In conjunction with the upcoming festival, Mosaic is hosting and partnering with Be The Change Collective as both a vendor and an important addition to every facet of festival planning and organizing. Be The Change Collective is a local team of experienced wellness practitioners with a vast, diverse pool of backgrounds and specialties that offer holistic care to the local community, and today we familiarize you with all things Be The Change as well as Kat Da Silva, who is the Executive Director and current Owner of Be The Change.
Be The Change Collective was founded almost ten years ago, working in the South Bay community to bring holistic wellness and access to resources. BTC’s core values are accessibility, education, transformation and community. Kat Da Silva says “the accessibility part is really important to us as we used to be the only donation-based yoga studio prior to quarantine in 2020 in the South Bay, and that allowed us to bring in folks who have financial barriers but also social, cultural and religious barriers,” coming from backgrounds where wellness resources just weren’t widely discussed. (K. Da Silva, Personal Communication, August 21st, 2024). Through education, BTC is often hired by the city of San Jose to bring yoga, movement, art as therapy and different cultural dances among other mediums to different cultural groups who might not otherwise have that access. Different cultural practices would be shown to different communities, exposing them to rituals they otherwise would not have seen–for example, bringing traditional Filipino style dances to predominantly Latinx communities for cross-cultural appreciation. Kat says that through education “it’s about creating enough accessibility to plant seeds for expansion, so that as folks see it again and again, it feels more familiar and hopefully more curious.” (K. Da Silva, Personal Communication, August 21st, 2024).
Be The Change is able to offer access to a wide spectrum of wellness practices by having both a for-profit and nonprofit arm. Utilizing its services in the tech realm allows BTC to bring profit to the nonprofit sector of its work in order to afford the free or highly subsidized offerings it provides to low-income communities. In its current iteration, BTC hosts pop-ups that cater to the needs of its very different groups of people, priding itself in the ability to answer every unique problem or request with a specialist that can create a mindful solution. In addition to education and accessibility, Kat is driven by the value of transformation. She views that as encouraging a mindset shift in people around the meaning of wellbeing. Kat’s personal mission around transformation is to connect people with other, perhaps unexpected, facets and possibilities around what wellness can do for them on a personal level. “Accessible, inspiring and transformative body, mind and heart wellness practices for individuals, families and organizations that build peace and resilience,” is the essence of BTC’s mission-driven vision, says Kat. (K. Da Silva, Personal Communication, August 21st, 2024). And of course, all of these different but equally important values center around the community and how to best serve its unique needs.
Kat says that the goal of Be The Change is to never say no to any request or need that the community they serve needs filled, and that can be fulfilled through their deep well of connections with specialists and experts of all kinds in a vast array of fields–no matter how niche or specific. If after an exhaustive effort the right person for the job cannot be found, Kat says that she herself will take on that role to fill the gap needed. “A feeling of safety and home is our vision, where you can melt and rest into it,” says Kat about the collective. (K. Da Silva, Personal Communication, August 21st, 2024). Kat references the joy of their community members getting to experience themselves in brand new ways, tying back to the value of transformation–the expansion of one’s mindset through various new activities centered around wellness. Breaking down barriers or stereotypes that might exist around different mediums centered around wellness and getting to experience it from experts in the field allows participants to reach new perspectives and thus learn more about themselves.
For Mosaic’s festival this year, BTC is focused around the theme of synergy and the values of accessibility, whole person transformation, community, safety, and presence. As a partnership with Mosaic, BTC aligns on the value of breaking down barriers. “Highlighting the similarities we have with each other instead of the differences was one of the first things I saw when I attended Mosaic events, and I immediately wanted to be a part of whatever Mosaic was doing. What I saw was a fusion of different cultures playing music together and dancing, which I’d never seen anywhere else, and as I watched the dancers I realized we’re all so much more alike than we are different. We are not necessarily as isolated as we think we are, and when we come together in community, we get to share the experiences around mindset transformation, especially for our wellbeing.” (K. Da Silva, Personal Communication, August 21st, 2024). The partnership with Mosaic is compelling, because between the two organizations, “we cover a large range of the human experiences in both offerings.” (K. Da Silva, Personal Communication, August 21st, 2024).
Experience Be The Change Collective’s range of vendors, including the Healing Garden, and its partnership with Mosaic at the upcoming Mosaic Festival Sunday, October 6th!