Black Citizenship Project Updates

Event Descriptions:

Kizzy's Appeal—by a collective of artists

A performance comprised of spoken word, visual art, and dance.  This performance started from the maternal question, "Have you seen my child?"  Kizzy's Appeal mirrors the impact, historically and currently, of systemic violence that robs black and brown communities of loved ones.

Two Things –by Letta Neely

A spoken word performance that expresses the current state of black emotions and feelings amidst the backdrop of state sanctioned violence and the recent Charleston massacre

Blind Spots—by James Montford Jr

A performance to explore, expose, and discuss the social construct of exclusion and through a performative process manifest potential for change. The artist will tell several short stories about "difference" and intimating/identifying the cause being Blind Spots in our behavior.

Of / From—by Sheldon Scott

Performative intervention interrogating the 14th Amendment

Divided We Fall—choreographed by McKersin Previlus

John the Baptist was something of a biblical spectacle—a long locked, loud-voiced, wild gesticulator.

This dance performance brings his central question to mind: what did you come here to see?

Black Body Survival Store—by Intelligent Mischief

A pop-up store featuring the Black Body Survival Guide—a compilation of rules and regulations for surviving in the U.S. as the owner of a black body—and related products  

Terror, Beauty, Pain, Solace—by Marlene Smith

We know, and have been reminded, against our will, that we can hurt and be hurt in public. This spiritual intervention asks the question, can we heal and be healed in public?

Frederick Douglass—Annual Reading “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

A communal reading of the fiery July 5, 1852, speech in which Frederick Douglass took exception to being asked to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Midnight Vigil—by Boston area Youth Organizing Project

A midnight to noon vigil asking the question, “Are blacks citizens?”

Black Citizenship Project Launches

Some weeks ago an esteemed colleague of ours asked us this hard question. In turn, we asked others. In response, the Black Citizenship Project was formed--a loose collection of local and regional Black artists who wanted to respond to the state sanctioned violence against Black bodies and communities. Our collective response is one of performance, celebration, loss, prayer, healing, dance, protest and music.

#dontshootinmyname

 

Join us...

Please join us in kicking off #dontshootinmyname You can do it yourself, spread it as a profile photo on Facebook, tweet it, put it on Instagram, etc. We want to shift the conversation. Right now it's being framed as a "black issue". It's a civil society issue. It's all of our issues. We all need to step in, step up, and say no to police brutality in the name of public safety. We all deserve to be safe.

New Artist-in-Residence Job Openings!

 

The Fairmount Cultural Corridor is a creative placemaking initiative that combines collaborative efforts of residents, artists, community organizations and businesses to support vibrant, livable neighborhoods along the Fairmount Line, made stronger through an active local creative economy. DS4SI has been a partner in this placemaking efforts, including our Upham's Corner Public Kitchens, Making Planning Processes Public and StreetLab: Upham's installations.
 
FCC and lead partner Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) are looking to hire 4 Artists-in-Residence. These artists will work with the DS4SI to design opportunities for residents, merchants, youth, and other creative practitioners to reimagine public spaces, public forms of community expression, and social interventions that increase vibrancy and community connectedness.  Artists will be based in a distinct community along the Fairmount Line, including Upham’s Corner, Four Corners, and one who will work with four local schools. All artists will be based out of local nonprofits.

The positions are 20 hours per week @ $25/hr. To apply, download the job description and application. Full applications, including 3 art samples, must be submitted by August 29th. Local artists and nontradtional artists and craftspeople encouraged to apply.

Info Session July 8th: ExpressingBoston Public Art Fellowship

DS4SI and the Boston Foundation partner to offer new public art fellowships!

The ExpressingBoston Public Art Fellowship program will offer selected artists a 9 month fellowship with DS4SI between October 2014 and June 2015. The fellowship is aimed at supporting artists in thinking through and testing new ways to do their art practice in public spaces, in ways that increase the authority which artists and community members feel to claim public spaces in their neighborhoods.  Artists will receive a stipend of $5,000 and up to $2,000 for materials for their participation in this community of practice.

This fellowship is open to artists who are engaged in a wide definition of art and public art. This includes both temporary and permanent art, as well as traditional and nontraditional arts such as (but not limited to): culinary arts, dance, street theater, performance art, music, photography, fashion, body art, game design, graphic design, poetry, fine arts, social practice, puppetry, jewelry, graffiti, fabrics, ceramics, etc.
 
Funding priorities include supporting artists who live and/or work along the Fairmount Cultural Corridor (map) and whose art represents one or more of their community’s rich history, cultural traditions, identities and assets. We look to gather a diverse community of practice across cultural background, age, experience, gender and art practice.

For more information and to apply, go to: http://bit.ly/ExpressingBoston2014  You can also learn more at our information session on July 8th, from 5:30-7pm.

Many thanks to the Boston Foundation for their support for local artists and the ExpressingBoston Public Art Fellowship.

 

ds4si website redesign art commission extended!

New art commission open at the Studio!

DS4SI is excited to announce a new art commission, open to artists and art teams interested in working with us to redesign our current website. We are looking for experienced web designers who can partner with us to create a more vibrant and interactive site for us and our visitors. For full details on how to apply, click the PDF below:

DS4SI Art Commission--Website Redesign

And please take note of the new final deadline for applications--June 18th!

Public Kitchen @ "Living as Form (The Nomadic Version)"

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (CCVA) joins Creative Time and Independent Curators International (ICI) to present a customized iteration of Living as Form (The Nomadic Version). Free and open to the public, the exhibition surveys groundbreaking works from around the world that together register one of the most important developments in recent art history: the rise in the last twenty-five years of a renewed sphere of artistic practices that blur the lines between art and everyday life in projects emphasizing political concerns, participation, and forms of dialogue.

EXHIBITION: LIVING AS FORM (THE NOMADIC VERSION)
February 7—April 6, 2014
Main + Sert Gallery

Thursday, February 6
6-8 pm
Opening reception with the artists
with performances by Tomashi Jackson and Caitlin Berrigan

(you can visit their facebook event.)

DS4SI Black History Month Series 2014

We're excited to announce the 3rd annual DS4SI Black History Month Series. This year our theme is "REEL Blackness" This series explores black creativity through film. It's particularly geared to creatives looking to explore or venture into some aspect of video, film, acting, etc.  In addition, we'll conclude the series with a special tribute to Nelson Mandela.and a look forward to how his legacy can create a "regeneration of liberation."

As usual, it will happen every Tuesday night in February and include good food and great conversation. Hope you can join us and our fabulous hosts and presenters!

New Vision Lab video

Vision Lab was the centerpiece of The Praxis Project's Roots & Remedies 2 national gathering in San Antonio, Texas during the summer of 2013. Over two days, Vision Lab brought together the approximately 200 participants and challenged them to imagine a future based on winning the social justice battles of today. For more on this DS4SI creativity lab, click here

And thanks again to the Praxis Project, their Communiities Creating Healthy Environments initiative, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Thanks also to our talented video team Erroll, Eddie and Dave.

Join us to weigh in on Upham's Corner Art Commission!

Come join us and help choose from the five finalists! Below are opportunities to hear directly from the artists and weigh in on what you'd like to see for a permanent art piece for Upham's Corner. (On Tuesday January 21st you can come right to the Studio...)

This process is led by DSNI with partners: Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), the Boston Foundation, Boston Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Boston Public Art Commission, Cambridge Arts Council, Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), the Dorchester Arts Collaborative (DAC), Fairmount CDC Collaborative, Greater Four Corners Action Coalition, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, National Trust for Historic Preservation, New England Foundation for the Arts, New Market Business Association, and Upham’s Corner Main Streets (UCMS).

For more information, check out DSNI's Upham's Corner ArtPlace page.  

Public Kitchen III Coming!

Got a favorite recipe you want to teach others? Got an ingredient you don't know how to cook? Come join us for Public Kitchen III...a chance to join neighbors and homegrown chefs of Upham's Corner and Dudley Street as we cook and eat together. Fresh ingredients will be provided by local farms, and if there's one you never liked (beets?), you might learn just the way to hook it up! For more information on each day, keep an eye on the facebook.com/publickitchen.

Public Kitchen is a partnership led by interested residents, supported by local farmers, DS4SI, The Food Project, Upham's Corner ArtPlace, DSNI, The Boston Foundation and ArtPlace America.

NCAA's Net Works and Maria Molteni knitting nets for hoops...

 

Brought to participants via traveling workshops, pick up games and internet cataloguing, the NCAA is a craftivist collective that addresses public space, diversity, collaboration, feminism, and interdisciplinary learning through the "Net Works" project. The collective assembles hand­made basketball nets for abandoned hoops, usually via knit and crochet, to build proactive inclusive relationships between artists, athletes, and neighbors. Here the form and function of the “street” and the “domestic” collide in hand­-made tactical aesthetics that express dissidence and generate new approaches to public space. 

Their works of art have been up on outdoor courts around the world. Learn more about "NCAA" the New Craft Artists in Action and support their kickstarter!

Tweet @YarnOverTime #NCAANetWorks

 

Calling all artists!

Upham's Corner ArtPlace, in collaboration with residents and a broad range of community-based partners, is seeking to commission a professional artist, artisan, architect, landscape architect, or teams thereof to create artwork for permanent display in the Upham’s Corner neighborhood of Dorchester as part of the exciting increase in transit access along the Fairmount Corridor. Strong preference will be given to a local artist from the Upham’s Corner community, from Dorchester and permanent residents of Boston. Strong preference will also be given to artists who demonstrate an interest in, and experience with, identifying, training and paying local apprentices in community-led art making processes.

The selected artist(s) will facilitate a community centered and led visioning, design, site selection, fabrication and installation process that uplifts the local identity and celebrates the richness of the neighborhood and its residents. The budget is up to $500,000 over the course of the project, with $100,000 already secured for Phase 1.

For all the submission guidelines, click here.

DS4SI IS HOSTING AN INFORMATION AND GRANT-WRITING SESSION:

October 30th, 5:30pm, 1946 Washington St, 2nd floor

For more information about coming to the information session that we're hosting, contact us at: art [at] ds4si [dot] org.

 

Week 2: STREET LAB: UPHAM'S

Week 2 of STREET LAB: UPHAM'S was action-packed. It started with carpenters Ben and BJ (here with DS4SI lead staff Ayako) volunteering their time to build out 3 benches to test in response to residents' numerous requests for bus stop seating in the heart of Upham's.

Artist Cedric Douglas spray-painted the benches and two volunteers tested them for sturdiness...

We also tested household furniture...

Ready for next week? We've got builders, yarn-bombers, visionaries and more...

Come join us to take on the alley and keep improving bus stop seating... This Saturday from 12-5.

STREET LAB: UPHAM'S--starts this Saturday!

Calling all artists, makers, residents & merchants! Upham's Corner is ready to host Dorchester's first tactical urban lab, and a chance to imagine new possibilities for small public spaces in and around Upham's...

Contact us if you'd like to be involved to share your ideas, tools, and/or expertise!

streetlab [at] ds4si [dot] org         See you Saturday!

STREETLAB: UPHAM'S is part of Upham's Corner ArtPlace and is funded through ArtPlace America and the Boston Foundation.