AVAI Artist Proposals

See more posts on AVAI and our work in the RGV.  

Playing with Production: Walking tourPhoto by Elaine Morales

Playing with Production: Walking tour

Photo by Elaine Morales

[bc] is excited to share the project proposals for our three Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator Artists-in-Residence. Celeste De Luna, Rigoberto Gonzalez and Nancy Guevara have been hard at work in their studios and throughout the city of Brownsville; meeting local stakeholders, longtime residents, historians and academics. In June & July, they synthesized the knowledge they have collected to generate an exciting series of proposals for projects for the City of Brownsville.

Their projects will unfold from August through November. Learn about each artist’s projects below and join in the workshops and programming that they have designed over the upcoming months. Be sure to stay connected with us on Facebook for future updates and opportunities to participate in forthcoming events!

 

Celeste De Luna (R) sharing her prints and collecting stories about Brownsville with an attendee at Playing with Production, Photo by Tom Hill

Celeste De Luna (R) sharing her prints and collecting stories about Brownsville with an attendee at Playing with Production, Photo by Tom Hill

Celeste De Luna’s project will center around historical and contemporary narratives of strength and resistance native to the Rio Grande Valley. Over the past months she has identified central figures from Brownsville history, including Americo Paredes and Juan Cortina. In partnership with members of the community, she will work to identify how local stakeholders connect with their stories and collaborate with them to generate visuals representing their own stories of protest.  

De Luna will conduct a series of workshops beginning in August that will include a steamroller printing workshop, a storytelling workshop and a kite making workshop in Lincoln Park. In November she will exhibit 5 large scale prints representative of the stories shared with her by local residents and the history of the region. Prints from the large woodcuts will be wheatpasted throughout the downtown and the final carved blocks will be exhibited at the conclusion of the residency.  

Rigoberto Gonzalez (L) speaking with an attendee and collecting stories about Brownsville with an attendee at Playing with Production, Photo by Tom Hill

Rigoberto Gonzalez (L) speaking with an attendee and collecting stories about Brownsville with an attendee at Playing with Production, Photo by Tom Hill

Rigoberto Gonzalez will work over the upcoming months on a large scale, moveable mural based upon a series of interviews he will conduct with Brownsville residents. As a longtime resident of the Rio Grande Valley, he is particularly interested in the cultural traditions of the region and the stories that accompany them. At the recent AVAI Open Studio event, Playing with Production, Gonzalez invited attendees to sketch their ideas for the mural and to share stories of their experiences downtown.   

During his forthcoming workshops Gonzalez will hold personal narrative workshops to record oral histories and create portraits of the people whose stories he collects. The recordings will become sound installations to accompany Gonzalez’s murals in filling vacant spaces with the stories of Brownsville.

Nancy Guevara (center) speaking with an  attendees at  Playing with Production, Photo by Tom Hill

Nancy Guevara (center) speaking with an  attendees at  Playing with Production, Photo by Tom Hill

Nancy Guevara’s project, Intersections of Transformation on the Border will investigate the experiences that lead people to become activist leaders. Throughout the residency Guevara will work with local women and community leaders to create portraits using fabric from local ropa usada stores that reflect the leaders’ experiences of personal transformation, self-actualization and empowerment. By working closely with community leaders to create designs based on their experiences of struggle and complexity, Guevara hopes to engage aspiring artists and activists in using art as a tool for social justice.

Leading up to the presentation of these works to the public, Guevara will hold a series of workshops and discussions about catalyzing change and cultivation of leadership. Included in this series will be a manta workshop, in which participants will decide upon an issue that has deep personal importance to them and then make a banner representing a cause.  

Playing with Production: Walking tour, Photo by Jesse Miller 

Playing with Production: Walking tour, Photo by Jesse Miller 

AVAI will continue throughout the Fall and will culminate in mid-November with installations, performances and exhibitions throughout the month. Follow AVAI on Facebook for updates on the Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator, important information on our monthly events and more details about the artists’ upcoming workshops.  

Activating Vacancy Fall Calendar

August

8/27 Rebel Corridos: Corrido Writing Workshop with Celeste De Luna

8/27 El Círculo de Mujeres: Manta Workshop with Nancy Guevara

 

September

9/24 Make your own Chingona Outfit: Costume Making Workshop with Nancy Guevara

9/24 Kites Sin Fronteras: Kite Making Workshop with Celeste De Luna

 

October

10/7 Day in the Neighborhood: Brownsville’s first 24 Hour Film Festival begins

10/8  Painting Class Part 1 with Rigoberto Gonzalez

10/8 Work it Out: Open Lab Q and A for 24 Hour Film Festival

10/22Painting Class Part 1 with Rigoberto Gonzalez

10/22 Films from 24 Hour Festival Screened in Collaboration with the First Annual Brownsville International Film Festival

10/29 Steamrolling to the Future: Steamroller and Printmaking Workshop with Celeste De Luna

10/29 Platica Mujeres Líderes en Brownsville with Nancy Guevara

 

November

11/5Painting Class Part 1 with Rigoberto Gonzalez

11/9 Noche de Filosofía y First Brownsville Story Share: A Brownsville Symposium

11/12 Steamrolling into the Future: Steamroller and Printmaking Workshop with Celeste De Luna

 

December

12/3 Abriendo las Puertas: Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator Bridge Event with Artist Exhibitions, Charrettes, Panel Discussions, Performances and Live Music

 

 

 

 

Crossing the Street: Ivy City

See more posts about our work in Washington, DC. 

[bc] with LISC are excited to announce a call for collaborators for the Crossing the Street: Activating Ivy City project. This art and creative placemaking initiative in the historic Ivy City neighborhood of northeast DC will implement a temporary, creative action that promotes community building, reflects the neighborhood’s rich heritage, and declares residents’ vision for the future of Ivy City.

Crossing the Street: Activating Ivy City will be carried out over the next four months produced and curated by [bc] with LISC in partnership with the DC Office of Planning. [bc] and LISC believe collaboration of local and technical expertise is essential to quality placemaking.

Residents and artists, are encouraged to respond to the call for collaborators. If you have had a creative project in mind that will activate or inspire your neighbors or if you are a person who creates for a living and you want to do something creative and artistic in Ivy City then we want you to apply!

More information on Crossing the Street: Activating Ivy City can be found here and interested parties should apply via an online application found here. A neighborhood tour and Q&A session will be held on July 21st for applicants to familiarize themselves with Ivy City and the application process. We encourage you to attend this session. Applications are due by midnight on Thursday, July 28th. Finalists will be notified by Monday, August 1, 2016.

For more information on Ivy City, see these resources.

This project is supported by a Kresge Foundation grant awarded to the DC Office of Planning. To find out more about DCOP’s Crossing the Street initiative, visit: http://planning.dc.gov/page/creative-placemaking.

Belden Trial Connect Ribbon Cutting Event!

Learn more about Belden Trail & Belden Connect!

Last month the City of Brownsville inaugurated the Belden Connect Project with a celebration ride for the community. The [bc] and Ambiotec Group design is an extension of the mile long Belden Trail that opened to the public in 2013 connecting West Brownsville to Downtown Brownsville and the Mitte Cultural District.

More events are scheduled! Check out the websites below for more information:

Kickoff! Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator

Learn more about Activating Vacancy.

Kickoff AVAI

[bc] is excited to announce a kickoff for the Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator (AVAI), a new art and public interest design initiative in Market Square, the center of Historic Downtown Brownsville. This program will create a viable means for artists to thrive in a region where attaining basic needs can be a struggle. The incubator will provide a catalytic hub for Downtown Brownsville and the arts, creating a platform for artistic production and collaboration between artists and the community. AVAI begins Spring 2016 and is produced and curated by [bc] in partnership with the City of Brownsville.

Come hear about the new Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator and other exciting new initiatives happening in Downtown Brownsville. Share your downtown stories and help us envision the future of arts and culture in Downtown! We'll start off with a social hour, including some creative activities and refreshments, followed by a panel discussion with local artistic and cultural leaders. 

where: 609 E 11th Street

when: friday, april 8th, 5pm social hour , 6pm panel discussion. 

 

 

 

Call for Artists! Announcing the Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator

[bc] is excited to announce the launch of the call for artists for the Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator (AVAI), a new art and public interest design initiative in Market Square, the center of Historic Downtown Brownsville. This program will create a viable means for artists to thrive in a region were attaining basic needs can be a struggle. The incubator will provide a catalytic hub for Downtown Brownsville and the arts, creating a platform for artistic production and collaboration between artists and the community. AVAI begins Spring 2016 and is produced and curated by [bc] in partnership with the City of Brownsville.

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The Second Annual Ark Festival: The History, Present & Future of Tenth Street

Learn more about Activating Vacancy.

Last year, as part of our Activating Vacancy initiative, artist Christopher Blay and [bc] collaborated with the Tenth Street Historic District community to produce the Ark on Noah Street. The Ark is a sculpture, a gallery, a museum and a symbol. When Christopher Blay created the concept of the Ark, a fundamental facet of the project was that it be reproduced yearly to keep art and culture active in the Tenth Street Historic District and to create an opportunity to celebrate, share and reflect on the neighborhood's history and the changes of the year.  

On May 2, 2015, the Ark was again commemorated during the Second Annual Ark Festival, a gathering of the Dallas arts community and the Tenth Street Historic District that was even bigger and better than before! The festival featured a processional of residents with original artwork depicting the neighborhood's history and its growth since the Ark was last seen, a performance of the original Story Corners play "A Freeman Cries for the Future," a visit from the Dallas Zoo, and the return of the Neighborhood Stories: Tenth Street exhibit. There was also a small marketplace for neighbors and arts activities led by Oil and Cotton. 

The Tenth Street Historic District is one of Dallas’ oldest neighborhoods and one of its few remaining freedmen’s towns, communities built by freed slaves following the Civil War. Despite being designated a landmark district by the City of Dallas in 1993 and being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, the neighborhood has lost population and housing stock at a rapid pace. It has also experienced a growth in crime and a deteriorating public image. In response to these challenges, [bc] initiated Activating Vacancy to encourage residents to reshape the vacancy in their neighborhood from blight to opportunity through a series of public art activities, beginning with the Ark on Noah Street.

Activating Vacancy existed at a nexus of creative placemaking, public art and community organizing. Inspired by similar initiatives such as the Heidelberg Project in Detroit and Project Row Houses in Houston, Activating Vacancy sought to set in motion the revitalization of an important historic community, provide commentary regarding an array of urban issues such as vacancy and historic preservation and encourage a democratization of exceptional art in Dallas in terms of audiences, geographies and producers. The Ark on Noah Street was an excellent first step towards achieving these goals. The Ark as a gallery featured artwork produced by neighborhood residents. The Ark as a sculpture artfully repurposed discarded materials from Tenth Street's historic homes into a monument and testament to its history. The Ark as a festival brought neighbors, artists, critics and art consumers together to meet each other, rediscover an often forgotten part of Dallas and imagine a city where any neighborhood can be recognized as a source of valuable cultural producers.

At the Second Annual Ark Festival, it was made clear that the Tenth Street Historic District still faces tremendous challenges. Homes have been repaired, while others have been demolished. Crime is tempered, but it persists. There is also evidence of renewed action in the neighborhood: dozens of attendees wore Operation Tenth Street t-shirts, representing a new, forward-thinking neighborhood organization that has secured grant funding for neighborhood improvement projects. The Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church has been repaired and again opens its doors to song and prayer on Sunday morning. And, the Ark has been rebuilt, fuller and more refined than its previous iteration. 

In addition to the above challenges, there are a bevy of questions that have yet to be answered about the neighborhood that will help illuminate how sustainable its recent burst of energy is. Will Tenth Street be able to continue its revitalization with reduced non-profit activity? What will it take for Tenth Street to develop market interest in rebuilding its historic ground? Have recent efforts sufficiently demonstrated the neighborhood's value to the city at large to insist on its survival, whether through ongoing preservation efforts or through continued nurturing of its unique identity and role as cultural producer? Perhaps some of these questions will be answered and shared at the Third Ark Festival.

Recruiting Dallas Designers

On March 13, a group of DFW-area designers, urban planners & architects gathered at our office to learn about [bc]'s various designer partnership opportunities. At the social, [bc] shared with attendees the upcoming projects that need design partners to get involved. Below is an overview of the short presentation given during the social as well as the accompanying slides.

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Call for Design Partners

[bc] has found that the partnerships between designers/architects and community-based organizations are mutually beneficial, building the knowledge and experience of both to better serve others. With that in mind, [bc] is inviting local design professionals to become Design Partners to provide their services to meet the needs of local nonprofit and community organizations. There are a variety of roles for designers, architects, landscape architects, engineers, graphic designers, and planners of all levels of experience. 

Read More

Rafting the Resaca

Learn more about our work in the RGV!

As one of the many events along the Cyclobia route, the Resaca Raft and Regatta was an event set up to re-engage Brownsville residents with one of their most under-utilized natural resources, the resaca.  Resacas are abandoned channels of the Rio Grande River that were left behind as centuries of silt build-up and flooding forced the river to jump its banks and find a new path.  This pattern of natural erosion and sediment build-up has left Brownsville with a beautiful but neglected necklace of waterways that flow throughout the city.  

For this event, [bc] completed a "resaca raft," a donut shaped floating platform with a submerged internal platform built from recycled lumber and plastic drums.  The lowered platform and surrounding bench condition encouraged people to do one simple thing:  get  their feet wet!  For nearly every  resident that came to experience the raft, it was their first time floating, boating, or touching a resaca.  Accompanying the raft was a series of educational signs, explaining the resaca's natural ecology, history, and what is next for the future of our resacas.  Kids got involved by building their own plastic boats out of recycled materials.  

Outside of the direct physical experience, [bc] wanted to give resaca raft users the opportunity to ask the question, "Why wait years for the multi-million dollar park construction that is planned along the resaca? Why not do something fun now?" It doesn't have to be expensive, and it doesn't have to take years to bring our underutilized urban spaces to life.

Hot Dog Cookout

Capstone Classic Construction, the contractor for The Cottages at Hickory Crossing, grilled hot dogs and handed out cold water and snacks on Thursday for homeless citizens surrounding the Cottages site. An important element of the Cottages is the outreach to the homeless community in the design and building of this innovative housing first model. 

Show Hill Biz Park

Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.

The Tenth Street Historic District was once a self-sufficient place, with a thriving micro-economy that supplied the community with jobs and goods. An intersection between art and economic development, the Show Hill Biz Park activated Show Hill, a streetcar stop and important retail site at 1401 E 8th Street, now vacant, with a pop-up market. The market featured vendors selling locally crafted goods. Vendors had previously completed a certification program designed to develop a small business model that will enable them to successfully bring their goods to market. In addition, the Show Hill Biz Park featured musical and sculptural tributes to the neighborhood’s cultural history. Show Hill Biz Park reinvigorated the latent economic potential of the neighborhood, exploring how local talent can demonstrate the potential for different kinds of commercial and cultural activity in the Tenth Street Historic District.

Check out Photos from the event!

Many of the local vendors had short videos created as part of the program as well. Watch them below!

Ghost Bridges

Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.

The fourth project of Activating Vacancy, entitled Ghost Bridges, took place on June 20th and 21st and was composed of three parts. The event took place on the block bounded by I-35, Tenth Street, Clarendon Drive and Betterton Circle in the center of the neighborhood. A branch of Cedar Creek, now dry, cuts through it, flanked by trees and sloping topography. Paths worn into the ground indicate the desire for a way to traverse this block where currently no roads or trails exist. The lost creek, the footbridges that once crossed it, and a platted street that has only ever existed on paper form the inspiration for Ghost Bridges.

Two site specific installations, one on public land and one private land, remember historic land use and structures, including the now demolished Sunshine Elizabeth Chapel. The works created spaces for the community to gather and reflect on how vacant property is used in the neighborhood and what its future may hold. The third portion of the event was a pop-up gallery around the theme of ORIGINS: Wild Urban Spaces which invited artist from the neighborhood and around the city to display work. A Friday evening tour and gallery opening gave residents and visitors the opportunity to view art and explore the neighborhood in a new way. Tours were also given throughout the day on Saturday. Despite the heat and mosquitos a great time was had by all.

Check out photos from the event!

Library Build Day

Read other Little Free Libraries/Libros Libres posts.

On May 17th, community members, library hosts and stewards, volunteer designers, and project partners gathered at the Lakewest YMCA in West Dallas and the Full City Rooster in the Cedars to build and install their Little Free Libraries. After many weeks of work and much anticipation everyone was excited to finally get to building and reading! It was a beautiful day and much fun was had by all. See for yourself:

Dear House

Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.

Dear House, the third public art project in bcWORKSHOP’s Activating Vacancy initiative in the Tenth Street Historic District, was held on Saturday, May 17, from 7:00-9:00pm at 1319 E Eighth Street.

Dear House explored vacancy as a state, rather than an end, for structures. Through a myriad of artistic actions, Dear House transformed how we, as community residents, understand and engage with vacant structures. Artistic representations were inspired by a series of public writing workshops hosted at local neighborhood institutions including American Care Academy daycare, Eloise Lundy Recreation Center, and Townview Magnet Center. Excerpts from these writings were artistically projected onto the walls of the home via light, video, and other installations, as well as performed as original oral pieces by neighborhood residents during the exhibition opening. Letters and mail art received from both near and far were also featured throughout the home, allowing visitors to open envelopes containing messages of hope and renewal for the vacant structure. Together, these activations challenged the status quo of how vacant structures are cared for, encouraged dialogue and expression with a wide audience about abandoned and vacant spaces, and empowered the community to take ownership of beautifying the house, all while making the surrounding area a safer and more vibrant place to live.

Check out photos from the event!

Story Corners

Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.

Story Corners, the second project of Activating Vacancy, was an afternoon of open-air storytelling, performances, and a neighborhood fish fry that celebrates the past, present, and future of the historic Tenth Street District. In many of America’s inner cities, there are street corners and vacant lots, porch steps and ‘elder’ trees that have long served as informal gathering places for sharing stories, playing games, socializing and entertaining among residents. But those locations, especially in neighborhoods that suffer from blight and neglect, have also become breeding grounds for drug dealing, prostitution and other criminal activities. In an effort to reclaim the street corner as a site for gathering, Story Corners worked with local residents to record, rehearse and perform their own stories in the Tenth Street Historic District.

On Saturday, April 12th from 1pm to 6pm at the intersection of S. Cliff and E. 11th Streets, current and former residents of the Tenth Street district used their creativity to reinvigorate their community through poetry, prose, spoken word and music. Under the guidance of the Story Corners team of artists and designers, the residents performed materials that they produced from writing and theater workshops on stages that they helped to build.

Check out photos from the event!

Watch the performances below:

 


The Ark on Noah Street

Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.

We built an ark in the Tenth Street Historic District. Inspired by Noah Street, named for Noah Penn, one of the neighborhood’s pioneers and a founder of Greater El Bethel Baptist Church, the Ark consists of a superstructure of reclaimed and salvaged materials from the neighborhood built around a 20-foot shipping container and displayed at 1127 E 10th St (at the corner of Noah St and Cliff St behind Greater El Bethel Baptist Church). The Ark on Noah Street was the first project completed as a part of Activating Vacancy in the Tenth Street Historic District. Envisioned by artists Christopher Blay and constructed with help from neighborhood residents, the Ark was opened during a festival on March 1st, 2014.

During the festival commemorating the Ark, its interior was transformed into a gallery of collages of family and institutional narratives created by local community members, brought in a processional to the Ark. Following the festival, the Ark will remain on display for 40 days and 40 nights. When disassembled, the Ark will be stored within the container to be resurrected as part of a yearly ritual. The metaphor of the Ark represents the neighborhood and its families and institutions as a vessel for culture and memory and its annual resurrection as a means for celebrating the place’s journey across the years.

Read more about The Ark!

Check out Photos from the event!

Activating Vacancy Kickoff

Read all the Activating Vacancy posts, and learn more about POP Dallas.

After several months of engagement and planning Activating Vacancy in the Tenth Street Historic District is ready to launch. The 16 artists originally selected for the initiative have taken part in three engagement activities lead by members of the community; the first was a social and bbq intended to get people talking and sharing stories, the second was a neighborhood tour lead by community members to important historical sites including the Oak Cliff Cemetery, Greater El Bethel Baptist Church, and the N.W. Harllee Elementary School, and the final was a neighborhood launch where artists started to share their ideas. Following these engagements 11 artists continued and create project proposals with input from the community and curatorial committees. 

In the end teams of artists proposed 6 projects including; the Ark on Noah St., Story Corners, Dear House, Ghost Bridges, the Show Hill Biz Park, and the Tenth Street Sweep. Over the next 6 months check back to get details on the events and how you can participate! Many workshops, build days, and celebrations are sure to follow and will result in an amazing series of projects.  We hope to see you there!

Learn more about the selected artist through our Artist Profile Videos!

Mount Auburn Stories

Read more about Neighborhood Stories and POP Dallas.

On Saturday, August 17th Neighborhood Stories celebrated the community of Mount Auburn. Since the start of its development in 1907, Mount Auburn has remained a stronghold for East Dallas’ working class residents who have consistently campaigned for the retention and betterment of single-family homes, streets, and parks. Culturally and economically diverse, Mount Auburn’s population has gradually shifted from predominantly Anglo to predominantly Latino. This shift has brought change to the historic neighborhood, with renovated homes and businesses expressing the culture of its current residents. Not immune to inner city problems, the neighborhood has rebounded from the city’s suburban migration in the 1960s and the subsequent increase in crime in order to emerge as a stable, active neighborhood. Though not a historic or conservation district itself, Mount Auburn has certainly benefitted from city ordinances that protect the character of the surrounding areas; however, its success can mainly be attributed to its residents. The strong advocates of years past established, protected, and improved the parks, schools, and quiet connectivity that lend Mount Auburn the peaceful vibrancy it enjoys today.

As part of the Neighborhood Stories series, activities included a bike/walk paseo through the neighborhood, exploring exhibit stations that showcase the physical and social history of Mount Auburn; a community meal with food from local residents; and a sunset screening of the neighborhood film. 

Watch the Mount Auburn film.

Announcing Activating Vacancy

Check out future Activating Vacancy posts here.

Activating Vacancy will explore how design and art can re-imagine the forgotten or neglected spaces in the Tenth Street community as part of a dialogue about what the neighborhood is, was, and could be. Up to six collaborators will be commissioned by bcWORKSHOP to immerse themselves in the community, working with residents and stakeholders to develop and execute six projects. Together, these works will challenge common public perceptions of vacancy in Tenth Street and critically consider historic preservation, among other urban conditions, as they relate to the neighborhood.

A vacant shotgun house retains some of Tenth Street's history
A vacant shotgun house retains some of Tenth Street's history

Diverse artistic media will be applied throughout Tenth Street, exploring sites and issues critical to the neighborhood’s past and future. Through creative interpretation, Activating Vacancy will enable both community members and the larger city to rediscover this culturally and historically significant place. Artists, designers, and arts educators are encouraged to respond to an open Call for Collaboration and submit qualifications to be a part of Activating Vacancy.

Recognized by both the National Register of Historic Places and the City of Dallas Landmark Districts, Tenth Street was founded as a freedman’s town shortly after the Civil War. As a result of segregation, the neighborhood was driven to self-sufficiency, and African-American businesses, churches, and families thrived. When integration opened opportunities in newer suburban areas and South R.L. Thornton Freeway (I-35E) was forced through the heart of the area, the aging Tenth Street neighborhood began to decline. Today, it is both one of Dallas’s oldest and most culturally significant neighborhoods, and one whose history is at greatest risk.

The Initiative begins Fall 2013 and is produced and curated by bcWORKSHOP, a Dallas-based community design center, in partnership with the Dallas CityDesign Studio who will be developing a policy framework and guide for future development for the historic district. Based on this partnership, Activating Vacancy will be part of a unique environment where art can influence, not respond to, policy creation.

Activating Vacancy is made possible through generous funding by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Trinity Trust Foundation, the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundaiton and local arts patrons.