Arts From Our Neighborhoods at MoMA PS1

On Sunday, Feb 28, a citywide audience joined us at MoMA PS1 Print Shop for a button making workshop with The Laundromat Project (working in Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx), a theatrical excerpt by Downtown Art (working on the Lower East Side), a body movement exercise with STooPS (working in Bedford-Stuyvesant), and a screen printing activity with El Puente (working in Los Sures) and Mobile Print Power (working in Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan). We thank MoMA PS1 for inviting us to illustrate the power of art and culture as engagement tools in NYC neighborhoods as part of their Greater New York exhibition. Activities included:

• Button Making with The Laundromat Project: "In my neighborhood I ______":
  Participants joined The Laundromat Project in answering the phrase "In my neighborhood I ______." They made symbols and thoughts about their neighborhoods with drawings, writings and collages that were turned into a button. Participants were also invited to pose for a photo portrait with their buttons celebrating their neighborhoods.

• BIRMINGHAM 1963 with Downtown Art
  Downtown Art's BIRMINGHAM 1963 is the story of the struggle for civil rights based on oral histories and interviews of those who were there. The ensemble of young women, ages 14-17, performed an excerpt of BIRMINGHAM 1963, which highlighted the critical role of young people in the campaign.  Following, the audience conversed with the cast on how these historical events connect to our lives now.

• A Moment is a Movement: presented by STooPS Artist Wema Harris
  Community is the intersection of people. There are moments where we engage or disengage from our community, embodying fears, anxieties, issues of trust and the urge to belong. Using specific moments in our recent history, the session used dance, performance art, and poetry to grapple with ideas of identity, fear, and the power of community movement.  The co-created movement story was enhanced with live percussion.

• Printmaking with Mobile Print Power and El Puente: What does solidarity mean to you?
  El Puente's Visual Art Leadership program, an art class at partner school MS 50, and multi-generational collective Mobile Print Power (MPP), hosted an afternoon of printmaking and conversations based around the theme of solidarity. The group printed images on scarves and t-shirts.