|
(BROOKLYN, NY) August 24, 2009. Chez Bushwick in association with CAPITAL B is pleased to announce Yo♥Bushwick, a neighborhood celebration to be held on Sunday, September 27th from 11am-7pm. It will take place at the historic Maria Hernandez Park, named in honor of the community leader who gave her life in the fight to rid her block of drug dealers in 1989. The event is located at Knickerbocker to Irving Aves and Starr to Suydam Streets, and will be free and open to the public. This exciting one day celebration will feature many of the distinctive cultural experiences that make Bushwick an exciting, diverse neighborhood to live, work, and create.
CAPITAL B is a neighborhood coalition launched by Chez Bushwick that uses the arts to promote positive social change. By working in partnership with over 20 local arts and community organizations, the initiative builds neighborhood partnerships that improve the quality of life for all residents of Bushwick. As part of CAPITAL B’s efforts,Yo♥Bushwick is a way of bringing the rich diversity of people and organizations together to celebrate the importance of the arts, culture and education in the vitality of the neighborhood.
This gathering will highlight activities for youth as well as showcase many of the neighborhood’s diverse cultural communities. The day will include guided walks that feature Bushwick’s history, environmental challenges and arts venues, an original play by local teenagers on gentrification, short movies by Bushwick filmmakers, special seasonal produce offerings by local farmers, and interactive installations by community and arts organizations on their work to address and educate about issues of health, sustainability and social justice.
Gallery Walks, explorations of the numerous art galleries in the Bushwick community, activities for children including face painting, balloons, clowns, Hula Hoop competitions, Skateboard workshops, handball games, and Story Hours sponsored by the Bushwick Library (in Spanish and English). There will be food sampling featuring local ethnic cuisine and a variety of music including salsa, jazz, gospel and hip-hop.
The event will also include an embroidered map of Bushwick, an installation and research project that is a part of CAPITAL B’s larger neighborhood mapping and community research. The embroidered map is a participatory installation that invites residents to mark their own economic, cultural and physical footprints as they intersect in the neighborhood. For several months, local participants throughout Bushwick have been invited to participate in the mapping and it has been on display at various cultural centers, senior citizen centers, libraries and schools. The result is a map of Bushwick collectively authored by residents that is constantly added to and displayed throughout the neighborhood. The map illustrates shared and differing neighborhood perceptions of space and will guide CAPITAL B’s efforts to increase alliances among individuals, institutions and communities towards greater sustainability. The map is overseen by the creative direction of Adriana Valdez Young.
Yo♥Bushwick is co-curated by CAPITAL B Coalition and Community Arts Partners: Arts in Bushwick, Automotive High School, Brooklyn Latin High School, BushwickIMPACT, Bushwick Library, Chez Bushwick, Diana H. Jones Senior Center, Make The Road NY, Norte Maar, The Bushwick Starr, The Propeller Group, P.S. 147, thinkdance and Trees Not Trash.
The idea of Yo♥Bushwick evolved from the CAPITAL B's monthly dialogues and the goal to highlight Bushwick’s diverse residents, organizations and small businesses to contribute to a day of outdoor activities, performances and installations. “Maria Hernandez Park was chosen because it is acknowledged by CAPITAL B and many of Bushwick’s residents as a heart of the neighborhood. It is in this spirit that we will present the First Annual CAPITAL B Neighborhood Celebration,” commented Chez Bushwick’s Founding Director Jonah Bokaer.
CAPITAL B is a coalition of twenty diverse organizations that promotes dialogue and reflects a broad assortment of nonprofit, commercial, and private corporations, including artists, local residents, nonprofit directors and small business owners, aimed towards arts-based economic development and urban revitalization in Bushwick
CAPITAL B recognizes that Northern Brooklyn offers a vibrant array of arts organizations and independent businesses, and holds valuable potential to become a nucleus of economic development, urban revitalization, and cultural programming of outstanding artistic quality
|
| ABOUT CHEZ BUSHWICK. |
Chez Bushwick, an artist-run organization based in Brooklyn, is dedicated to the advancement of interdisciplinary art, dance and performance, with a strong focus on Community Development. Since its inception in 2002, the organization has been acknowledged as a new model for economic sustainability in the performing arts, offering New York City’s only $5 subsidy for rehearsal space, and thereby fostering the creation, development, and performance of new work. As a 2008 recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation New York City Cultural Innovation Fund, Chez Bushwick is also responsible for a number of monthly performance programs that encourage artistic freedom, collaboration, and creative risk-taking. Additionally, the organization also oversees, structures, and supports the activities of CPR - Center for Performance Research, a L.E.E.D.-certified green building in Brooklyn, of which Chez Bushwick is a founding partner.
|
|
|
PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS:
Norte Maar: http://www.nortemaar.org/
Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts creates, promotes and presents collaborations within the disciplines of visual, literary, and the performing arts: connecting visual artists, choreographers, composers, writers and other originating artists with venues and each other.
Arts in Bushwick: http://artsinbushwick.org
Arts in Bushwick is an all-volunteer organization; our mission is to promote and support local artists, serve the community at large through arts education and creative accessibility, and organize all residents and stakeholders in Bushwick to fight development-driven displacement and work toward an integrated, sustainable community.
Make the Road NY: http://www.maketheroad.org/
Make the Road New York promotes economic justice, equity and opportunity for all New Yorkers through community and electoral organizing, strategic policy advocacy, leadership development, youth and adult education, and high quality legal and support services.
Moviehouse at 3rd Ward: http://moviehouseat3rdward.blogspot.com/Moviehouse gives local filmmakers an opportunity to reach a much larger and more diverse audience than they might by hosting their own screening at a cinema. By pairing established filmmakers with fresh local talents, Moviehouse fosters connections within the NYC film community.
The CAPITAL B Youth Culture Lab:
http://capitalbushwick.wordpress.com/culturemap/
CAPITAL B’s Youth Culture Lab trains local high school students in community mapping, urban fieldwork, and cultural critique. Youth engage in discussions, installations and curate performances that explore the arts as an engine for community building and social change.
Coalition Partners
Anchor Tenant: Boricua College.
Anchor Tenant: The Bushwick Library.
Anchor Tenant: P.S. 147 Elementary.
Anchor Tenant: Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council.
Developer: Herschenfeld Design Inc. is a Community Activist in Brooklyn. Developer: Propeller Group is a Community Activist in Brooklyn.
Theater: The Bushwick Starr is a leading theater in Bushwick.
Human Rights Institution: El Puente is a community leader in Bushwick. Gallery: Norte Maar is a leading gallery supporting collaborations in Bushwick.
Environmental: Trees Not Trash is a leading beautification project in Bushwick.
Community Arts Partners (CAPs):
3rd Ward (For-Profit Arts Space)
Ad Hoc Art (Artist-Run Gallery)
Arts In Bushwick (Community Arts & Advocacy Group)
Boricua College (Brooklyn-Based College)
Brooklyn Fire Proof (Gallery, Film & Production Facility)
Brooklyn Public Library (Public Library)
Chez Bushwick (Nonprofit Cultural Organization)
El Puente (Community Leadership Organization)
The Propeller Group (Real Estate Developer)
English Kills (Arts Space & Gallery)
Grace Space (Gallery & Performance Space)
Lumenhouse (Photography Studio & Gallery)
|
