Thursday, January 24, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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Thanks to Sayd!
Big ups to Sayd, from Manhattan's Peak! She's quickly becoming our fairy blogmother. She was able to scan the responses we collected at the Jan. 10th meeting, so we can post them on the blog. Huzzah! A beer is coming your way, Sayd!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Check us out in the Manhattan Times!
This week's Manhattan Times has a great article about our project! We're psyched to be in our local paper. Pick it up and check it out!
UPDATE: We couldn't find a link to the article, but Sayd (being super again!) scanned it in for us. Here it is! Click it to read it better...
Manhattan's Peak
Check out this post from Sayd at Manhattan's Peak and the discussion that follow in the comments. It's all very, very interesting and really, really relevant...
(and, yes, I'm learning to link...)
(and, yes, I'm learning to link...)
From Nina Koenigsburg
As a taste of what came up during the conversation on Jan. 10th, here is an e-mail we got from one of the participants:
First, thank you so much for such a lively and fascinating evening on Thursday. You, Wendy and Lonnie are to be congratulated for pulling off what I thought would be impossible - getting 25 strangers to talk to each other like old friends....The elevator guys:
When I first moved to Washington Heights, the three elevators at the 184th Street entrance to the A train were fully staffed. People saw the same elevator operator each time they rode the elevators to or from the station and consequently developed relationships with them. Some of these relationships seemed to be of long standing.Many staff members played music on boom boxes and it seemed to me that whatever the music, people seemed happy, even if it wasn’t necessarily themusic they would choose. One elevator operator in particular, Bruce Renfew, who had been working at that station for many years, was a knowledgeablejazz afficionado and I always looked forward to riding in his elevator. In addition to playing wonderful music, he decorated “his” elevator with pictures of children from the community and their pets, collected canned food during food drives and always had a smile and pleasant word for the harried commuter. Because of these operators, there was always a little humanity during an otherwise dreary commute. People smiled at each other, struck up conversations with strangers, held doors for each other, said good morning, good evening and thank you to the operators and generally showed acivility on a regular basis which is noticeably absent from the city. In about 2003, the MTA cut back the operators from three operators to one. Almost overnight the two unstaffed elevators became graffiti-ridden and strewn with garbage, despite the attempts by MTA personnel to keep them clean. Far worse was the loss of communityand civility by the elevators’ patrons – few people talk to the operators, who change sofrequently it is rare to see the same person twice, people no longer hold doors for theirfellow riders and few say thank you to the operators or to each other when doors are held. I believe that the fabric of our community was inexorably altered by the absence of these men and women.
Nina Koenigsberg
First, thank you so much for such a lively and fascinating evening on Thursday. You, Wendy and Lonnie are to be congratulated for pulling off what I thought would be impossible - getting 25 strangers to talk to each other like old friends....The elevator guys:
When I first moved to Washington Heights, the three elevators at the 184th Street entrance to the A train were fully staffed. People saw the same elevator operator each time they rode the elevators to or from the station and consequently developed relationships with them. Some of these relationships seemed to be of long standing.Many staff members played music on boom boxes and it seemed to me that whatever the music, people seemed happy, even if it wasn’t necessarily themusic they would choose. One elevator operator in particular, Bruce Renfew, who had been working at that station for many years, was a knowledgeablejazz afficionado and I always looked forward to riding in his elevator. In addition to playing wonderful music, he decorated “his” elevator with pictures of children from the community and their pets, collected canned food during food drives and always had a smile and pleasant word for the harried commuter. Because of these operators, there was always a little humanity during an otherwise dreary commute. People smiled at each other, struck up conversations with strangers, held doors for each other, said good morning, good evening and thank you to the operators and generally showed acivility on a regular basis which is noticeably absent from the city. In about 2003, the MTA cut back the operators from three operators to one. Almost overnight the two unstaffed elevators became graffiti-ridden and strewn with garbage, despite the attempts by MTA personnel to keep them clean. Far worse was the loss of communityand civility by the elevators’ patrons – few people talk to the operators, who change sofrequently it is rare to see the same person twice, people no longer hold doors for theirfellow riders and few say thank you to the operators or to each other when doors are held. I believe that the fabric of our community was inexorably altered by the absence of these men and women.
Nina Koenigsberg
Ownership, Community and Connection...
In the comments below, Sayd of Manhattan's Peak (a very excellent blog and a superstar in her own right) asked us to clarify what we mean when we ask "What do you own?" That is a purposefully open-ended question. Yes, ownership means property, title, investment, but it also means responsibility, caretaking, belonging. One of our collaborators, who grew up here, says that when she gets off of the train, she's home. Not just her apartment, not just her block, not even just her street counts as home, but the whole neighborhood.
At the meeting on the 10th, the responses ranged from my apartment to Fort Tryon Park to the Piper's Kilt. One of the questions that we want to explore is what does it mean to own something, particular something you don't "legally" "own". Does someone who has rented an apartment for 45 years have less ties to a neighborhood than someone who bought the apartment next door two years ago? So, basically, whatever resonates for you, however you take it, whatever it means to you, we're asking: "What do you own?"
Also in the comments, Joellyn and ccnyc, bring up another important part of this conversation: the Dominican/Latino community and others east of Broadway. It is absolutely vital that this project connects with that community and that the final piece reflects that community. Over at Manhattan's Peak (just go over there), a very interesting conversation has been going on about the lack of Latinos present at the First Thursday event, something that we as organizers are well aware of and are eager to address. We just need your help. Who should we talk to? We should we go to hold an event that would attract that community? Please, contact us!
I'm still a pretty novice blogger, and I've had some life things to take care of lately, but I'll be much more on the ball here. And once I can figure out how to import PDFs, I can post the responses we gathered at the First Thursday event.
At the meeting on the 10th, the responses ranged from my apartment to Fort Tryon Park to the Piper's Kilt. One of the questions that we want to explore is what does it mean to own something, particular something you don't "legally" "own". Does someone who has rented an apartment for 45 years have less ties to a neighborhood than someone who bought the apartment next door two years ago? So, basically, whatever resonates for you, however you take it, whatever it means to you, we're asking: "What do you own?"
Also in the comments, Joellyn and ccnyc, bring up another important part of this conversation: the Dominican/Latino community and others east of Broadway. It is absolutely vital that this project connects with that community and that the final piece reflects that community. Over at Manhattan's Peak (just go over there), a very interesting conversation has been going on about the lack of Latinos present at the First Thursday event, something that we as organizers are well aware of and are eager to address. We just need your help. Who should we talk to? We should we go to hold an event that would attract that community? Please, contact us!
I'm still a pretty novice blogger, and I've had some life things to take care of lately, but I'll be much more on the ball here. And once I can figure out how to import PDFs, I can post the responses we gathered at the First Thursday event.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Maybe I Spoke Too Soon...
That proved a little more complicated than I thought...It may be a little while...
Thoughts from our meeting...
So at our community dialogue meeting, we had the participants respond to the following question: "What do you own?" The answers were pretty interesting. I'm going to post pdfs of the sheets that came out of the discussion. More soon...
Monday, January 14, 2008
What We Are Doing...and What We Want From You!
Here's our "official" project description, which we handed out at last Thursday's Culture Stroll, and it includes the challenge we posed to the attendees to think about and respond to. Feel free to drop us a line or post something in the comments...
THE PROJECT
The theatrical project A Good Neighborhood is based on the hope that dialogue and cultural currency will allow Upper Manhattan (Inwood and Washington Heights) to maintain its vibrant character and friendly demeanor through the changing tide. It is a collaboration between playwright J Holtham, director Wendy McClellan and producer Lonnie Cooper that explores the transitions in their northern Manhattan neighborhood. It delves into the tensions and hopes of the geographic community of Upper Manhattan and seeks to answer the question, “What makes this place home?”
HOW
A Good Neighborhood will develop out of community dialog with various Upper Manhattan neighborhood groups—church congregations, business owners, bar flies, home owners, new immigrants, old residents, little-league teams, neighborhood councils, beauty salon patrons...
WHY
To raise awareness of the rich cultural community that lives in Upper Manhattan.
To engage an audience, engender healthy curiosity between neighbors and create constructive dialogue about the changes occurring on our streets and in our residences.
WHEN
A Good Neighborhood will develop into a full Pay What You Can performance event that will open in conjunction with the Uptown Arts Stroll in June 2008. The piece will then continue running after the close of the Arts Stroll to bring continued focus to the neighborhood.
WHERE
Parts of the piece may wind up as salsa dance between a dog owner and a park-lover or a duet between a World War II veteran and their foreign caretaker or a simple scene between two strangers on a subway platform.
HOW YOU CAN BECOME INVOLVED
This is community-based art at its finest—developed in dialogue with the community, by people that live in the community and performed by the professional artists that inhabit the community. Help us give voice to a neighborhood that is undergoing tremendous change and allow the community to celebrate its diversity together. Share a story, or suggestions to our website at www.agoodneighborhood.blogspot.com.
YOUR CHALLENGE
Consider the following question: “What do we own as a community?”
Write us a response and post it on our blog: www.agoodneighborhood.blogspot.com or e-mail us at agoodneighborhood@gmail.com.
Discuss the idea with a neighbor
THE PROJECT
The theatrical project A Good Neighborhood is based on the hope that dialogue and cultural currency will allow Upper Manhattan (Inwood and Washington Heights) to maintain its vibrant character and friendly demeanor through the changing tide. It is a collaboration between playwright J Holtham, director Wendy McClellan and producer Lonnie Cooper that explores the transitions in their northern Manhattan neighborhood. It delves into the tensions and hopes of the geographic community of Upper Manhattan and seeks to answer the question, “What makes this place home?”
HOW
A Good Neighborhood will develop out of community dialog with various Upper Manhattan neighborhood groups—church congregations, business owners, bar flies, home owners, new immigrants, old residents, little-league teams, neighborhood councils, beauty salon patrons...
WHY
To raise awareness of the rich cultural community that lives in Upper Manhattan.
To engage an audience, engender healthy curiosity between neighbors and create constructive dialogue about the changes occurring on our streets and in our residences.
WHEN
A Good Neighborhood will develop into a full Pay What You Can performance event that will open in conjunction with the Uptown Arts Stroll in June 2008. The piece will then continue running after the close of the Arts Stroll to bring continued focus to the neighborhood.
WHERE
Parts of the piece may wind up as salsa dance between a dog owner and a park-lover or a duet between a World War II veteran and their foreign caretaker or a simple scene between two strangers on a subway platform.
HOW YOU CAN BECOME INVOLVED
This is community-based art at its finest—developed in dialogue with the community, by people that live in the community and performed by the professional artists that inhabit the community. Help us give voice to a neighborhood that is undergoing tremendous change and allow the community to celebrate its diversity together. Share a story, or suggestions to our website at www.agoodneighborhood.blogspot.com.
YOUR CHALLENGE
Consider the following question: “What do we own as a community?”
Write us a response and post it on our blog: www.agoodneighborhood.blogspot.com or e-mail us at agoodneighborhood@gmail.com.
Discuss the idea with a neighbor
Getting the ball rolling...
Last Thursday was a terrific kick-0ff to A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD! Mike Fitelson, of the Uptown Arts Stroll and the First Thursday Culture Stroll, invited us to host the January stroll. We jumped at the chance to start the conversation with the community. Due to the holiday, we wound up doing on the second Thursday, but there was no lack of enthusiasm.
The evening started at the 207 Art Gallery with the opening reception of "Own Your Peace of Manhattan: A Celebration of NOrth MAnhattan", a photography show by Ghila Krajzman, sponsored by NOMA 175 and Nest Seekers International. NOMA 175 is the new condo/development going up at the corner of Seaman and Payson Aves.
After some wine and cheese and art, our group headed over to the CUNY in the Heights building on Cooper St., for an exercise called "cultural mapping". It's a great way of connecting people and discovering common links that are unexpected. After the cultural mapping, we broke the group into five smaller groups and discussed this question: What do you own? This generated a great response and a ton of excellent comments and discussion, which took us right over to the Piper's Kilt for beer and talk.
It was a great night and a fun event and a great kick-off!
Over the next couple of days, we'll be posting reactions and comments from that meeting and announcing the next steps. Stay tuned!
The evening started at the 207 Art Gallery with the opening reception of "Own Your Peace of Manhattan: A Celebration of NOrth MAnhattan", a photography show by Ghila Krajzman, sponsored by NOMA 175 and Nest Seekers International. NOMA 175 is the new condo/development going up at the corner of Seaman and Payson Aves.
After some wine and cheese and art, our group headed over to the CUNY in the Heights building on Cooper St., for an exercise called "cultural mapping". It's a great way of connecting people and discovering common links that are unexpected. After the cultural mapping, we broke the group into five smaller groups and discussed this question: What do you own? This generated a great response and a ton of excellent comments and discussion, which took us right over to the Piper's Kilt for beer and talk.
It was a great night and a fun event and a great kick-off!
Over the next couple of days, we'll be posting reactions and comments from that meeting and announcing the next steps. Stay tuned!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
It's A Good Neighborhood...
This is the blog/website for A Good Neighborhood, a new, collaborative, community-driven theatre project, based in the upper Manhattan neighborhoods of Inwood and Washington Heights. We'll be hosting an Uptown Cultural Stroll this Thursday, starting at 7 p.m. More info to come.
Welcome to our neighborhood...
Welcome to our neighborhood...
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