About

From the lead artist/curator:

Path to Belonging is a year-long, participatory, multi-media community art project centering on the path of the Ohlone Greenway--the walking/bike path under the BART tracks in Albany, California. In this central spine of our town, which connects us to neighboring cities, we will create art-centered gatherings to spur conversation about belonging and othering. 

As a long-time Albany resident, I believe that, like every American community, our town sometimes struggles to live up to its ideals of equity, justice, and neighborliness. While Albany has been a great place to raise my kids and has been very welcoming to my family, over time I have learned that not everyone has this experience.

Path to Belonging grows out of conversations that have been going on in Albany for some time, including after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. At that time,  some residents shared in town halls and other forums the ways they have been made to feel that they don't belong. 

This project also comes in the aftermath of a racist Instagram incident at Albany High School in 2017 that was depicted in Dashka Slater's 2023 book, Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. The community initially struggled to respond appropriately to that Instagram hate incident, but eventually, residents mobilized and worked collaboratively to address issues of racism and to try to create an environment of belonging, inclusion and safety. 

Participants in that process say there is more work to be done to address larger issues represented by that incident: othering affects many groups and is not a problem with a one-time cure–it needs to be addressed on an ongoing basis.

Racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, discrimination against people with disabilities, socioeconomic discrimination, and other ways of labeling people as "other" exist in Albany, as everywhere. So do kindness, solidarity, and neighbors caring for neighbors.

Community art is just one of many approaches to building the long-term relationships any city or neighborhood needs to be ready to deal with social challenges. Structural solutions in the political, economic, and educational realms are also needed, both locally and nationally. So Path to Belonging is just one small part of a much bigger picture.

It's important to say, too, that the everyday joy, sweat and tears that so many community members put into coaching youth sports, organizing neighborhood potlucks, volunteering around the community, participating in civic life, and just being kind to neighbors constitute the bedrock of  building a sense of belonging. I celebrate the strength and vibrancy of this aspect of life in Albany. 

I hope that Path to Belonging can be one part of building a vision for the future: a community where everyone feels embraced and supported.

This project is supported by funding from the City of Albany's Art in Public Places Ordinance, which relies on developer fees. This project was selected from among ideas submitted in response to a call for proposals for a Creative Justice Art Project "to address and prompt discussion on experiences of race, ethnicity, identity, and justice in Albany by inviting openness, exchange, and a healthier civic environment within the city."

I am Susan Kuramoto Moffat and have lived in Albany for more than two decades. I am a curator, artist and educator who has organized place-based, history-centered performances, exhibitions, and workshops at locations including the Angel Island Immigration Station and other public spaces. I founded Love the Bulb, a non-profit organization that does community-based art, performance and stewardship at the Albany Bulb. For ten years, I led the Global Urban Humanities Initiative and Future Histories Lab at UC Berkeley, where I taught courses on place-based storytelling. I am currently an independent cultural producer and urban planner.