On Sunday, December 15, a citywide and national network of artists, organizers, cultural workers, and policy makers gathered for Cultural Organizing for Community Change 2024. Co-sponsored with Arts & Democracy, participants learned effective ways to deepen their work and engage creativity in organizing for community change. Hosted at Mercury Store in Gowanus, the event included our cultural organizing framework, hands on skill building workshops, case studies from across NYC and beyond, and networking and resource exchange. Participants were fed by beloved local cafes and restaurants, including drinks from Principles GI Coffee House, lunch from Zaytoons, and pies by Four & Twenty Blackbirds.

In the morning, our Welcome, Getting to Know One Another, and Cultural Organizing Framework included Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, Caron Atlas and Claudie Mabry, NOCD-NY, with intention setting with Paloma McGregor, Angela’s Pulse. Multiple artists and practitioners shared how cultural organizing impacts their work, including several opportunities for the full room of folks to get to know one another and discuss the framework in small groups.

After lunch, participants had a moment of activation with Keola Jones of Urban Bush Women before breaking into afternoon sessions.

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The first block of sessions included:

Story As Source with Nick Slie, Co-Artistic Director, Mondo Bizarro

This workshop introduced the story circle process, which uses the age-old tradition of storytelling as a way to bring people together and build relationships. Our knowledge of story circles comes from former Civil Rights activist John O’Neal of Junebug Productions and the Free Southern Theater. The story circle allows each voice to be heard in small or large groups. Participants listened. They sang. They moved their bodies. Says Nick, “I come from traditions that give primacy to multiplicity: ensemble theater, Southern cultural organizing, Creole cooking and Mardi Gras, to name a few. My people wield celebration as a weapon. We remain unforgetful of our origins. We view the imagination as a way to build things. Art and survival are one.”

FutureCraft: Collective Imagination for Thriving Neighborhoods with amalia deloney, point A studio and Arts & Democracy

In this session, participants explored, “What might your neighborhood look, feel, and sound like in 20 years if it truly thrived?” In the highly interactive and experimental workshop, they explored futures thinking and collective imagination to envision the neighborhoods we need. Using creative and embodied practices, they experimented with storytelling, sound, and movement to bring these futures to life.

Progress and Pushback Along the Gowanus Canal with Michael Higgins Jr., Social Justice Tours and former GNCJ member

Gowanus is Ground Zero to one of the largest environmental cleanups and construction booms in the city. After a decade of community planning initiatives, local organizing, and political negotiations, the Gowanus rezoning now allows for more residential development, but also puts the canal center stage in an area long only seen as a blight. This walk and talk with Michael mapped out these pieces of an emerging fabric along the Gowanus waterfront, examining what the canal looks like today and how political winds will affect the plans and vision of the neighborhood.

Mindful Bodies and Reflective Practices with Keola Jones, Urban Bush Women BOLD

This participatory workshop focused on self-care, rejuvenation, and (re-) constructing healthful images of ourselves and our communities. As participants moved, share stories, and discussed holism practices from food choices to daily stress relief, Urban Bush Women BOLD offered simple tools for reinhabiting our bodies and reinforcing holism from the inside out. They brought out and affirmed the wisdom that was already in the group, fostering resource exchange and building community. The goal was to bring the group to balance, thereby bringing families and communities to balance as well.

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The second block of sessions included:

Forging Food Futures with Carlton Turner, Sipp Culture

This case study and workshop used first person narrative to explore how food and story is informing work in community reimagining in Utica, Mississippi and how that approach can be used by other cultural communities. Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture) was founded in 2017 to champion arts and culture as a foundational element in building community health and wellness in the rural South. The work is about restoring hope and possibility to the rural southern landscape through supporting creativity, imagination, remembrance, and the fostering of new relationships. These approaches are tactical—the goal is to transform communities and support the regeneration of rural spaces as places for cultural production.

Songs in the Key of Resistance (SKOR) with Dr. Charon Hribar, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice and Poor People's Campaign; and Ciara Taylor, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice

This interactive workshop was designed to strengthen participants’ collective ability to use music as a powerful tool in direct action and community spaces. Grounded in the rich traditions of social movement music—both historic and contemporary—they shared songs, stories, and practical tips for making music a more effective, sustainable, and inspiring force in these times. They explored strategies for deepening courage, uplifting communities, and embracing the beauty of collective action.

Stories in Place, Stories of Me: A Scavenger Hunt and Writing Workshop with Roohi Choudhry

Our personal narratives are a patchwork map of memories, inherited experience, and our sensing bodies in the everyday. This workshop collected participants' sensory observations and stitched them with memory to tell stories that honor the neighborhoods they move through. They spent some time wandering Gowanus and scavenged for stories. Then, they wrote and map-made to help turn found scraps into story treasure.

Stencil Poster-Making Workshop with Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, THE POINT and NOCD-NY

In this workshop, participants used stencils to create impactful posters related to immigration and environmental justice advocacy. They combined stencils with messages to craft powerful visuals. They created unique posters which were ultimately used in different campaigns, including actions by THE POINT. THE POINT uses the lens of environmental justice, youth development, and arts and culture to engage individuals from Hunts Point, Bronx in the effort to create a more livable community and generate economic opportunity.

Cultural Organizing for Community Change is returning again for the full day event on Saturday, December 6, 2025. We hope you can join us!