“We Are...! Bridging, Belonging, & Building Community” – The Traveling Experience
Common Circles has created an innovative, traveling, educational, museum experience that uses the arts, technology, and storytelling to teach about the Holocaust, antisemitism, our multi-layered identities, and the importance of finding our shared humanity.


Common Circles launched the “We Are...“ exhibit in the White Plains School District, and then brought a variation of the exhibit along with professional development to E.O Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut. Common Circles then partnered with Rye Country Day (RCDS) and American Jewish Committee (AJC) to update and scale the exhibit. This enhanced exhibit is now on display at RCDS and is open to visitors by appointment. This experience will be expanding to additional schools and community spaces. To sign up for public tours, arrange a private viewing, or find out how you can bring this experience to your school, business, municipality, or community, please contact us at info@commoncircles.org.
Designed to be immersive, interactive, and adaptable for different communities, this customizable, two-part exhibit is embedded into the walls and rooms in schools and community spaces.
Part 1:
Bridging, Belonging, & Building Community



Part 2:
Voices Against Hate: Lessons from the Holocaust
This second part of the exhibit features our partner USC Shoah Foundation’s groundbreaking Interactive Biographies, which allow students and others to engage in lifelike conversations with a Holocaust survivor and Jewish American liberator.
In this immersive environment, visitors not only hear their first-hand accounts, but can ask them questions — bringing history to life in a way that is deeply personal and impactful. In this section, students learn about the Holocaust, Jewish identity, and how to define, recognize, and combat antisemitism in today’s world. This part also highlights local stories of survivors and liberators showing that these stories are not just distant history but woven into the fabric of our community.




The Common Circles Interactive Art Experience
Common Circles developed a community art experience specifically designed for corporations and educational communities (middle school, high school, and college students, faculty, administrators, and staff).

Step into the shoes of others
The Workshop & Game Jam
Imagined for students by students
Common Circles designed, developed, and implemented an identity and game workshop for high school students in St. Louis, Missouri. Students from seven area high schools came together to learn about identity, unconscious bias, and the fundamentals of game design. Using techniques from psychology that have been proven to increase empathy and decrease bias, the students then worked collaboratively alongside game designers and experts on bias and intergroup relations to create games to address these difficult topics in an engaging way. The students generated innovative and viable ideas, including a card game called Common Threads that was further developed and is now part of the “We Are...!” exhibit and curriculum.


The Common Threads Game
Common Threads is an innovative multi-player character card game linking Stephen Curry and P!nk in less than five minutes.
Developed by high school students, the Common Threads card game highlights the richness of both personal and social identities, and seeks to find connection and commonalities across lines of difference. The character cards address the many layers of identity among various historical and public figures, artists, celebrities, scientists, athletes, and musicians.
The game uses several proven methods from psychology including “finding commonality,” a technique that tasks players to explore commonalities among the varied 100-character card deck. This highlights that our identities are multi-layered and shaped by a variety of factors, allowing us to focus on our commonalities and connections. Experts agree that this identity work is a crucial starting point in the difficult but vital education necessary to ensure inclusive schools, workplaces, and organizations. The Common Threads card game is being integrated into curriculum in classrooms and other organizations as part of the “We Are...!” exhibit and curriculum.
