace. Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, without judgement. Woven in with opportunities to practice, we will invite you to explore the meaning of “radical” and “mindfulness” and how they offer a means of recognizing the oppression that lives within, and to see how mindfulness serves as a foundation for those who are working  to change the world. 

Note: Those who attend this workshop will be invited to participate in Radical Mindfulness 2: From Recognition to Repair that is scheduled for later in the year.

Developing a Social Equity Practice

*We have decided to postpone the online version of this retreat in hopes of rescheduling in person later in 2022. If you would like to be notified of the new date, share your contact info by clicking the REGISTER button on the left.*


What does it take to create social equity? This online retreat supports you to become a more fully engaged ally and empowered partner in bringing more justice to this world.

Over the course of this online weekend retreat, you will be invited to grapple with power, privilege and difference, develop a social equity practice you can integrate into your Good Work, and emerge with a clear framework to facilitate individual and organizational awareness of changes needed, ways to work toward them, and next steps to take. The retreat draws on a framework that was offered to two cohorts of GWI Fellows and thousands of others over the past 20 years and honed by a dedicated team of facilitators, including the two who will guide the weekend. The experiences each of us brings to this workshop will be honored as we are invited to share our wisdom and gain from the wisdom of others – wherever we are on our lifelong learning journey towards achieving social equity.

Through readings before the retreat, and presentations, story sharing, discussions, exercises, and videos during it, you will:

  • Develop a deeper understanding of social equity through a personal identity lens
  • Integrate a framework and common language for addressing issues of power, privilege, and difference
  • Examine how institutional and individual practices maintain inequities among people and prevent us from achieving our full potential
  • Build a community of learners committed to identifying and implementing practical strategies for creating collective change