Communicating through the arts, inspiration from Lily Yeh

We occasionally are blessed by moments of clarity sprinkled among our daily routines. Today was one of those moments for me as I listened to a wonderful human being, Lily Yeh, founder of the Village of Arts and Humanities in rough North Philadelphia.

Lily is an artist who answered an invitation to create a garden in an abandoned lot in North Philly in 1986. She has now nurtured that garden into a Village carved from more than 250 abandoned lots and structures into 24 parks, gardens and green spaces.

Lily Yeh is the type of optimistic, energetic, vibrant person who just makes you want to be a better human.

She was the keynote speaker today at the successful, third annual Mountain West Conference on the Arts, a program presented by the Utah Arts Council. I co-presented at the conference with my friend Brian Seethaler, director of Redirect Community, on the topic Social Media and the Arts: Why and How it Should Work for You (the PDF slides of our presentation are available in my newsroom).

Listening to Lily talk about her experience in Philadelphia was great, but hardly compared to viewing the slides and listening to her story of going to Rwanda to work with and build a memorial for the survivors of the 1994 genocide.

She brought hope, direction and ingenuity to the Rwandans. She took a cement slab mass grave and turned it into a beautiful, sacred work of art and garden.

Seeing the innumerable skulls and bones of the people murdered there wasn’t helpful to my recently consumed meal.

But being a part of her first-hand experience and seeing the dramatic impact she had there for good was absolutely sensational.

Of course, she received a standing ovation at the conclusion of her remarks.

One of the first questions asked of her was how she earns a living. Isn’t it the case that so many artists eek by, committed to their work and not necessarily to worldly pursuits? So noble.

I applaud Lily Yeah. I admire her tenacity and her incredible creative abilities.

I am re-inspired to live my life in such a way as to leave this world a better place because I lived here.