Why Wow is...
A strategic community design consultancy. We collaborate with groups to understand complex systems, re-orient to places, make decisions, and build people’s leadership.
OUR APPROACH
When we start with an outcome in mind, we place limits on our ability to work innovatively. At Why Wow, we let the process drive the outcome and the deliverable. Using arts-based approaches and tools from popular education, we lead community engagement processes, create educational programs, and provide coaching that brings lived and learned experiences together.
We work with an emphasis on rigorous research methods, healing-centered engagement, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and an ethic of play. We love leading processes where everyone is a teacher, everyone is a learner, and all learn together to envision a more just and beautiful future.
SERVICES
Why Wow uses participatory approaches that put people, our environments, and our collective histories at the center of every process.
Services we offer include:
- Arts-in-Health Strategy + Program Development
- Community Engagement Strategy
- Communication + Collaboration Coaching
- Curriculum Development (grade school - university)
- Design + Social Architecture
- Documentary Theatre Residencies
- Fundraising Strategy
- Facilitation
- Program Evaluation
- Program Development
- Qualitative Research
- Strategic Planning
We are now accepting new 2024 clients, collaborators, and partners. If you have a project, idea, or proposal, schedule a DISCOVERY CALL HERE. Ready to work together? FILL OUT AN INTAKE FORM.
ABOUT C. MERANDA FLACHS-SURMANEK
C. Meranda is a theatre director and urban planner with over a decade of experience using the arts as a tool to support cross-sector and cross-cultural collaboration. As a designer of processes, Meranda creates the infrastructure that supports ideation, relationship building, dialogue, and planning.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Center for Arts in Medicine, Developing a tool to understand the work that the arts can do to heal social isolation
LiKEN, Leading a 2-month visioning process focused on fundraising prioritization
ARTS IN HEALTH ENGAGEMENTS
Meranda has led workshops at health organizations across the U.S., including Children’s Hospital Colorado, Denver Health Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, Northwell Health, Oncology Nursing Foundation, Redline Contemporary Arts Center, Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, and Staten Island University Hospital.