NOCD-NY Citywide Forum 2013

We thank the participants and partners who were able to join us for NOCD-NY’s first citywide convening hosted at El Museo del Barrio on May 30, 2013, From the Neighborhood Up: A Citywide Forum on Culture and Community. The priorities that were gathered at the event helped shape and refine NOCD-NY's policy recommendations, including our Policy Brief: Arts and Culture for a Just and Equitable City presented during the transition leading up to the appointment of Mayor Bill DeBlasio.

The full convening included:

  • a welcoming and framing with Caron Atlas, NOCD-NY and Gonzalo Casals, El Museo del Barrio

  • a roundtable moderated by Millard “Mitty” Owens and Esther Robinson with contributions from Prerana Reddy, Queens Museum; Rosalba Rolón, Pregones Theater; and Milly Hawk Daniel, PolicyLink.

  • A closing that included break out session report backs and some priority setting sparked by Kemi Ilesanmi, The Laundromat Project; Anusha Venkatraman, El Puente; Carol BeBelle, Ashé Cultural Arts Center (New Orleans); Teresa Rivera, W.O.M.E.N; and Clyde Valentin, Hip-Hop Theater Festival

Lunch discussions and tours at East Harlem cultural sites including:

  • Art for Change

  • Casa Azul

  • Community Voices Heard

  • Hip-Hop Theater Festival

  • Media Noche

  • MNN El Barrio Firehouse

  • La Casa de la Herencia Cultural

Small afternoon break out sessions included:

  • Art Sustains. Community Heath and Wellness

  • Spacing Out: Creative Uses of Urban Space

  • After the Storm: Creative Responses, Cultural Resilience and a Just Rebuilding

  • For Whom? Arts and Culture Working Towards Equitable Development

The day was infused with art experiences and performances by Oreste Abrantes and members of La Casa de la Herencia, Maria Bauman of MB Dance and Urban Bush Women, Tyquan (aka Haps) Carter, Cultural Puertorriqueña and Bomba Drummers, Downtown Art, Sandy Storyline, and Tatfoo Tan.

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