Spreads of stapled zines in cheerful hues of cantaloupe, berry, and pistachio sherbet with titles like Making Art During Fascism, Emergency Health Grant Resource Guide and Mapping Feminist L.A.’s “Angelena Atlas” line the shelves; grass-green and indigo bumper stickers, neon graphic tote bags, and flower and logo pins hang from every surface, along with little note cards bearing messages like “Culture-making is a fundamental human and societal experience.” and “We are a process, not the product.”—Women’s Center has managed to make dissent amusing, even rosy.
Since 2013, The Women’s Center for Creative Work has taken profound, humorous, buoyant approaches to the most elemental of social work: building community. Housed in a small, freestanding building in Frogtown, along the ebbing, sometimes murky, often black, L.A. River, the group has hosted fundraisers, screenings, mothers meet-ups, reading circles, free sessions with immigration and tax attorneys and artists in residence. This quarter, they are hosting gloria galvez, who continues to work on her project Going Bananas, with a theme of “Sweaty Concepts.” “In alignment with our ‘Core Values,’” says Co-Founder and Executive Director Sarah Williams, “we prioritize programs that center people who have historically been marginalized in feminist and art spaces. This includes programs led by and/or centering people of color (especially Black or Indigenous people), trans* and non-binary people, and disabled people.”
Perhaps the most accessible—and portable—example of the group’s policy of “radical transparency” is A Feminist Organizations Handbook, a self-published spiral-bound guidebook to establishing a makeshift Women’s Center anywhere, including exercises for self-starting organizers, design, community engagement, administrative protocols, and the key elements for establishing such an organization. The Handbook is available for sale at Frieze; it is also made free for download for anyone, anywhere here.
While WCCW has been sustainable for several years now, even administering over $200,000 to uninsured artists in Southern California through their Emergency Health Grant program, they face the same precarity that many of the city’s artists face in the rapidly gentrifying area of Los Angeles: housing and studio rents are skyrocketing, and their lease expires in April 2020. “We’re in a housing crisis that is affecting many, including artists. We need more affordable housing and safeguards for tenants. We’ll need more direct-to-artist grants.”
Many creative communities in urban centers are currently facing the same challenges, but, in typical form, Women’s Center is thinking ahead. “We would love to work to collectively buy a building with the help of our extended community, and have there be more space for varied types of programming, and more robust exhibition and residency space,” Williams shares. Sounds like a plan.
Visit Women’s Center’s pop-up shop on the New York City backlot of Frieze Los Angeles, Febraury 15-19.
You can support the Women’s Center for Creative Work here.
以哈密瓜、浆果和开心果果子露的欢快色调,在货架上以“法西斯主义时期的艺术制作”、“紧急健康补助资源指南”和“女权主义者L.A.的“安杰丽娜阿特拉斯”等标题,将钉好的锌片铺开;草绿色和靛蓝的保险杠贴纸、霓虹图案手提包以及花饰和标志别针挂在每一个表面上。长长的卡片上写着“文化制作是人类和社会的基本经验”之类的信息,“我们是一个过程,而不是产品。”——妇女中心设法使异议变得有趣,甚至是乐观。自2013年以来,妇女创意工作中心对社会工作中最基本的元素——建设社区采取了深刻、幽默、活跃的方式。该组织位于洛格敦一座独立的小建筑内,沿着退潮的洛杉矶河,有时是阴暗的,通常是黑色的河流,组织了募捐活动、放映活动、母亲见面会、阅读圈、与移民和税务律师以及驻地艺术家的免费会议。本季度,他们将主持Gloria Galvez,她继续致力于她的项目Going Bananas,主题是“汗流浃背的概念”。“与我们的“核心价值观”一致,”联合创始人兼执行董事Sarah Williams说,“我们优先考虑那些在历史上被女性主义和艺术领域边缘化的人的项目。这包括由有色人种(特别是黑人或土著人)、跨种族人和非二元种族人以及残疾人领导和/或使他们成为中心的项目。“也许该组织“激进透明”政策最容易接近和可移植的例子是女权主义者组织手册,这是一本自我出版的、螺旋装订的、面向社会的指南书。在任何地方建立一个临时妇女中心,包括自办组织者的练习、设计、社区参与、行政协议以及建立这样一个组织的关键要素。该手册可在Frieze出售;也可在任何地方免费下载给任何人。尽管WCCW已经持续了几年,甚至通过紧急医疗补助计划向南加州的未投保艺术家提供了超过20万美元的医疗保险,但他们面临着与洛杉矶快速中产阶级地区许多艺术家面临的同样的危险:住房和工作室租金飞涨,他们的收入也在不断增加。ASE将于2020年4月到期。“我们正处于一场影响很多人的住房危机中,包括艺术家。我们需要更多负担得起的住房和对租户的保障。我们需要更多直接的艺术家资助。”许多城市中心的创意社区目前面临着同样的挑战,但在典型的形式下,妇女中心正在向前思考。威廉斯分享说:“我们希望在我们的社区的帮助下共同购买一栋建筑,并为各种类型的程序设计提供更多的空间,以及更强大的展览和居住空间。”听起来像是个计划。2月15日至19日,在洛杉矶弗里泽(Frieze Los Angeles)的纽约市郊,参观女子中心的弹出式商店。你可以在这里支持妇女创意工作中心。
饰带周/洛杉矶2019年妇女与039;S创意艺术中心饰带
FRIZE特稿 ARThing编译