Jackson Heights is an majority BIPOC community where over 150 languages are spoken, a microcosm of global communities that are currently bearing the brunt of climate change. In 2020, the city of New York closed various streets to traffic to support businesses and community health.
Local volunteers and neighborhood organizations, including 34 Ave Open Streets Coalition, won the permanent day-time closure of 26 blocks in Jackson Heights. Their collective efforts are now a model for community mutual aid.
What better place for a climate street fair?
Make Justice Normal’s inaugural, open-to-the-public street arts festival, Street Works Earth, will debut Sunday, Sept. 22 during New York Climate Week on one of the longest open streets in America, 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens.
Street Works Earth builds upon MJN’s organizing principles for justice, then adds their own design principles for artistic collaboration. Participating artists in the festival have been connected with climate experts, including team members of Environmental Defense Fund and Queens Climate Project, to intentionally foster dialogue among experts in disciplines that don’t often interact, such as climate and culture. Street Works hypothesis: this intentional cross-fertilization will create alchemy, inspiring sustained changemaking and activism.
We like to think of it as the first beat of a butterfly’s wing.
Site specific art
Through an open call for proposals, eight artists and collectives were invited to participate, alongside MJN arts practitioners, from more than 100 entries. The artists featured by Street Works this year include: All Street Gallery, Kaleidospace, Cecilia Lim, Nitin Mukul, Bayeté Ross Smith, Sabina Sethi Unni, The Veggie Nuggets, and Jing (Ellen) Xu. MJN’s arts practitioners include Anjali Deshmukh, Kaimera, Darryl Ratcliff, Purvi Shah, and Ernest Verrett.
From the youth-led climate collective, The Veggie Nuggets, to the art and performance collective, Kaleidospace, to visual art sensation, Bayeté Ross Smith, the selected artists will present works encompassing a variety of mediums and creative disciplines.
All of the artists will present site specific creative work alongside spaces dedicated to concrete climate actions. MJN and Street Works cofounder Anjali Deshmukh and Street Works cofounder Ernest Verrett envisioned Street Works Earth as a bridge between social practice art and practical climate action. By creating joyful spaces in which residents and visitors can participate creatively while exploring climate justice, they can take action in ways that fit their priorities.
As a practice committed to participatory art in public spaces, Street Works Earth illustrates how art in community can support civic engagement while reaching a larger and more diverse audience. By creating space for street artists to thrive outside of traditional museum and gallery systems, Street Works Earth hopes to inspire similar initiatives in communities across the globe.
Please register your interest to attend by selecting the “register button” here.
While Street Works Earth is being organized by MJN, in partnership with 34th Ave Open Streets Coalition, it takes many hands to pull off a gathering of this scale inside of a year. Street Works is supported by the generosity of the Environmental Defense Fund, the Frontline Resources Institute, the NYC Racial Equity Endowment Fund, NY Renews, Photoville, Queens Climate Project and Pinterest.
In addition, public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts also helped to make this event possible.
Participating creatives showcasing their efforts at tables along the street will include: 34 Avenue Open Streets Coalition, ALIGN, Chhaya, Community & Household Infant-Maternal Exposure Study (CHIMES), Civic Engagement Commission, El Puente, Environmental Defense Fund, Frontline Resource Institute, Jackson Heights Beautification Group/JH Scraps, Mazorca Colectiva, Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens CDC / Queens Energy Hub, Queens Climate Project, Rennergy, Solar One, Treeage, Tulani Thomas, Waterfront Alliance, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, A.R.T, Paint care, New York Power Authority, Green Co op council, and Woodside on the Move.
And we’d be remiss to not include an honorable mention for The World’s Borough Bookshop, which serves as a meeting spot for MJN and the local community alike.
We still are on the hunt for additional resources to bring the full vision for Street Works to life. We welcome additional donors or sponsors to be able to cover all of the costs of this festival and lay a foundation for future events.
Our dream is that Sunday’s festival is just the demonstration project, and that the wave we manifest with this “first beat of a butterfly wing” will be hundreds of Street Works happening simultaneously around the world inspired and guided by the open source blueprint we will create following the event.
As a first step, we invite you to bring a friend or your family and join us on the street on this Sunday and experience the world’s first Street Works Earth for yourself.
