GONG COMMITTEE

GONG COMMITTEE is an outgrowth of a months-long fellowship that Philadelphia arts organization RAIR hosted with artist Guadalupe Maravilla last year. Maravilla is a visual artist, choreographer, and healer whose practice combines indigenous traditions with urban culture. His large-scale sculptures, called Disease Throwers, function as instruments as well as shrines, through the incorporation of materials collected from sites across Central America including sonic instruments such as conch shells and gongs. While at RAIR, Maravila took a deep dive into exploring the making of Gongs as a healing instrument. Over the course of several months, RAIR and Maravilla found and fabricated dozens of gongs that have been performed on in sound ceremonies and now comprise much of this installation. 

 

The next phase of this work is emerging as ​Gongs in Schools, a pilot program that introduces sound healing, deep listening, and vibrational therapy into five Philadelphia public schools through sound bath activations and hands-on training for students and staff in the use of sound healing instruments, including many made at RAIR.

 

Its goals are to promote mental wellness, emotional regulation, and stress relief among students and educators through sound-based meditation practices, and to equip school communities with tools for self-directed mindfulness and restorative practices after the run of the program.

 

Over the course of three weekly workshops led by 'professional sounders', students will begin as participants in immersive sound experiences, and progress to active facilitators, creating healing sounds for their peers in their own Sounders Club. 

 

Gongs in Schools will introduce students to critical life concepts such as calm states; deep listening; reclamation; awareness of others; experimentation; taking chances; and collaboration; and will empower them to deepen and share their practice by leaving each school with a kit of their own vibrational instruments. 

 

Please consider supporting this vision and helping us expand into a city wide program for students throughout Philadelphia!