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CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS

Tamara Greeneld, Executive Director Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) Lower East Side, Manhattan

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) has been programming underutilized construction sites in our Lower East Side community for the past 4 years. We started with scaffolding bridges, and have expanded to construction containers and vacant walls. When we started the ArtUp project, we really had no idea what we were doing. We approached NYCs Department of Design and Construction, who connected us to a construction sites scaffolding company. After lling out a liability waiver, the company has remained fairly indifferent to our project. Since then, weve programmed a new show every 3-4 months.

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS

BEFORE

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS

Saints of the Lower East Side, Tom Sanford

AFTER

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


PARTNERS: Owners: 2 cultural building owners generously allowed us to program the space Contractors, who own the scaffolding and construction containers NYC DDC, who connected us to the scaffolding company and encouraged other partnering contractors ArtForward and MaNY Project, visual art partners who have curated, coordinated with artists, managed installations and promoted shows. Artists, who love the opportunity to exhibit at a large scale and in a highly visible location our local NYC NYPD precinct, who we informed of the project to prevent artists from being arrested.

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


SUCCESSES: Strength of community relationships and credibility. Weve been able to nd out who owns things, get introductions and encourage owners to take a chance with us. Longevity of construction projects, and the relative indifference of the scaffolding company, has helped us develop a long term, evolving program. Diversity of art mediums, subjects and interaction with the community allows us to experiment Ability to showcase the diverse cultural history of the neighborhood

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


CHALLENGES: Unclear boundaries of what the law allows Funding is difcult to nd to support this kind of unexpected artmaking process Unknown future of spaces requires us to be nimble and ready, negotiating new relationships all the time Matching projects to sites, owners or context Signage & recognition: sometimes vinyl pieces are mistaken as advertisements

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


UNEXPECTED SKILLS AND TOOLS: Finding sites for art openings: events on the street are quite complex to organize for a regular night Bridging artists across exhibit spaces: connecting street artists to galleries and studio artists to the street Earning trust from property owners A tall ladder!

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS

BEFORE BEFORE

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS

AFTER

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


IMPACT: Art symbolizes care, inhibiting vandalism and vagrancy The forum publicly celebrates our cultural neighborhoods talent, history and vibrancy A lens has emerged for engaging the community: FAB now seeks out opportunities to integrate public art to connect and communicate with the community Neighbors have become patrons for the care for public art and, in effect, the broader neighborhood. ArtUp provides a counter weight to the increasing corporatization of the area

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


RECOMMENDED CHANGES: Encourage contractors to think about the impact of their project sites and nd ways to integrate them into the community Seek guidelines from the City (or are programs more effective when under the radar?) Develop more City programs, like NYC DOTs Urban Art program, and consider integrating artmaking into the Citys capital program

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS

Kickline, Ryan Cronin BEFORE

CONSTRUCTION ZONES, SCAFFOLDING & VACANT LOTS


Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) Lower East Side, Manhattan fabnyc.org/ArtUp.php

a case study example from

A Forum on Innovative Cultural Uses of Urban Space


Organized by New York Naturally Occurring Cultural District working group (NOCD-NY)

www.nocdny.org Kickline, Ryan Cronin BEFORE

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