Bed-Stuy org for hosting a Community Conversation series on gentrification and activism • Brooklyn Paper

A local non-profit organization dedicated to emerging artists is hosting a three-day “Community Talk” in Bedford-Stuyvesant to highlight important issues facing the community – gentrification, conservation, activism and more.

Laundry projectDating back to 1999, it will host the Artists as Neighbors: Liberating Live event between June 9 and 11, featuring numerous public forums, panel discussions, and neighborhood participants as they work to address challenges affecting both artists and neighbors working in the fields. related to advocacy, local organization, and charitable work.

“As a nonprofit arts organization, we certainly see artists and cultural producers as key to developing innovative ideas and approaches to solving the complex problems we face as a society, particularly in our curatorial headquarters in Bed Stowey, Brooklyn,” said Aisha Williams, executive director of The Laundry Project.

Since it was officially incorporated in 2005, the areas it serves have changed rapidly, many communities of color have seen a rapid influx of new residents, and the culture has shifted dramatically.

In response, the organization has looked at “how memory, history, and activism can be used in conjunction to restore and defend neighborhoods,” while helping to strengthen those who work as advocates and artists in those communities.

According to the organization, they have invested more than $1 million to artists and the community since 2005 and have involved nearly 50,000 New Yorkers.

This series will conclude at a community lunch at Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Square on June 11, and participants will engage in dialogue to discuss strategies that facilitate community growth and creativity.

“I am excited to see how productive the results of discussions about gentrification and belonging can be when creativity is placed at the center of possible solutions, and when artists are seen as essential facilitators and leaders in efforts to improve the future of neighborhoods like ours in Bed-Stoy and across greater New York City,” said Williams.

Artists as Neighbors: Living Edit will be free and publicly available between June 9 and June 11, with registration available at their website, laundromatproject.org.