Cry Until You Laugh: Forward Union Presents
Cry Until You Laugh
Forward Union presents an evening of sexual and repro rights comedy, performance, art, and action at Kickstarter
Rooftop season is NOT over. Join Forward Union on a stunning Brooklyn rooftop (thanks, Kickstarter!) for a night of sadistic comedic relief hosted by River Ramirez, featuring Marcia Belsky, Karen Chee, Marie Faustin, and Jes Tom!
With free beer from Circa Brewery, a performance by Narcissister, a rooftop installation by Amy Khoshbin/House of Trees, and an interactive feminist library by INNER COURSE, Cry Until You Laugh offers LOLs alongside ways to support local organizations that protect access to sexual and reproductive health care.
ALL PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT PARTICIPATING NONPROFITS: The Center, OutSmartNYC, and Shout Your Abortion.
DOORS 6:30pm / COMEDY 7-8:30pm / ROOFTOP PERFORMANCE, INSTALLATION, BEER 8:30-9:30pm
Cry Until You Laugh is brought to you in partnership by Forward Union and Kickstarter with support by The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation. In-kind support provided by Circa Brewery.
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Forward Union is a coalition-building initiative connecting social justice organizations, artists, and creative communities. The organization has hosted its marquee event, Forward Union Fair, annually since December 2016. The Fair is a free social justice fair that brings together advocates, organizations, topical art installations, and public programs.
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Kickstarter is a Public Benefit Corporation whose mission is to bring creative projects to life. Artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creators find the resources and support they need to make their ideas a reality. To date, tens of thousands of creative projects—big and small—have come to life with the support of the Kickstarter community.
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River is an artist, comedian, and writer based in Brooklyn. They have written, produced, and directed a comedy special called PERVERT EVERYTHING for Adult Swim. They can be seen on the HBO comedy series RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS as well as the final season of Comedy Central’s BROAD CITY. Out next, River is recurring on HBO’s new half-hour comedy LOS ESPOOKYS’ opposite Fred Armisen, and heavily appears in John Cameron Mitchell’s upcoming musical anthology podcast ANTHEM, opposite Glenn Close. Last year, they were named one of Comedy Central’s Up Next Comedians, featured at San Francisco’s Cluster Fest comedy festival. And most recently, they were invited to perform at the Public Theater as a part of 2019’s Under The Radar Festival. They are a regular correspondent on VICELAND. They’ve performed at Caroline's, UCB, Ars Nova, THE SPECIAL WITHOUT BRETT DAVIS, THE CHRIS GETHARD SHOW, The Brooklyn Comedy Festival and has exhibited their work at Family Business Gallery, The Living Gallery, Cloud City and The Experiment Comedy Gallery. They grew up in Miami, Florida, and graduated from SVA.
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INNER COURSE will present The Agony of It All, a mobile lending library complete with librarian. For over a decade, INNER COURSE has amassed a collection of books that survey screwball feminisms and “mansplained” issues about women. Some give emotionally predatory business advice to female workers while others dish out self-help strategies for pop pathologies. Many of the books zero in on patriarchal hysteria, becoming foreboding omens of the false narrative epoch. They exhibit a society in anguish, one willing to entertain almost any pseudo cure-all for a faint possibility of reprieve; the desperation to ‘heal thyself’ has produced innumerable quacks with megaphones. Within this library, lunacy and narcissism are the authority, while our bodies and minds are their supposed dominion.INNER COURSE is a project by Rya Kleinpeter and Tora López initiated in 2011. Their performance-based projects incite systems of play through melodrama, humor, psychodramatic inquiry, and role-play. They’ve held performances and exhibitions at The Museum Of Old And New Art (Tasmania, AU), The Bunker Artspace (FL), Smack Mellon (NYC), Alaska Projects (Sydney, AU), Signs and Symbols (NYC), Honey Space (NYC), Whitney Houston Biennial (NYC), Pulse Art Fair (NYC), Life Is Art Foundation (New Orleans, LA), among others.
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Amy Khoshbin’s sibling-led arts collective, House of Trees (HOT), collaborated with Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye to create a series of flags entitled I PLEDGE on the one-year anniversary of the Women’s March 2017. These were exhibited from January through March of 2018 at NYU’s Kimmel Gallery; at Artpace Main Gallery, Texas, in 2019; and now Kickstarter. Continuing to take artful, political action through the third year of xenophobic edicts like the Muslim Ban, the repeal of DACA, headlines of sexual harassment, declining access to sexual and reproductive health, and the tearing apart of environmental regulations, I PLEDGE inspires sustained resistance and hope through poetry and public visibility.
House of Trees (HOT) arts collective is dedicated to the transformative effects of contemporary art through public art collaborations including murals, performances, installations, and other high-visibility interventions. It brings together international artists and institutions to collectively explore and expose deeper ways of connecting personally and politically through artmaking. HOT is a collaboration between siblings: Amy, Jennifer, and Noah Khoshbin, and has exhibited at venues including: the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Times Square Arts, Socrates Sculpture Park, River to River Festival, etc. HOT members have published widely, including: Newsweek, Readymade, House Beautiful, Glamour; have received residencies including The Watermill Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Anderson Ranch, and Banff Centre for the Arts; and have collaborated with Laurie Anderson, Carrie Mae Weems, Jenny Holzer, and poets Anne Carson, Naomi Shihab-Nye, and John Phillip Santos, among others.
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Narcissister is a Brooklyn-based artist and performer. Wearing mask and merkin, she works at the intersection of performance, dance, art, and activism in a range of media including film, video art, and experimental music. She actively integrates her prior experience as a professional dancer and commercial artist with her art practice in a range of media including photography, video art, and experimental music. She has presented work worldwide at festivals, nightclubs, museums, and galleries. Her art video “Vaseline” won “Best Use of a Sex Toy” at The Good Vibrations Erotic Film Festival. She received a Bessie Award nomination for the theatrical performance of “Organ Player” and 2015 Creative Capital and United States Artists Awards. Interested in troubling the popular entertainment and experimental art divide, she appeared on America’s Got Talent. Her first feature film “Narcissister Organ Player” premiered at Sundance and SXSW in 2018. In collaboration with playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, she is a Sundance Theatre Lab 2018 Fellow for the development of a new evening-length performance commissioned by the Soho Rep in New York. She recently completed the Artpace residency in San Antonio, Texas.
![Forward Union Fair 2018](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d4d1e53a496c3da7be0409/1718898479886-2QT0NSOT87TIET6K9GCI/_DSF9283%5B1%5D.jpg)
Forward Union Fair 2018
Forward Union Fair 2018
An annual social action info fair, bringing together diverse activist organizations, topical art installations, and public programs.
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12:00 PM
KEYNOTE BY NO LONGER EMPTY’S YOUTH ACTION COUNCIL
No Longer Empty's Youth Action Council kicks off the weekend with a reminder of why our votes count.
Ashanti Strong, Jade Villegas, Jontay Beckles, Justice Hamlin James, Kalia Asencio, Megan Vega, Marvens Volcimus, Mariel Martinez, Sarahfina Cunningham, Stephanie Martinez, and Yewande Ogunleye
12:30PM
CIVICS 101: UPCOMING ELECTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT
Ben Yee, State Committeeman for New York's 66th Assembly District, will take us through the organization and impact of NY politics.
The primer will include who's up for election this year; what all those people do and how they impact our lives (including the IDC); how voting works, why we do it, and why it is so hard in New York State; and why the census, redistricting, and gerrymandering are so important to discuss. He'll end on the races we should be aware of beyond the midterm elections this November.
1:10PM
AMY KHOSHBIN: YOU NEVER KNOW
You Never Know is a political speech turned cathartic rap dance-party by Iranian-American artist Amy Khoshbin, who is running for City Council in Brooklyn in 2021.
Exploring the culture of violence and fear-mongering that Western media perpetuates, Khoshbin shares her experiences at a gun show, asks what the opposite of a weapon could be, and encourages a group catharsis through video, dance, and rap music. Can political empowerment for change and liberating entertainment be the same thing?
1:30PM
NY POLITICS: POWER, LOGISTICS, AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY
Using Ben Yee's civics primer as a starting point, Amanda Clarke (Regional Director, Run For Something) facilitates a discussion on New York politics and civic engagement.
Participants will discuss: Why are the upcoming midterm elections so important? What trends and disruptions do they see in NY races? What does it mean to run a campaign? Is running for office the only way to influence policy changes? What is needed from those of us outside politics who deeply care about state and local policies? Is there hope?
Participants:
Amy Khoshbin, artist and City Council candidate
Mia Pearlman, Founder, True Blue NY
Kayla Rivera, NY Working Families for Cynthia Nixon and Jumaane Williams
Dominique Claire Shuminova, Campaign Vice Chair for Alessandra Biaggi
Ben Yee, State Committeeman, NY's 66th Assembly District
2:00PM - 5:00PM
ARAM HAN SIFUENTES: PROTEST BANNER LENDING LIBRARY WORKSHOP
Join artist Aram Han Sifuentes for this hands-on communal sewing workshop, learn the basic skills necessary to make protest banners on your own, and come together to support each other's voices. Sifuentes explains, "Banners are a way for me to resist what is happening in the United States and in the world. It is a way to put my voice out there and not stay silent. I cannot be silent. However, as a non citizen and a new mother, I cannot always go to protests. And in these workshops I realized that there were many people who came because they needed to find a way to participate, resist, and speak up but also couldn’t always go to protests because they too were mothers, non citizens, undocumented- those who would be at great risk if caught up and arrested. My protest banner making workshops has become a place where people come together in solidarity through making. And making is, in and of itself, a form of resistance."
No prior sewing skills necessary and all supplies will be provided. Please note that participants should plan to attend the workshop for the full 3 hours.
3:00PM
TELLING THE STRONGEST STORY: EFFECTIVE IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVE COLLABORATION
What do we do when confronted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)? What do we do when ICE is in our neighborhoods, in our streets, in our homes, in the courtroom? What can we do to resist and prevent deportation?
Join us for a screening of We Have Rights, a series of short videos based on true stories, visualizing actions to take and language to use when confronted by ICE agents. The series was created in partnership with ACLU and Brooklyn Defender Services.
Stay for a conversation with the collaborators of the film series, as they discuss the idea that launched the series, the filmmaking process and the effective implementation of the films for education, awareness, and policy change.
Participants:
Lindsey Buller, Senior Accredited Representative, Immigration Practice, Brooklyn Defender Services)
Drea Herrera, Organizer, New York Civil Liberties Union
Michael Kleiman, Co-Director/Co-Producer, We Have Rights, Founder & Executive Director, MediaTank Productions
4:15PM
TRAINING: IMMIGRATION ACCOMPANIMENT WITH THE NEW SANCTUARY COALITION
The New Sanctuary Coalition (NSC) accompaniment program recruits and trains volunteers to accompany people facing deportation to their immigration hearings and ICE check-ins. This provides moral support to the person facing deportation and enables volunteers to hold immigration authorities accountable. Standing in solidarity with migrants facing deportation also demonstrates to immigration judges, ICE officers, and government attorneys that there is a community mobilized against their deportation. NSC accompanies hundreds of people a year.
Led by Ravi Ragbir (Executive Director, New Sanctuary Coalition) and Sara Gonzalez (New Sanctuary Coalition)
5:00PM
HUMANIZING POLICY WITH GENERATOR COLLECTIVE
How can we organize the noise of policies into digestible human stories and, over all, lower the political barrier to entry?
Join Generator Collective for an hour of storytelling aimed to reduce the political divide and start human conversations around how policy impacts real people.
Moderated by Ruby Anaya, with:
Carmen LoBue, Filmmaker
Mamoudou N'Diaye, Comedian & Writer
Jen Winston, Writer & Creative Director
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12:00PM
TOWARDS RACIAL EQUITY IN HEALTHCARE WITH THE NEW YORK HEALTH ACT
In this panel discussion, healthcare professionals and health equity advocates will talk about the New York Health Act (NYHA), our state-level plan for single-payer universal healthcare, how it might address systemic racism in New York’s healthcare system, and strategies for future action.
Participants:
Roona Ray, MD, MPH, family doctor, activist with Campaign for New York Health, Board Member, PNHP NY Metro Chapter
Daniel Neghassi, MD, family physician at HRHCare Community Health, supervising physician at Columbia-Harlem Homeless Medical Partnership, Board Member, PNHP NY Metro Chapter
Katie Robbins, MPH, Director, Campaign for New York Health
Moderated by Nichole van Beek, artist, teacher, and activist
1:00PM
HEALTHCARE & REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING MEETING
National Women's Liberation invites women to gather and answer questions from personal experience. As a group, we will compare the similarities and differences in women's testimonies to study oppression.
Consciousness-Raising is used as a tool for examining the political root of so-called personal problems. We will look at who is oppressing us, who benefits, who pays, and how to fight back.
The session will include a briefing on what Consciousness-Raising is, its history, and why they use it; time for people to testify and tell their stories; discuss the similarities and differences in the testimonies to draw pertinent and action-inspiring conclusions.
Led by Stephanie Kollgaard and Jamie Hoffman, National Women's Liberation
1:00PM - 3:00PM
ROSARY SOLIMANTO: WEIGHT
The interactive artwork titled Weight was created to portray legs as heavy weights, simulating the adversities people experience with invisible health conditions. One-inch-thick steel was used at the at the base of the artistic footwear causing the boots to weigh 25 pounds. The artist Rosary Solimanto will perform with the wearable sculpture identifying with the "weight" of her chronic health condition, multiple sclerosis. She encourages conversations to unfold surrounding disABILITY identity amongst the audience through social engagement exploring empowerment. The visual aesthethic was inspired by orthopedic braces, work boots, and Frankenstein’s boots.
3:00PM
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN GUN VIOLENCE
How can you make a difference in gun violence locally and nationally? Meet activists and policy experts to discuss gun violence issues and learn how you can effect change. The program will be focused on three pillars: policy, education, and violence interruption.
Panel participants:
Kristine Arroyo, Assistant Program Director, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence
Shanduke McPhatter, CEO, Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes Inc.
Alyssa Postman Putzel, NY State Leader, Students Demand Action
Facilitator:
Stanley Fritz, NYC Campaigns Manager, Citizen Action of New York, and the Engineer/Co-Host of Let Your Voice Be Heard! Radio.
4:00PM
DISCUSSION & WORKSHOP: THIS IS NOT A GUN
This Is Not a Gun is a traveling ceramic workshop that catalyzes conversation around human rights violations and systemic racism through collaborative making. In this hands-on workshop, participants are invited to sculpt from clay a series of ubiquitous objects that have been mistaken for guns by police officers in shootings of unarmed individuals.
Jade Thacker and Jessica Angima will offer a series of questions for discussion during the making, featuring readings from the recently published “31 Objects” on Montez Press. This is the 8th workshop since March 2017.
The workshop will take place immediately following the discussion. Attendees to the discussion are encouraged to stay for the hour-long workshop.
5:00PM
ANOTHER PROTEST SONG: KARAOKE WITH A MESSAGE
with Angel Nevarez & Valerie Tevere
Another Protest Song: Karaoke with a Message (2008 – ongoing) looks to the karaoke songbook as potential for political enunciation through song. Karaoke is communal, social, musical. With protest karaoke, song choices may speak of present political struggles and histories, rather than music consumed primarily as popular culture.
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12:00PM - 6:00PM
WE MAKE AMERICA: ART MAKING SESSIONS
Join us for hands-on art making projects throughout the fair. Adults and children of all ages can personalize wearables, including fabric Statue of Liberty torches, cast-resin torch pins, leather pendants, and buttons made with your designs.
In addition, you can decorate cardboard “VOTE” signs to hang in windows and on doors, as well as vote postcards.
Family friendly. No advance signup required. Make art and make a difference.
Art making courtesy of the artist activist group We Make America.
FREE
MEL CHIN: I LIVE HERE
Free for all fair attendees.
I LIVE HERE
Safety from Law Enforcement Notification Poster
for User customization and application
designed by Mel Chin
Participating Organizations
New York Progressive Action Network
NYC Coalition to Dismantle Racism in the Health System
OnStack
PARADE / The Young and Mighty March for a Voice
Queer Detainee Empowerment Project
Spaceworks
Swing Left presents The Last Weekend
UNITED for Intercultural Action
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
We Make America
Young Progressives of America
Participating Artists
Supporters
Forward Union Fair is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
Sanford J. Greenburger Associates
Lawrence B. and Elyse Benenson, Beverly's, Matthew Doering, Monika Fabijanska, Heide Lange, Myra Sutanto Shen, Wendy Vogel
Founders
Julia Clark
Lauren M Jones
Jennie Lamensdorf
Rachel Nackman
Holly Shen
Team
Maggie Albert
Heather Bhandari
Grace Earle
Abbie Hebein
Allison Kadin
Becky Laughner
Elizabeth Masters
Nicole Rodill
Rachel Selekman
FU After Dark
FU After Dark
A fundraiser for Forward Union Fair 2018
Sponsored by Tito’s Handmade Vodka & Sixpoint Brewery
Remarks by OUTSMART NYC
Performance by Chris Tyler
DJ Set by DJ CAM-RUN
$25 suggested donation
![Forward Union Fair 2017](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d4d1e53a496c3da7be0409/1718900918637-684GVZVAANUS95ELZNDY/_DSF7704.jpg)
Forward Union Fair 2017
Forward Union Fair 2017
An annual social action info fair, bringing together diverse activist organizations, topical art installations, and public programs.
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11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
DIEGO DE LA VEGA COFFEE CO-OP WITH ARTISTS FRAN ILICH AND GABRIELA CEJA
The Diego de la Vega Coffee Co-op offers organic coffee sourced locally in Chiapas from Zapatista autonomous farms. Cups of coffee can be traded for alternative currency, barter, and time deposits as well as voluntary money donations.
Their goal is to connect anti-capitalist social movements in New York City with their pairs in Chiapas to create a horizontal financial flow between them.
11:00 AM - 7:00 PM
"UNTITLED" (PORTRAITS OF IMMIGRANTS IN LIMBO)
Artist Andrea Arrubla will make a corner pile of hand-painted cardboard Social Security cards, referencing the candy pile portraits made by artist Felix Gonzalez Torres, while reminding viewers of the pressing immigration crisis in America. Each time this piece is shown publicly, more cardboard cards are created for the pile. While Gonzalez Torres asked viewers to think about the decay of his partner’s body as it was ravaged by AIDS in “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in LA) — Arrubla asks us to consider the growing body of humans trying to be seen and recognized as valuable citizens within our country.
11:00 AM
PROTEST POETRY WORKSHOP
11:35 AM
FROM THE GALLERY TO THE CLASSROOM: LOOKING AT THE ENDURING LEGACY OF SCHOOL SEGREGATION
Curator and former educator Katie Fuller will lead a conversation with artist and special education teacher Uraline Septembre Hager. They will share their experiences and perspectives on teaching in segregated New York City public schools and how their first-hand experiences have inspired them to use art to advocate for education equity.
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
ALT_BREAK ART FAIR PRESENTS A WORKSHOP WITH ARTIST VANESSA ALBURY
Vanessa Albury invites participants to work with clay and consider our relationships within the natural world and how artists use materials from nature or interpret natural phenomena in order to create symbolic narratives. In her work, Albury uses nature as material, collaborating with the natural environment to document the symbolic essence of the majestic things around us before they’re lost forever.
12:10 PM
ASSEMBLY
Artist Shaun Leonardo, accompanied by Assembly youth, will lead a public-participatory presentation informed by the Assembly curriculum and co-created by program collaborators.
Operating out of the Recess satellite space in Downtown Brooklyn, Assembly is at once a public storefront gallery and an artist-led diversion program for court-involved youth in partnership with Brooklyn Justice Initiatives. Assembly seeks to dismantle the dominant narratives of the “criminal” through a series of workshops designed by artists Melanie Crean, Sable Smith, and Shaun Leonardo, in collaboration with individuals who are court-involved, formerly incarcerated, or otherwise affected by the criminal justice system. Through a curriculum based on visual storytelling, participants translate personal narratives into performance in order to replace a culturally embedded conception of criminality with new language, so that the mind and body may think, feel, and move in a way not defined by their previous experience with arrest and incarceration.
1:05 PM
ON CLASS: CRITICAL PRACTICES AND THE PEOPLE’S CULTURAL PLAN PRESENT LATABLERONDE
What are the myriad ways the art world benefits from inequity? What comes into focus if we examine the connections between philanthropy, capitalism, class, and the arts? How might we dismantle, re-envision, and restructure the relationships of of philanthro-capitalism, the art world, artists and culture workers, and to what ends?
LaTableRonde (LTR) is an unmoderated forum for the discussion of contemporary social and cultural issues. The outcome of an LTR is the ideas and concepts that each participant helped to formulate, contributed to, and acquired through the means of exchange itself.
The People's Cultural Plan is a collective of artists, cultural workers, and activists responding to the city's first cultural plan. Their 17-page document based on the commitment to reparations and against persistent disenfranchising and displacement of communities of color is divided into three parts: Housing & Displacement, Labor Equity, and Funding Equity.
Critical Practices, Inc. (CPI) is an all-volunteer non-profit founded in 2010 and incorporated in 2012. CPI was established to support the emergence and development of new practices within the field of critical cultural production. Critical Practices, Inc. provides platforms for the exchange of diverse points of view necessary for the evaluation of critical, theoretical, and practical objectives that currently impact cultural production. By promoting self-reflectivity, and self-criticality, CPI calls into question the increasingly normalized conditions and terms of corporate culture’s definition of creativity, criticality, and opposition.
2:45 PM
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE WITH LESLIE CAGAN
3:30 PM
COMEDY HOSTED BY RIVER RAMIREZ
Amy Zimmer is a comedian and writer, based in New York. She performs at venues all over New York City, and has performed at the Upright Citizen's Brigade, the Annoyance Theatre, Ars Nova, BHQFU, The Cinderblock Comedy Festival, MoMA PS1, and the Brooklyn Museum. She hosts a monthly variety called "That Was Fantastic" at New Women Space in Brooklyn. Her work and writing has been featured in McSweeney’s, Reductress, The New York Television Festival, and The New Yorker. She is so deeply online: @oneamyzimmer on Twitter and _aezimmer on Instagram.
Eudora Peterson is a comedian from New Jersey, but she performs in New York because the rules there are much more lax. For example: in New York, you can be a prop comic and people will still respect you, even if you don't have credits. That said, she's been featured on Splitsider, Jezebel, The Huffington Post, and she's never used a prop during a performance. Never.
Patti Harrison is a comedian, actor, and writer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her television credits include appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," "Broad City," and TBS's "Search Party." She is also featured in Paul Feig's upcoming film "A Simple Favor." Her work can also be seen on MTV, Comedy Central, Billboard.com, VICELAND, Conde Nast's "The Scene," and Seriously.TV. She's been called "Upsettingly funny" by Time Out New York, and featured in write-ups in The New York Times, Vulture, Splitsider, A.V Club, Paste Magazine, and more. She cohosts the monthly live comedy show "It's a Guy Thing" at Union Hall. She is tarnsgarnder!!!!!
River Ramirez is an artist, comedian, performer, and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. They’ve appeared on VICELAND and Adult Swim. They’ve performed at Caroline's, UCB, Ars Nova, The Special without Brett Davis, The Chris Gethard Show, The Annoyance Theatre, BHQFU, The Cinderblock Comedy Festival, and The Brooklyn Comedy Festival. They has exhibited their work at Family Business Gallery, The Living Gallery, Cloud City, and The Experiment Comedy Gallery and contributed to VICE's The Creators Project and Cracked.
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
LEAGUE OF KITCHENS
Join Lisa Gross, Founder/CEO, Sonya Kharas, Program Manager, and Yamini Joshi for a conversation about the business that Conde Nast Traveler called “quite possibly the coolest foodie thing to do in NYC whether you're a visitor or local." Delicious homemade Indian snacks will be provided!
The League of Kitchens is a unique cooking school in NYC where immigrants teach intimate cooking workshops in their homes and participants encounter a new culture, cuisine, and neighborhood with every experience. Each class offers opportunities for meaningful connection and social interaction, cultural engagement and exchange, culinary learning and discovery, and exceptional eating and drinking.
4:00 PM
BAR OPENS
Refreshments by donation!
4:00 PM
PERFORMANCE BY THE MOVING COMPANY
Performance art ensemble, The Moving Company, will work in the public space of the fair to create a temporary sculpture dealing with empathy.
Led by Tamar Ettun, The Moving Company strives to develop an inter-media genre of performance that originates from and expands the definitions of dance and sculpture: non-dance dance, performance art that can be read in sculptural terms, and sculptures that talk back to post-modern dance. TMC hopes to contribute to expanding performance art to include creation of social spaces and temporary communities where people can interact and connect to one another on an immediate human level. TMC is a new model which invites an ever-growing roster of participants and serves as a laboratory for movement research and partnerships.
4:30 PM
PUERTO RICO: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
A discussion regarding the repercussions of Puerto Rico's colonization, the impact of the Jones Act, and current policy decisions that negatively impact growth and sustainability for the island's economic and cultural future. Participants will include the United Confederation of Taino People and Baruch College's Department of Black and Latino Studies. Additional prompts for discussion: "Why are there so many Puerto Ricans in New York?" and "How did Justin Bieber win a Latin Grammy for Despacito?"
5:15 PM
GENTRIFICATION, HISTORIC PRESERVATION, AND THE FATE OF NEW YORK CITY
Moderator: Patrick Waldo, Masters Candidate for Historic Preservation, Pratt Institute
Guest: Michael Henry Adams, Executive Director, Save Harlem Now!
As the forces of gentrification continue to threaten communities of color, how can the tools of historic preservation protect neighborhoods like Harlem? Can landmarking buildings and creating historic districts help fight displacement? And what role does race play in what buildings and neighborhoods we choose to preserve?
6:00 PM
EL SALÓN, FORWARD UNION EDITION
In this edition, El Salón founders will facilitate a discussion with the audience and invited special guests around the topic of monuments: past, present, and future.
El Salón is a series of curated dinners with the aim to start conversations that contextualize artists, collectives, creative endeavors, personal journeys, and histories. The open forum allows for conversations to be an active response to socio-political systems, materiality, and cultural exchange--especially among underrepresented and marginalized folks.
7:00 PM
CHRIS TYLER AS PROJECT VERITAS'S JAIME T. PHILLIPS
Chris Tyler is a performing artist examining the intersections of popular culture, collective action and digital identity. Recent projects include the ongoing MAKE AMERICA series (Ars Nova), TOXIC IF SWALLOWED (Ars Nova, New Ohio, Irondale) and flesh failure (The Civilians' R&D Group). His performance style has been called “equal parts hilarious and chilling” (Fusion) and “precise-yet-butchered” (Out Magazine). Follow him @NOTCHRISTYLER.
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11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
FREE HOT COFFEE / RECOVERY ROAST
John Freyer’s Free Hot Coffee bike will serve Recovery Roast coffee to attendees. Freyer’s work offers a unique opportunity to engage people in recovery with broader publics, emphasizing creative expression as means of assisting in the recovery process and reducing the social stigma and isolation associated with individuals struggling with addiction. It also revives the simple yet meaningful practice of face-to-face dialogue ‒ a growing rarity in an increasingly technologically mediated world. Freyer’s consideration of these elements of health and wellness speaks to the interdisciplinary and socially-engaged nature of his work.
11:00 AM
FORWARD UNION OPEN FORUM
Hear from the coalition of causes participating in the fair: what they do, what they need, and how you can help.
11:45 AM
RAP ON RACE WITH RICE
Artist Dominique Duroseau will facilitate an interactive discussion as performance, inviting participants to separate black and white rice from each other as they discuss issues of race and racism.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
FOR HER OWN GOOD, PARTICIPATORY PERFORMANCE WITH OFRI CNAANI
“Have you ever been told to stay silent for your own good?” In this participatory performance, artist Ofri Cnaani sits down with visitors to share and exchange personal silencing stories.
"Like a note from a self-help booklet, the stories convey some useful everyday tactics of how to communicate a message in the face of conditions that silence the spoken voice, despite oppression and against all odds," writes curator Shirly Bahar. The ever-growing archive of silencing stories was originated as part of Cnaani's project at AJHS that retells three months in the life of feminist and anarchist leader Emma Goldman, and marks 100 years since the trial that sent her - then "the most dangerous woman alive" - to exile. The piece highlights Goldman’s legacies as an activist whose speech and free thoughts were her only weapons, and as a voice that remains unpopular and challenging even after 100 years.
12:00 PM - 3:00 PM
THIS IS NOT A GUN
Artist Cara Levine and creative producer Jade Thacker will lead a participatory ceramic workshop alongside Jessica Angima and Jen Martínez-Lynch, founders of MNDFL Meditation POC group.
A sandwich is not a gun. A hairbrush is not a gun. A wallet is not a gun.
These items come from a list of 23 objects that have been mistaken for guns by police officers in civilian shootings since 2001. The workshop encourages participants to give presence to these objects, calling attention to their not-gun-ness by sculpting their shape in clay. This Is Not A Gun endeavors to carve out time and space to site these issues within our own bodies and stories, without presuming a total understanding of this historically dense and complicated crisis. This gathering upholds a non-judgemental space for sharing amongst anyone who participates. Please join in an effort to honor and unpack what is before us through a collaborative art-making workshop and dialogue. All materials are provided. Drop-ins are welcome, and you are encouraged to stay a while.
12:45 PM
ART AND COMMUNITY: RESPONDING TO AND PREVENTING SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Moderator: Chauntel Gerdes, LMSW Mount Sinai Beth Israel Victim Services Program
Participants: Emma Sulkowicz, artist; Annie Malamet, artist; Sarah Sandman, artist; Jillian White, documentarian and political educator
This panel will explore the relationship of art to activism and ways the creative process can reflect both individual and collective narratives around sexual violence and other forms of harm. We will be discussing how art can help communities cultivate dialogue to respond to, prevent, and heal from harm.
1:45 PM
BRICK X BRICK: THE MAKING OF A MOVEMENT
Brick x Brick co-founder Sarah Sandman will describe how a small participatory performance art project transformed into a nationwide movement.
Brick x Brick is a public art performance that builds human “walls” against misogyny. During the wall performances, participants wear brick-patterned jumpsuits adorned with colorful brick patches bearing statements of misogynistic violence made by Donald Trump. Placing divisive words on the jumpsuits is a symbol of the performers' resistance and determination to maintain control over their bodies. Brick x Brick is a project by Public Displays of Affection (PDA), a collective of artists, designers, educators, and organizers that engages in nonviolent direct art action. Current members include Andrea Lauer, Nikki Juen, Katy Kirby, and Sarah Sandman.
1:50 PM
THE WALL IN ACTION
Put on a jumpsuit and join the Brick x Brick team for a silent performance against Trump and misogyny.
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
WELLNESS GATHERING STATION
Shervone Neckles, assisted by Rashiida Richardson, will facilitate conversation around wellness that includes the creation of teas with participants.
The Creative Wellness Gathering Station is a social experiment that channels the knowledge and wisdom of Neckles’s community to recall remedies and natural methods folks use to heal and cure everyday ailments. Together with local residents, Neckles is interested in forming a collaborative process that uses lively conversation and interactive demonstrations with the sampling, mixing, and blending of loose herbs and spices on the cart to address health and wellness issues directly affecting the neighborhood. It brings together a variety of experiences, values, and notions completely motivated by genuine inquiry, meaning, and positive intention.
2:30 PM
AMANDA LITMAN: RUN FOR SOMETHING
Amanda Litman will read from her book, Run for Something. She is the co-founder and executive director of Run for Something, a PAC that helps recruit and support young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot office. Previously, she was the email director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, digital director for Charlie Crist's 2014 Florida gubernatorial campaign, deputy email director for Organizing for Action, and an email writer for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
2:55 PM
ARTIST CAMPAIGN SCHOOL
Reynaldo Piniella, David Gottfried
The Artist Campaign School, a new initiative from Fractured Atlas, will train artists in the practical skills necessary to successfully run for elected office. The Artist Campaign School wants candidates to run for political office anywhere from local school boards to zoning councils and city councils, to the statehouse and even county sheriff — any position that allows the officeholder to help determine the policies that will impact the lives of the residents of a city or district. Artists new to the retail political arena will be trained in skills such as targeting voters, message development, media interaction, fundraising, developing a campaign online presence, scheduling, and staffing.
3:35 PM
BLACK GOTHAM EXPERIENCE WITH KAMAU WARE
Imagining forward, Kamau Ware will lead a workshop creating a character of 2117.
The Black Gotham Experience started in 2010 as a visual and physical intervention in the cityscape combining history and visual storytelling to bring New York’s Black heritage into public consciousness. The initial walking tour was organized into three unique stories: Other Side of Wall Street (1609-1699), Caesar’s Rebellion (1700 – 1781), and Citizen Hope (1782-1883). In 2015, the Experience was further extended when production began on a graphic novel series to complement the walking tours and add the missing visuals of Black life in New York City.
4:30 PM
HEALING MUSIC FOR A TROUBLED WORLD
Performing healing music as the Black Rock Negative Energy Absorbers: Artist Rudy Shepherd (as the Healer) and his son Rhys Shepherd on midi controller, Theremin, and various noise making objects; Brian Alfred on guitar; Elia Einhorn (Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Fashion Brigade) on keyboards; and Christof Knoche on bass clarinet. This performance will serve as a catharsis for all involved, using the power of art to reinvigorate people to get out and continue doing the work that needs to be done, to resist and insist on equal rights and justice for all people.
Participating Organizations
Participating Artists
Slinko
Athena Soules
This Is Not A Gun
Chris Tyler
Justin Valdes
Cultural Partners
ART OMI
Recess
Spring Break Art Show
Supporters
NURTUREart
Time Equities Inc.
Anonymous, Rikki Asher, Mr Billot, Chelsea Wells Butterfield Branch, Sonya Burke, Laura Burton, Chris Butterick, Susan and Greg Clark, Frank Coluccio, Seth Coston, CreativeMornings/SP, Emie Diamond, Kristen Dodge, Stacylyn Doore, JiaJia Fei, Flux Factory, Sarah Garvey, Lauren Gibbons, Jesse Gill, Paul Gottsegen, Dave Harper, Monica Hebein, Patton Hindle, Christopher K. Ho, Birdie Rose Hudson, Nene Humphrey, Joshua Jabbour, Alden Rivendale Jones, Mary Dama Mann Jones, Paul Katz, Leah Kaye, John Keabler, Ambre Kelly + Andrew Gori, Kath King, Michael Kleiman, Marci Kwon & David Reilly, Kathy and Michael Lamensdorf, Kevin Yong-Moon Lee, Victoria Liu, Katherine Maxwell, Johnny Mayall, Mari Rodriguez Binnie, Nat Roe, Lili Rusing, SEPTEMBER, Kate Seabury, Rachel Selekman, Daniel Sharp, John Shen, Mary Shen, James Turnbull, Jaime Young, Nichole van Beek and Justin Valdes
Founders
Julia Clark
Lauren M Jones
Jennie Lamensdorf
Rachel Nackman
Holly Shen
Team
Maggie Albert
Heather Bhandari
Abbie Hebein
Elizabeth Masters
Noam Segal
Rachel Selekman
Nichole Van Beek
Grace Earle
Allison Kadin
Becky Laughner
Nicole Rodill
Lauren Seiden
Lauren Thorpe
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Forward Union Fair 2016
Forward Union Fair 2016
An annual social action info fair, bringing together diverse activist organizations, topical art installations, and public programs.
Participating Organizations
Art Folx Nation (Lady Art NYC)
Critical Practices Inc.
feminist architecture collaborative
No Rights / Laura Perez-Harris
International Refugee Assistance Project (Urban Justice Center)
Kids in America
Mount Sinai Beth Israel Victim Services Program
Participating Artists
Shireen Ahmed
peter bd
Raquel Echanique
Tamar Ettun and the Moving Company
FOUR A.M. presents DEAR IVANKA
Heather Johnson
Supporters
Flux Factory
Greene Naftali Gallery
Kathy and Michael Lamensdorf
N.K.G. Contracting
Myra Sutanto Shen
Founders
Julia Clark
Lauren M Jones
Jennie Lamensdorf
Rachel Nackman
Holly Shen
Team
Maggie Albert
Naomi Baldinger
Bahar Behbahani
DJ DALKESH
Maayan Dauber
Dave Harper
Olivia Jane Huffman
Allison Kadin
Becky Laughner
Dave Maki
Elizabeth Masters
Nicole Merritt
Kambui Olujimi
Eve Moros Ortega
Jenn Page
Sara Reisman
Elizabeth Sarkady
Rachel Selekman
Lauren Thorpe
Anthony Tino