Arts & Labor’s Alternative Economies Workshop
Another Art World Is Possible
NURTUREart
56 Bogart St
Brooklyn NY 11206

May 11, 2013   3-6pm

The economic and social realities of the art world as it exists can often be a source of frustration for artists, but what might an alternative model look like? In this workshop we’ll discuss the things we like and things we don’t like about the current art world. Then we’ll learn about various alternative models and discuss amongst ourselves how they can be applied to or replace the current system.

Facebook invite: NutureArt/Arts & Labor Workshop: Another Art World Is Possible
http://www.artsandlabor.org/alternative-economies

In solidarity with all the students, faculty and staff who believe that knowledge is a commons.

MAY DAY – GENERAL SCHEDULE EDU BLOC at Cooper Union

10am – 3pm: Cooper Union Free University @ Cooper Square

3:00pm: NYC EDU BLOC Convergence + SPEAK OUT!!! @ Cooper Square

4:00pm: March to Union Square to join the May 1 Coalition rally & March to City Hall

9:00pm: Dance Party to Free Education @ Washington Square Park fountain

FREE UNIVERSITY CLASSES AT COOPER UNION
Schedule of NYC May Day events organized by Free Cooper Union and the Free University of NYC - check for updates!

Open Arts & Crafts Session
10am-3pm
Book Shields! Banners! Placards! Sidewalk Chalking!

“Space, Design, and the Everyday”
Matthew Bissen
10am-12pm
This course explores fundamental concepts of space and design with particular attention focused on how as designers and citizens we participate in the everyday design, reproduction, and production of our current and future realities. This course session will focus on architecture and counterculture and support the continuing development of semester long student projects.

“Organizing a NYC Student Movement”
Discussion with folks from Free University-NYC and All in the Red
11am-12pm
Join students from around NYC to explore concrete ideas on how to organize a city-wide student movement that can build on lessons from mass mobilizations in Quebec, Chile, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere, while also envisioning our own locally specific forms of student power.

“Understanding Basic Economics and Finance”
Ron Rubin
11am-12pm
There is a clear distinction between Economics (Main Street) and Finance (Wall Street). In order to understand how and why more and more of the value created by Main Street is flowing into the hands of Wall Street it is absolutely necessary to understand the distinction between these two related but different institutions and how they function in today’s world. Otherwise no real change will be possible.

“Watch the Gap: How Income Inequality and Poverty are Hurting America’s Kids”
Anthony Zenkus
11am-12pm
Poverty and Low Socioeconomic Status can cause significant challenges to the cognitive, emotional and physical development of children. They increase the risk factors for everything from child abuse to school failure. With one of the highest gaps in income equality in the world, and one of the highest child poverty rates in decades, the United States is creating a lost generation that will grow up with less opportunity and more risk- unless we act. Income inequality must be addressed as a public health problem with repercussions that effect the entire community.

“Tidal: Occupy Theory Occupy Strategy Conversation”
12pm-1pm
TIDAL has held significant conversations with Free University. The discussions in Washington Square Park led to Strike Debt. The S17 event expanded our horizons. Now, as TIDAL seeks to internationalize and nationalize its project, we want to re-open the conversation. How do we learn from Detroit? From Athens? From Tunis? From Cairo? What are the means of that learning? How do we ensure that this conversation is mutual and beneficial to all? An open workshop for all hosted by Team TIDAL.

“Writing for Home, School, and Everyday Life”
Susan Naomi Bernstein
12pm-1pm
For new and experienced writers: This course presents the processes of writing for anyone who struggles to write. Together we will develop our own practices of writing for audiences and purposes that connect to our visions of social transformation for home, school, and everyday life.

“Imagining a Student/Worker-Run University”
Various Participants
12pm-2pm
This will be an open discussion that is meant to encourage the development of a vision of a Free Cooper Union run by students and workers. We will talk about precedents in the form of student-run coops, cooperatively run schools, worker takeovers, the tenets behind the wages for schoolwork movement, and the legal and ideological strands that can link Cooper’s past to this future.

“People Power and Politics”
Dominique Nisperos
12:50pm-2pm
Introduction to the Gay Liberation Movement, discussing Carl Wittman’s A Gay Manifesto.
Reading materials and outlines will be provided.

“NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium”
Ben Katchor
1pm-2:30pm
Discuss and share new models for the distribution of text/image work.

“Climate Debt/Climate Justice”
Andrew Ross
1pm-1:45pm
Climate debt is not yet part of the political architecture in the U.S. Where does it come from? What kind of justice does it involve? And why is it so important?

“Towards an Alternative School of Art”
Collaborative workshop with folks from vizKult, OWS Arts & Labor, and Making Worlds
1pm-2:45pm
The economic and structural realities of art schools as they exists today can often be a source of anxiety and frustration for artists, teachers, and staff alike, but what might an alternative model look like? In this workshop we’ll discuss the things we like and don’t like about the current art school system. Then we’ll learn about various alternative models and discuss amongst ourselves how they can be applied to or replace that system.

“Love Spam”
Barbara Browning
1:30pm-2:30pm
About a year and a half ago, I initiated an experiment in creating a surplus of sentimental value. I began by spamming random individuals with personally targeted, hand-crafted ukulele covers I made of sentimental songs. Victims ranged from an obesity doctor in Winnetka, Illinois to the anarchist anthropologist David Graeber. In this workshop, I’ll give an update on the results (thus far) of the project, and I’ll give participants some ideas for possible similar projects of their own.

“Presenting the New Edition of the Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual”
members of Strike Debt
1:30pm-2:30pm

“Art, Design, Architecture, and Activism”
Benjamin Young
1:30pm-2:50pm
What do art, design, and architecture have to do with activism? How can artists, designers, architects, and other cultural workers contribute to a radically egalitarian and democratic public sphere? How can we imagine other forms of communication and design outside that of advertising? What forms of public discussion, critical thinking, and social and political activism can take shape against or through mass culture, and how can art and design disciplines contribute to them?
Participants are asked to come prepared to discuss the following readings: Mira Schor, “Lowering the Bar on Activism,” Huffington Post; Mira Schor, “Books are Like People,” A Year of Positive Thinking; Reinhold Martin, “Occupy: What Architecture Can Do,” Design Observer; Reinhold Martin, “Occupy: The Day After,” Design Observer.

“Building the Commons in NYC”
Making Worlds
1:30pm-2:30pm
Join an open conversation about the commons and education.

“Why We Need to Break Up the Megabanks”
Cathy O’Neil, OWS Alternative Banking Group
2pm-2:30pm

“Song Share”
Everybody Now!
2:30pm-3pm
Want to learn the May Day song? Want to sing but feel afraid to? Want to have a rockin’ good half hour? Then this is the class for you!
Throughout the day many will be singing the May Day song “We Stand for Justice.” This class is to help everybody feel comfortable, confident, and excited about singing during the rally and throughout the day. No singing or music skills needed, for we all are singers. We welcome and invite you to join us. Let your voice be heard!

“Sociology of Race and Ethnicity”
Dominique Nisperos
2:15pm-3:30PM
Introduction to Colorblind racism, using excerpts from Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s Racism Without Racists, Ch 3 and Conclusion; Brown et. al’s White-Washing Race: The Myth of a Colorblind Society, Ch 6. Reading materials and outlines will be provided.

Move your class / teach your own class at the Free University! Sign up here.

What Do We Do Now?
Alternative Economies Resource Guide
Edition 1, Fall 2012

booklet launch at:
Building The Commons, Making Worlds Commons Forum 2
March 29th & 30th
Fri 6-10pm / Sat 10am-8pm

The Commons Brooklyn
388 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
*Children Welcome / Wheelchair Accessible / Free & Open to the Public*

Join us this Friday & Saturday for the first edition release of “What Do We Do Now?” Arts & Labor’s Alternative Economies Resource Guide. Input for subsequent editions is welcome; we plan to update periodically!

Over the course of several months in 2012, members of Arts & Labor’s Alternative Economies group decided to research and compile a list of alternative resources for living in New York. This resource guide contains examples of barter for health care programs, times banks, workers coops, community social services, alternative transportation advocates, and more. We are now ready to distribute the resource guide throughout the city at various events and with friends whose work forms part of building an alternative economy in New York City.

*A brief introduction to the guide will be made during Friday’s potluck Dinner 7-8pm and Saturday’s potluck Lunch Noon-1pm.*

Hope to see you there!
Arts & Labor Alternative Economies
http://artsandlabor.org/alternative-economies

A little game of Hide-and-Seek ensued yesterday morning at Cooper Union by it’s Board members. Just like the last minute plans by Obama to move G-8 talks to Camp David last year fearing confrontation with the people it is supposed to be serving, the Cooper Union Board decided to change location of their meeting to an off-site undisclosed location, avoiding the presence of students, faculty, and community members.

Why hide? In yesterdays meeting the board was to decide the fate of free education at Cooper Union. News is now coming out from undisclosed “sources”  that the Board decided to put the onus on the faculty of Art, Engineering, and  Architecture, forcing them to find sustainable ways of funding the program. But some like the Cooper Union Student Action Group are suggesting the faculty was threatened by holding back fall admissions.  Ironically the current ideas for keeping education free at Cooper Union is to charge others for education – like charging for a pre-college program, undergrad summer program, and MA program.  Let’s see what else they come up with, until then back to the drawing board.

follow: @freecooperUnion
facebook: FreeCooperUnion

Students Rally in Unity as Board Meets in Secret
by Cooper Union Student Action to Save Our School
March 6, 2013

Cooper Union Art School Agrees to Explore Revenue Options
Wednesday, March 06, 2013 – 09:01 AM
By Beth Fertig

Why is Cooper Union Being Occupied?
December 4, 2012
by group affect

Obama Moves G-8 Summit from Chicago to Secluded Camp David
Monday, March 5, 2012
by Common Dreams staff

Do you need two or three jobs to make ends meet? Do you run from one workplace to another, or juggle a series of temporary “gigs” throughout the year? Are you overworked? Is your boss also your peer? Are you owed money from an employer? Do you feel unsafe, abused and dispensable at your job? Do you feel like if you stand up for yourself, the future of your career is at risk? Are you worried about getting sick because you don’t have good health insurance or that you will never be able to retire? And if you do have a stable job, are the benefits dwindling? Do you want to make change but don’t how?

Arts & Labor presents a two-part discussion series, bringing together workers, community organizers and culture producers to discuss how precarious conditions are impacting our culture at large. Moderated by Tammy Kim with an introduction by Arts & Labor, we will learn how worker centers, arts organizations, coalition groups, and independent workers are developing strategies to build community and labor power, more equitable work environments, and a just and habitable city for all people.

DAY 1: Workers Unite!
Monday, January 7, 2013. 7 p.m.
P!
334 Broome St, Manhattan

Day 1 Facebook Invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/557881620908504/

Members of worker centers, unions, and coalition organizations share how to create infrastructure and build leverage within industries and communities that are traditionally considered difficult to organize. With workers from Domestic Workers United, Taxi Workers Alliance, Teamsters Local 814 (Art Handlers from Sotheby’s campaign), Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN).

DAY 2: Strategies for the Arts
Thursday, January 10, 2013. 7 p.m.
CUNY Murphy Institute
18th Floor, 25 W 43 St, Manhattan

Day two Facebook invite: Strategies in the Arts here: http://www.facebook.com/events/401369849943937/

Members of the arts community respond to the Day 1 discussion, and talk about strategies used to build community, advocate for artists and create sustainable institutions. They will also examine the challenges and strengths in navigating their roles as activists, precarious workers, job providers, and culture producers. With workers from Queens Museum, Creative Capital, ProjectProjects, and WAGE.

Via OWS Arts & Labor

December 12, 2012 at 7PM
Taller Boricua
1680 Lexington Ave
New York City

In the late 1960s, art workers in New York City came together to demand reforms to the exploitive and exclusionary practices of the art world. The Puerto Rican Art Workers Coalition (PRAWC), founded in 1970, followed the 1969 formation of the Art Workers Coalition (AWC), a group aimed at pressuring city museums into implementing policies such as paying artists for exhibiting their work, better representation of art by women and people of color, and free admission. Members of PRAWC were active in founding El Museo del Barrio (1969), and fought to establish institutions that reflected the culture and needs of Latino artists in New York City. Join Arts & Labor for a presentation by Yasmin Ramirez about the history and legacy of the Puerto Rican Art Workers Coalition. Founding member of the PRAWC Marcos Dimas will also be present to participate in the discussion.

Yasmin Ramirez Biography
Yasmin Ramirez Ph.D. is an art historian and independent curator.  Growing up during  heyday of the Alternative Art Space Movement in New York, Yasmin Ramirez has worked at Taller Boricua, El Museo Del Barrio, The Studio Museum, The New Museum, Art in General, and Alternative Museum, Franklin Furnance and the East Village Eye. She is currently writing a book based on her dissertation: Nuyorican Vanguards: The Puerto Rican Art Movement in New York.

2 part workshop….

6:30 pm to 8 pm, Joe Therrien and of the OWS People’s Puppets will be doing a puppet workshop. All ages are welcome to come and have a hands-on puppetry experience.

Pre-Puppet Workshop: 4 pm to 6:30 pm, James Rose will be doing a collaborative puppetry/street performance back drop painting workshop. I’ll have large pieces of foam core to paint on and paints and brushes, come join me.

Thursday, November 29th, 2012
4pm to 8:30pm
Free, w/ light refreshments

Joe studied puppet making in college and has been involved with the artistic and performance elements of OWS. Joe has been a driving force in puppetry being an iconographic and provocative influence on events related to Occupy Wall Street.

The Brooklyn Workshop is a very special local neighborhood venue. It serves children with great workshops and classes. The Workshop also is a place for artists like myself and Joe to make their art happen. I hope to see you there! Other art will be on display including my newest painting.

Joe and the People’s Puppets are the first to participate here in this visiting artist workshop series. I will invite other artists or groups of artists on Thursdays for the next month or so.

Take the G or the F to Carroll Gardens and walk one block from Smith Street to 393 Hoyt Street

November 29th, 2012
4pm to 8:30pm
Free
w/ light refreshments
Definitely all ages

Brooklyn Workshop Gallery
393 Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, NY

contact: @jamesfredericrose

Want to learn and help build an alternative art economy in your neighborhood? Sign up and join us at our next meeting/event: www.artandthecommons.org

Please join us on Election Day.
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012
at the steps in Time Sq.

What we need is volunteers to be with us, be festive, be informative (we will have “Get out of Jail Free” cards with information to hand out), we need live streamers and photographers! and EVEN take your opportunity to man some of our puppets!