Two back to back arts events organized by long time Bushwick artists and residents are scheduled for this Saturday, and both events are intended to serve as forums for community engagement with rampant gentrification and its affects on Bushwick and greater Brooklyn.
On Saturday afternoon from 1-4, the public is invited to “Sharing | Present,” a town hall-style meeting and art share at FiveMyles Gallery (558 St. John’s Place in Crown Heights). “Sharing | Present” is the second of three major public events scheduled during the duration of a show entitled “Progress,” which organizers Anthony Rosado and Mackenzie Angelo Seecharan describe as “performances and installations reflecting on progress through the lens of gentrification.”
“[Sharing | Present] is a town meeting and art share for organizations, tenant councils, native residents, and POC identified artists who currently engaged in the fight against displacement and racial and economic inequality,” Rosado explains. It’s scheduled between “Past”, the show’s opening event, which was in conversation with the artist’s personal histories with gentrification, and a performance-based closing event which is entitled “Future.”
At the show’s well-received opening event last weekend, attendees took in charged performances and mixed media pieces featuring, among other things, a considerable collection of temporary real estate signage found in and around the Brooklyn neighborhoods where real estate development initiatives have been widespread.
Attendees at “Sharing | Present” will be invited to head north to Bushwick when the event wraps up in the late afternoon to check out the second of the day’s offerings, which are planned in support of each other.
The second of Saturday’s two community arts events, entitled “Bridging Boroughs”, takes place from 5pm to 10pm at Bushwick’s own MayDay Space (176 St Nicholas Ave). Organizers describe the event as a relaunch of the Bridging Boroughs Arts Collective, a Bushwick-based organization founded by The Living Gallery BK & Jazzabelss Boutique, with a mission to “create a safe and welcoming environment where we can begin to erase stereotypes and negative energy that surround our community.”
The event will include speakers across a wide range of disciplines, including the poet Mario “Ponce” Pagan, as well as performances by Bushwick youth artists Educated Little Monsters, a dance group, and affiliated hip hop artists Monsters of Brooklyn. There is a $5 suggested donation, and the event is a potluck, so attendees are invited to bring a dish to share.
Enjoy, Bushwick!
“Sharing | Present,” will take place on Saturday, March 12th from 1pm-4pm at FiveMyles Gallery (558 St. John’s Place in Crown Heights), and “Bridging Boroughs” takes place from 5pm to 10pm at Bushwick’s MayDay Space (176 St Nicholas Ave). More information about each each event is available here and here.