Resisting Displacement and Dispossession
Mobile Workshop:
In Defense of Grassroots Cultural Spaces
A workshop led by the NYC Artist Coalition
11:30am, departing from Pratt
In this workshop we will visit two art and nightlife venues at the intersection of the Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Many grassroots cultural spaces in the surrounding neighborhoods have faced displacement from factors including police and M.A.R.C.H. raids, rising rents, vacancy, new development, and licensing issues provoked by changes in the community.
In visiting these spaces we hope to bring light to the challenges facing grassroots cultural spaces, and showcase the value that they bring to their communities, which can often be hard to quantify. By structuring the workshop as a neighborhood walk, we are able to contextualize these spaces within the communities they serve, and discuss their challenges alongside issues that the larger community is facing.
The NYC Artist Coalition
The NYC Artist Coalition is a group of artists, community leaders, activists, policy makers and many others that advocate for the safety and preservation of grassroots cultural spaces and grassroots culture at large. We believe that independent, community-driven spaces such as live/work galleries, exchange libraries, kitchen incubators, community gardens, music and performance venues and co-op afterschool programs—to mention just a few—are integral to the thriving diversity and democratic character of our city.
The following NYC Artist Coalition members will be leading the workshop:
Tara Duvivier
Tara Duvivier is an urban planner, event organizer, and DJ.
Julia Fredenberg
Julia Fredenberg is a data visualization specialist and a photographer.
Olympia Kazi
Olympia Kazi is an architecture critic and urban activist.
Patrick Weaver
Patrick Weaver is an educator, artist, programmer, and musician.