Posted on April 19th, 2012
It is an exciting time here at The LP with our first two Philadelphia-based artists mounting projects in their neighborhoods this summer and our New York artists doing the same in the city. Our art education program is growing as well. We have partnered with Maysles Institute to offer a pilot after-school program to New York teens, we'll bring our workshops to festivals throughout the city and we'll be running our series of drop-in art workshops at The Laundry Room during the summer. And, this is just a peak of all that we have in store for the summer.
We have a *tiny* staff, so our work is only possible with fabulous interns and volunteers, which is where you come in. We are looking for a few good people to help make all that we have planned this coming season go off without a hitch. Here's what our Graphic Design Intern had to say about her experience last year:
"I was introduced to the Laundromat Project in my third year at Parsons the New School for Design at a Social Responsibility panel. Since that day, I felt compelled to work with the LP to witness their work for myself. Working as their Graphic Design intern, was the first time I felt what it was like to work in a team with creative and vibrant human beings. My personal aesthetic and design capabilities grew during my time at the LP which makes me thankful for their contribution to my career development."A Program Intern's experience will be similar. As a smaller organization, those who work with us do not get stuck doing traditional "intern work." There are a lot of opportunities to contribute ideas and see them executed within our programs and day-to-day operations. Below is a description for our summer Program Internship opportunity. Feel free to share this post!
PROGRAM INTERNSHIP
The Laundromat Project (The LP) is a community-based public art non-profit that brings arts programming to laundromats in the Greater New York and Philadelphia areas.
Position Description
The LP seeks interns to help support day-to-day operations for their core programs: Create Change and Works in Progress.
Create Change offers New York and Philadelphia-based artists of color the opportunity to realize a public art project in their local laundromat over a 6-month period. This program also provides artists of all backgrounds access to a series of professional development workshops designed to deepen their artistic approaches to making socially-engaged artwork. These workshops are led by accomplished professionals on topics ranging from funding and legal concerns to forming community partnerships and writing artist statements for non-art audiences. Create Change culminates every autumn with our annual Public Art Potluck, where the LP invites a chef to create a unique menu of sustainable and local food as we celebrate and share ideas about socially-engaged artwork, community, and sustainability.
Works in Progress brings art workshops to laundromats, festivals, and after-school settings throughout New York City. In the past year, artists and volunteers have led participants in silk-screening tote bags, bleach batik, jewelry-making, paper sculpture, quilt-making and many other techniques at workshops everywhere from Harlem to Bed-Stuy to the Lower East Side.
In addition to assisting with these programs, LP interns will have the chance to become involved in a variety of supporting projects and special events. These include artist talks and panels, our annual environmental and art festival conducted in partnership with other Brooklyn-based organizations, and our new after-school program for Harlem Teens, Tomorrow Eyes. Whenever possible, interns will have the chance to focus on those programs which most appeal to their personal and career interests.
Qualifications
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Excellent research and editing skills
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
- Has experience working in contemporary art, arts education, public art, social practice, social justice sectors, and/or related settings
- Must be dependable and punctual
- Ability to creatively problem solve
- Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and InDesign
- Fluency in the Mac + PC computer platforms with MS Office
- Proficiency navigating and maintaining social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr)
- Ability to work well collaboratively and independently
- Ability to manage multiple projects at once
- Is able to lift at least 25lbs
Responsibilities
Selected candidates will support The Laundromat Project staff and consultants as they plan and implement the Works in Progress art workshop series; manage scheduled programs for Create Change Residents and Fellows; and promote both programs via the organization’s social media and press platforms.
More detailed responsibilities may include:
- Providing support in preparation of special events, including artist talks, street festivals, community-based art workshops
- Assisting with application processing for The LP’s Create Change Public Artist Residency and Professional Development Fellowship
- Helping develop content for The LP’s monthly e-newsletter, social media accounts, and blog
- Assisting with managing our online store, which may include updating product listings, sending sold merchandise, and/or corresponding with customers.
- Supporting artists with the coordination of logistics for their public art projects
- Preparing and updating press packets
- Conducting research on socially-engaged art making, social justice-related art projects, and related topics
Commitment
Candidates should be available for 2 days/week (may include some weekends) May 15 – August 24, 2012. Dates can be tailored to accepted candidates’ school schedules if applicable.
Compensation
This is an unpaid internship, but working for The LP does offer the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with daily operations of running a non-profit arts organization. Academic credit can also be arranged.
Posted on December 13th, 2011
1.
Throw cash.Yes, we are shameless. It’s that time of year when we have only a few weeks to meet our year end goal. Our target is to raise $10,000 by Dec 31 and we’re confident supporters like you can help us reach this goal.
2.
Buy a limited edition print for someone special.Looking for an exceptional gift for someone on your list? Did you miss our past Soapbox events when each edition was unveiled? It’s not too late to purchase works by Jayson Keeling, Rudy Shepherd, and Mickalene Thomas.
3.
Donate an item from our “wish list.”Powered by Amazon, you can choose from art supplies, office equipment, and more. When you resource our programs and staff with the supplies they need to operate, we have more cash to focus on serving more communities.
4.
Sign up to volunteer.We are always looking for everyday people to get involved with The LP. Whether you are someone who has never set foot in an art studio or have a long background in the arts, whether you have professional skills you would like to offer or simply an extra set of hands—your time is money and we appreciate any time you can give to advance this mission.
Posted on December 13th, 2011
52 people donated almost 2000 hours of their time and talent to The LP this year. Bringing new energy, new ideas, and a generosity of spirit that embodies the spirit of ‘neighborliness’ our programs are intended to facilitate, our public programs and day-to-day operations would not have been possible without this year's volunteers.
We are committed to improving the quality of life and fostering creativity for the families and residents of the many neighborhoods of New York, but we also help to launch careers!
In addition to connecting socially engaged artists with opportunities to share and develop their work, we have had the chance to encourage many students and young professionals on their way to careers in arts administration and non-profits.
Through programs like NYC Service Civic Corps and our internship program, we were not only able to increase our capacity but also to work closely with talented and motivated young professionals, helping them to develop their skills, and refine their specific interests. Former LP volunteers and interns have since taken off in careers ranging from law to arts administration to working in the non-profit education sector.
LP founder Rise Wilson continues to demonstrate this aspect of our mission through numerous speaking engagements to a wide range of audiences.
At recent talks like
Everyone Leads: Building Community through the Arts and
They’ve Got Next: Arts Professionals Who Are Charting Their Own Path and Advancing the Field Along the Way, she has continued to offer advice and guidance to those interested in combining their passions and finding a way to bridge the fields of art and social justice.
Want to help more people chart a path with purpose? Please consider giving to our year-end campaign.
Posted on December 13th, 2011
Create Change artists have gone on to impact communities across the globe with projects they began in our annual public art residency program. In partnership with Asian Arts Initiative and The LP, CC ‘09 alum Michael Premo brought Housing is a Human Right to Philadelphia's Chinatown this past summer, after previous runs in New Orleans and South Africa. CC ‘10 alum Bayeté Ross Smith piloted Got the Power during his residency, which he has since traveled to Baltimore and Minnesota.
Bayete Ross Smith and Got the Power: From New York to MinnesotaWhile a 2010 LP Create Change Public Artist in Residence, artist, photographer, and educator Bayeté Ross Smith launched his project
Got the Power, in which he uses ambient sound, music, and oral history to create mixtape
portraits of American communities. Ross Smith travels to historically-significant neighborhoods and invites community members, young and old, to collaborate in making a mixtape which archives their favorite songs and stories.
The tapes can then be played through a tower of boom boxes built at each site, resulting in an accessible and site-specific work that offers its collaborators an opportunity to record their own history.
Ross Smith started
Got the Power in his Washington Heights laundromat, but has traveled the project to two other American cities since his LP residency.
He collaborated with Baltimore-based curator Raquel DeAnda to mount the project at ROOTS Fest 2011, collecting oral histories and creating a mixtape and tower unique to the people of West Baltimore. This summer he was also a FSP/Jerome Fellow at Franconia Sculpture Park in Franconia Minnesota, where he constructed
a Minnesota version of the boom box tower and two Minnesota mixtapes: "A Twin Cities" mixtape and "Rural Minnesota" mixtape.
All of these projects continue online, and Ross Smith is eager to mount it in new cities across the country.
Office of Human Rights: An exhibition with Asian Arts Alliance in Philadelphia From June 2 to July 2, 2011, The Laundromat Project collaborated with the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia to present the exhibition
Office of Human Rights.
Former LP Create Change Public Artist in Residence Michael Premo kicked off his ongoing multimedia project
Housing is a Human Rightin 2009 with an exhibition and listening party at a laundromat in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, before expanding the project to an international stage where such cities and countries as New Orleans, Philadelphia, and South Africa were able to experience Premo's multidimensional project.
In partnership with Asian Arts Initiative and Premo, The Laundromat Project was able to organize an exhibition featuring over 50 photographs, town hall meeting, film screening, storytelling workshops and oral history training, and oral history interviews with local residents of the North Chinatown and Callowhill neighborhoods.
Housing is a Human Right brought awareness to the struggle of community members to obtain and maintain a place called "home," and to build a collective definition of what home means to the people of Philadelphia’s Chinatown, and beyond.
Do you want to see more art in communities of color and low income communities? Please consider giving to our year-end campaign.
Images: (above) Bayete Ross Smith builds his boombox sculpture at Franconia Sculpture Park in Franconia, Minnesota; (below) Michael Premo and Rachel Falcone introduce Housing is a Human Right to Philadelphia residents.
Posted on December 10th, 2011
In 2011 our programs reached over 5,000 people from every walk of life. From laundromats in Harlem, Bed-Stuy, Jersey City, Washington Heights, and Woodside to the New Museum's Festival of Ideas and Weeksville’s lovely lawn – we were able to offer more than 5000 people the opportunity to envision where and how they want to live and work, and to discover a range of creative talents many didn’t know they had.
Residents in our
Create Change Public Artist Residencymounted projects in their laundromats that ranged from creating an ESOL classroom for Spanish speakers to installing a postcard carousel that included the artist’s neighbors’ drawings, photographs, and thoughts about their changing neighborhood.
Our team of teaching artists lead drop-in art workshops that ranged from printmaking to kaleidoscope making at our partner laundromat in Harlem. At a Brooklyn laundromat, we invited Brooklyn-based organization Adopt-a-Farmbox to teach a workshop titled “Make Your Own Planter Out of Household Materials,” and partnered with NYFA Immigrant Artist Project to lead a
day of workshops and demonstrations focused on environmental awareness, urban farming and beautification in the garden of Weeksville Heritage Center.
We participated in the New Museum’s
Festival of Ideas and BedStuy Alive’s Restoration Rocks festival where we brought our silkscreening
workshop to folks on the Bowery in Manhattan and BedStuy in Brooklyn.
And, we also partnered with Art for Change, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!), Global Action Project (GAP), Hip-Hop Theater Festival, Lambent Foundation, Maysles Institute, NYFA Immigrant Artist Project, and Union Square Awards, to host the first
Social Justice Artists' Convening, which took place at El Museo del Barrio.
The day-long convening brought together New York-based arts organizations, artists, and supporting funders in an unprecedented opportunity to create community among those doing work at the intersection of arts and social justice. Through cutting-edge performances and dynamic workshops designed to mobilize for impact, the goal of this unprecedented gathering by artists working with low-income communities is to ensure that those most affected by injustice have creative supports and networks for generating change.
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