Happy February! As we do on the second Tuesday of every month, we are meeting this evening, 6:30–8pm, in the Cranberry Room (second floor, in the back) of Brooklyn Heights Library (286 Cadman Plz W). Alex Strada will once again be joining us to hash out the details of Homes for People, Not for Profit, a public program and workshop happening at Storefront for Art and Architecture on Saturday, March 7th. More details and community announcements below:
On Saturday, March 7th, 3–5pm, join us at Storefront for Art and Architecture for Homes for People, Not for Profit, a public program organized in conversation with Alex Strada’s Public Address and Storefront’s 1985 Homeless at Home project, in which artists and architects created and deployed stencils responding to homelessness throughout the city — out of the recognition that “HOME is an essential foundation of human existence.” Strada and Storefront will reflect on the intersections between Public Address and Homeless at Home, and we will discuss our past and current advocacy against predatory development and carceral infrastructure.These presentations will be followed by a hands-on workshop in which participants will make 12”x18” prints using replicas of the original stencils from Homeless at Home, alongside contemporary adaptations. We will invite participants to install these posters in public space, as well as to paint the stencils on a collaborative banner that will accompany our organizing efforts.
On Friday, February 27th, at 9pm, join members of AAD and Brooklyn Jail Support for a talk with David L. Johnson, across from 120 Schermerhorn St.Johnson will present on his artistic interventions in and around POPS, or privately owned public spaces. For instance, in an ongoing series called “Rule,” Johnson lifts signage prescribing the codes of conduct on POPS, rendering them legally unenforceable.Since August 2024, BKJS has set up on a POPS across the street from Brooklyn Criminal Court every Friday from 2pm to 2am. As we repeatedly activate this space to practice abolition and mutual aid, we can take inspiration from artists to radically reconfigure what it might look, sound, and feel like.
Last month, AAD received a tip about Tribeca galleries meeting to discuss “issues of safety and accessibility associated with the increased number of vendors on Broadway,” with a gallery representative encouraging “filing complaints via 311” to “increase the likelihood of a response” — potentially prompting criminal penalties, and even deportation, for migrant street vendors.On January 30th, when many of these same galleries closed for the “National Shutdown” in solidarity with Minnesota, Hyperallergic published a feature on their anti-vendor organizing efforts. As one of our members stated: “There are so many ways to improve street life that don’t involve the NYPD, which actively facilitates federal immigration enforcement.”Read the article here (and continue to send tips our way).
Photo courtesy of Isa Farfan/Hyperallergic
Screenings of A Home Worth Fighting For, which covers the ongoing struggle of NYCHA tenants in Chelsea to save their homes from demolition, continue to take place across the city. We highly recommend catching one if you haven’t already!On Thursday, February 19th, Pratt Manhattan Campus will host a screening followed by a panel featuring tenant leaders and local officials, including Christopher Marte; RSVP here.On Saturday, February 28th, LES Yearbook will present a screening at the Center For Wellbeing & Happiness, followed by a discussion with NYCHA tenant leaders; email [email protected] to RSVP.
Graphic courtesy of the LES Yearbook.