WOCHENKLAUSUR FEATURES | WORKSHOP | GREEN GUERILLAS | HISTORY OF NYC COMMUNITY GARDENING MOVEMENT
++ Please note that this event is fully booked, and reservations are no longer possible! ++
WochenKlausur Features, New York (USA), a project by Vienna-based group WochenKlausur, who are part of the Austrian Cultural Forum’s tenth anniversary exhibition, OUR HAUS, focuses on contemporary positions and practices on the topic of housing and public space.
For the duration of the exhibition (which runs through August 26), nine New York-based organizations, associations, interest groups, and activists who deal with issues of housing and the urban built environment were chosen to use the ACFNY Gallery space for one week each. From August 6 to August 12, Green Guerillas will be the WochenKlausur “NPO-in-residence” at the ACFNY.
Green Guerillas, New York City’s pioneering community garden group, will present a free workshop titled The History of Green Guerillas & NYC’s Community Gardening Movement at the Austrian Cultural Forum as part of their WochenKlausur residence.
In the early 1970’s Lower East Side artist Liz Christy rallied her friends and neighbors to take on the urban decay that was surrounding them. Calling themselves the “green guerillas” they threw “seed bombs” over the fences of vacant lots, planted sunflower seeds in street meridians, and planted flowers in tree pits and on window ledges. In 1973, they transformed a vacant, rubble strewn lot into the Bowery Houston Farm and Garden – and they sparked a movement.
Today, more than 600 community gardens serve as testament to the skill, creativity, and determination of New York City’s community gardeners. Green Guerillas is a vibrant nonprofit resource center that gets community garden groups the plants, people, and funding they need to survive and thrive.
Workshop participants will learn about:
> the history of Green Guerillas and the movement
> the struggle to preserve NYC’s community gardens
> the community-building activities community gardeners undertake every day in NYC
> current Green Guerillas programs
Light refreshments will be served.
For more information, please visit >> greenguerillas.org
VENUE
ACFNY
Free admission. Space is limited.