Recess reimagines a public for art. By envisioning our public as participants, we challenge common distinctions between process and product and maker and consumer. Recess is a generative meeting place for an inclusive creative community.
Recess also runs the Assembly Program offers those caught up in the justice system an inroad to art
Jackie Chang is director of engagement
Ryan Gillian from Fourth Arts Block (FAB),
FABnyc’s mission is to strengthen the cultural vitality of the Lower East Side. We implement this mission through programs and collaborations with local cultural organizations, artists, and neighborhood nonprofits. We work as cultural producers and organizers with an ongoing interest in how arts and culture can advance community health, inclusiveness, and equity.
The Laundromat Project believes art, culture, and engaged imaginations can change the way people see their world, open them up to new ideas, and connect them with their neighbors. When artists have the opportunity to build and contribute their unique skills and perspectives to the needs of their neighborhoods, they can be invaluable assets in furthering community wellbeing. When the skills and strategies for igniting creativity are made broadly available to everyday people and purposefully applied as tools for visioning a new and better world, these can be powerful forces for positive, transformative change. We know we've been successful when, over time, our neighbors—artists and everyday people, newcomers and old-timers, individually and collectively—become more involved in the civic and cultural affairs of their communities, and bring a sense of creativity to community concerns.
Literary Freedom Project seeks to restore the importance of social and cultural identity through reading. LFP is based in the Bronx, New York City and is a member of the Urban Arts Cooperative -supporting artists in undeserved communities. Towards this goal, LFP publishes Mosaic Literary Magazine; develops literature-based lesson plans; and presents the Mosaic Literary Conference and One Book One Bronx.
ABOG is a model of facilitation and progress. Not only does the organisation understand what artists can do for the state of the world they activly manage to explain this to a greater public and importantly to the people that can really help it to happen.
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Blade of Grass is an inspiring force of action. They provide 'resources to artists who demonstrate artistic excellence and serve as innovative conduits for social change. They evaluate the quality of work in this evolving field by fostering an inclusive, practical discourse about the aesthetics, function, ethics and meaning of socially engaged art that resonates within and outside the contemporary art dialogue.' This is a real go to place for examples of best practice, inspiration and documentation. For instance have a look at City as Partner: Artists Working in Government Aesthetics of Doing More like this in the UK please. FIELDWORKS is a short documentary series that explores the beauty, rigor, and impact of socially engaged art.
The 9th Street Community Garden was started in 1979 by Augustine (Nin) Garcia on a large fenced in vacant lot on the northeast corner of 9th Street and Avenue C in The East Village, today the garden is one of the largest community gardens in New York City. Whilst it is not an 'art' project it is born and nurtured with a creative spirit. It contains a stage, barbecue and seating areas, fish pond, herb garden, and brick-lined walkways. It is a vibrant, active creative community hub.
