The Story Behind Common Circles “We are RCDS”

This year, Rye Country Day School was so fortunate to partner with Common Circles to host their  “We Are RCDS: Bridging, Belonging, and Building Community” exhibit. Common Circles is a non- profit, research- based organization that creates interactive experiences with psychology, technology, the arts, and storytelling “to bring people together, build bridges, and help people find our shared humanity”. The exhibit also educates about the Holocaust, Jewish identity, and antisemitism. 

I am so excited to have had the opportunity to speak with both Founder and Executive Director Marla Felton and Creative Director Sue Spiegel who shared their inspiring journey and purpose with me. Marla was inspired by her great uncle, Holocaust survivor, Martin Greenfield. In 2013, when planning for her daughter’s bat mitzvah, she was concerned about the rise of antisemitism and polarization, and realized that many children knew little to nothing about the Holocaust or Judaism. Her family “used the celebration to teach its deeper meaning and share their story”. Then, in 2015, Marla founded Common Circles and teamed up with Creative Director Sue as they both “wanted to come up with a tool that other organizations could use to amplify their work and get people interested in learning about each other”. 

Ten years later, Sue and Marla have found three main principles that have guided their work toward creating a “community of belonging where every person could be seen, heard, and valued”. Sue and Marla first hope that people will reflect on themselves and “learn about all of our multilayered identities” before encountering someone who is different or “perceived to be different” from them. Furthermore, Sue and Marla have learned about psychology techniques that “have been proven to increase empathy and decrease bias” including finding commonality, perspective taking, stereotype replacement, or even “something as simple as smiling”. Sue and Marla have also visited cultural institutions, hoping to learn what it is that brings people of all backgrounds and walks of life together. They have discovered that “the arts, cool technology, games, and storytelling” are powerful modes of engagement. Building on this, Sue and Marla work to “weave these techniques from psychology that increase empathy with these modes of engagement” in their Common Circles exhibit. 

Part 1 of the Common Circles exhibit uses art, photography, and optical illusions to prompt students and visitors to learn more about the multi-layered identities in our community and find our “shared humanity”. By focusing on identity and sharing the individual stories of members of the RCDS community, they have formed a connection with the community and have helped others learn so many beautiful stories. Part 1 then connects to Part 2 of the exhibit as they dive deeper into their belief “that every family has stories of hope, and survival, and struggle, and triumph”. Part 2 of the exhibit features innovative technology that allows visitors to engage in lifelike conversations with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a holocaust survivor, and Alan Moskin, a Jewish American liberator. The exhibit also includes The Butterfly Project which is inspired by the poem The Butterfly written by Pavel Friedman, a teen who sadly passed away in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Students are encouraged to write down their wishes for humanity on cut-out colorful butterfly stickers and further pass along the power of hope and communication to others. 

When I asked Sue and Marla one message they wished to share with everyone, they connected me with Anita through the interactive technology to hear their favorite quote of hers: “Talk to each other, have coffee with each other, play football with each other. Do not be frightened of what is different,”. 

Overall, I am so grateful for the opportunity to speak with Sue and Marla and to learn more about the Common Circles exhibit and its purpose. As a young Jewish American girl, I feel inspired by their message and appreciative of their work here at my school. Through this experience, I have learned the profound importance and impact of their efforts in fostering a community filled with kindness and compassion, while working to combat hatred and biases.  

Thank you to Sue and Marla and all the amazing contributors to the Common Circles “We Are RCDS” exhibit!