The Rhapsody Project’s MARCH Framework underpins the work we do as educators, community builders, and artists. First articulated by Briar and Joe Seamons in 2020, the acronym stands for:
Movement. Acknowledgment. Renewal. Collaboration. Heritage.
Here in 2025, we are using each week in the month of March to demonstrate what we mean by each of these five tenets. This week: Renewal!
Renewal
In a society that constantly demands our attention, energy, and labor, renewal is a necessity, not a luxury. It is revolutionary. At The Rhapsody Project, we invite you to embrace two powerful forms of renewal—self-care and cultural revival—both of which sustain our activism, artistry, and vitality.
Personal Work: Renew Yourself First
On an individual level, the simplest form of renewal is the work of self care. We cannot push ahead 24/7 – we must recognize when we need rest and hand the baton to our collaborators so we can focus on our own well-being.
There is no movement, no art, no activism without the people who drive them forward. You are one of those people. And like anything of value, you require care and maintenance.
A few times a year, Rhapsody takes intentional breaks. In the summer and winter we have breaks with no meetings and no due dates for our staff to encourage time off and rest. We also schedule more frequent, smaller breaks, like the next two weeks (March 24 – April 4th). Most of our normal operations continue, but our weekly classes at King Street Station take a break so our Teaching Artists can have a break in their schedule, or use that time towards something that’s needed. (Check our events schedule if you’re curious if something is happening next week or not)
Community Work: Embrace curiosity and renew the beautiful parts of our family or cultural traditions.
After acknowledging elements of your heritage or tradition that did harm, seek to revive any worthwhile tradition or ritual that should have never been allowed to lay dormant. Whether this is as simple as a recipe, an almost-forgotten annual gathering, or something as substantial as reconnecting or adapting a faith tradition, there is likely something your ancestors put down that is worth picking back up. Provided you are doing the other forms of work outlined in the MARCH Framework, you are likely to find success when your community puts its own spin on those traditions.
Gwen Trice of Wallowa County, Oregon established The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center to celebrate the work of her father as a leader in the Black community of an historic logging town. After a decade of work, her non-profit purchased the entire original townsite and surrounding area, and has converted it into a multi-faceted outdoor space that centers communities of color.
Environmental Work: Support Earth’s Wisdom
One of The Rhapsody Project’s board members, Katelyn Kimmons, practices a beautiful form of renewal that is both personal and environmental: she enrolled in a local class near her home in Oakland to learn from Indigenous people about the native plants that could (and should) be growing in place of the all-too-standard lawns. By replacing her yard’s invasive plants with native plants that help restore the local ecosystem, Katelyn practices a form of renewal that is both personal and communal.
A Collective Effort
Renewal isn’t something we do alone—it thrives in community. As we restore traditions, we shape them to meet our present-day needs, adding new layers and meanings. When we rest, others step in to support; and then we do the same for them.
So, we invite you: Rest. Create. Celebrate.
When you practice these, what’s renewed?
Adapted by Liz Castillo from writing by Joe Seamons and Briar. Graphic by Katana Sol.
