"Have grace in chaos. Find strength in unity. Work for the greater good."
COSACOSA Director Kimberly Niemela composed the Spare A Dime song cycle based on the stories and experiences of Philadelphia area residents during both the Great Depression and our current "Great Recession." "The stories we collected were so timeless, so universal, that the writing came easily," she said. "The messages of Spare A Dime are simple. Have grace in chaos. Find strength in unity. Work for the greater good. These lessons are, as FDR said, the only path to peace -- within ourselves, 'in the community, and in the world.' Life really does turn on a dime, so we have to learn to recognize ourselves in one another. And we're not just connected by the whims of chance, but by our shared needs and hopes for ourselves, for our families, and for our neighborhoods. Working in community, we see this truth every day; our constituents live this truth every day, and now the Spare A Dime project tells it -- indeed, sings it -- on a grand scale."
Niemela's work in film, poetry, and sound has been performed/exhibited in a variety of venues, including, in New York, Central Park and El Museo del Barrio and, in Philadelphia, the Painted Bride Art Center and Taller Puertorriqueño. Her public art designs have been widely acclaimed and featured twice in the international award series Designing the World's Best Children's Hospitals. Niemela has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts/ American Film Institute Media Arts Fellowship. She has served as a consultant to numerous community-based programs nationwide, including CTCnet/National Learn and Serve's Youth Visions for Stronger Neighborhoods initiative and for the National Endowment for the Arts/Global Alliance for Arts & Health consulting service. Before founding COSACOSA in 1990, she served as Director of the Walt Whitman Association and as General Manager of the Yellow Springs Institute, an international residency center for artists and scholars. Niemela graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. Numerous professional journals, including Nature, published the results of her decade of medicinal research.
Niemela's work in film, poetry, and sound has been performed/exhibited in a variety of venues, including, in New York, Central Park and El Museo del Barrio and, in Philadelphia, the Painted Bride Art Center and Taller Puertorriqueño. Her public art designs have been widely acclaimed and featured twice in the international award series Designing the World's Best Children's Hospitals. Niemela has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts/ American Film Institute Media Arts Fellowship. She has served as a consultant to numerous community-based programs nationwide, including CTCnet/National Learn and Serve's Youth Visions for Stronger Neighborhoods initiative and for the National Endowment for the Arts/Global Alliance for Arts & Health consulting service. Before founding COSACOSA in 1990, she served as Director of the Walt Whitman Association and as General Manager of the Yellow Springs Institute, an international residency center for artists and scholars. Niemela graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. Numerous professional journals, including Nature, published the results of her decade of medicinal research.